Although the pandemic has pushed a lot of scheduled game launches back a few months, 2021 is a great gaming year. New Pokemon Snap, Returnal, Legend of Zelda, Knockout City are just a few of the new games launching this year. The gaming world has evolved enormously over the years. So, let´s take a look at how it all started.
From the beginning
Video game history started in the 50s and 60s as several computer scientist began designing the simplest games. Simulations on mainframe computers, the first one developed by MIT, became big in the early 60s when “Spacewar!” was launched. This was the first game that was
ever played with video display.
In the mid-70s the first home consoles were sold. As the market for arcade games evolved, I mean we all remember PacMan, the home consoles were sold out quickly. Gamers didn’t have to go to the local mall, and the gamblers didn’t have to look for the casino of the month. Everyone could play easy arcade- and board games at home.
The poor 80s quality
During the early 80s people wanted more. The poor quality wasn’t enough anymore and, especially in the American market, consumers lost their interest in the bigger video games providers. Japanese developers saw this as an opportunity and Nintendo developed their Nintendo Entertainment System. The video gaming sector was once again on their feet.
The later part of the 80s, and in the beginning of the 90s, video games were improved and standardized. Nintendo and Sega had a huge console war competition, but Nintendo provided the first handheld video gaming console; the Game Boy.
The major technological shift
In the mid 90s more families got stationary computers at home. The CD-ROM optical medium was introduced. There was no need for the mall arcade games anymore as you could play card games, Pack Man, Snake and everything you wanted directly from your personal computer at home.
Early in the 2000s, Microsoft decided to join the console war and added Xbox to the market, pushing Sega off the grid. While Microsoft, Xbox, and Sony, Play Station, continued to work with their hardware of top-end consoles, Nintendo developed Wii. Wii was a gamechanger on the market as it was the first dedicated motion-sensing control. Traditional gaming was completely changed.
The future of gaming
As we expected, gaming keeps evolving, and it will probably never stop. While major companies expected today’s gamers to crave more innovative games, it shows that they are wrong. Minecraft
is maybe one of the least innovative games we have at the moment, but their statistics are amazing. Gamers keep going back to nostalgic, old games.
So, what does the future hold for the gaming industry? Will gamers move completely mobile? Maybe Game Boys will be the hot topic again? It is hard to tell. What we know is that VR and AR gaming has had a slower growth than expected and that console gaming keeps being most people’s favorite.
