Video Game
Game
Documents about Video Game
The History of Every Video Game Genre
Mark Brown's Game Maker's Toolkit article, published on Substack on 2026-10-29, traces the history of video game genres using a dataset of 9,902 games.
- Platformers are the single most popular genre in the dataset, with 1,273 of 9,902 games, or about 12%.
- The shoot 'em up was so dominant that about 75 of the 200 games from 1981 were shoot 'em ups, almost 40 percent.
- Platformers were the most popular genre in the dataset from 1989 to 1995, peaking in 1991 with about 74 games.
Can You Build a Legitimate Video Game Business on Prompts? Meta Thinks So
Meta Horizon VP Saxs Persson argues that prompt-based game creation is a legitimate business opportunity, in an interview with Christopher Dring of The Game Business published October 27, 2026.
- Meta has launched Horizon Studio and Horizon Create, AI-powered tools that allow users to build games via text prompts and publish them directly to Facebook and Instagram feeds.
- Meta Horizon VP Saxs Persson positions these tools as a way to accelerate game iteration and lower barriers to entry, aiming to democratize game development for a broader creator base.
- Unlike Roblox or Minecraft, which have established, opinionated artistic styles, Meta’s platform is designed to be platform-agnostic, allowing for diverse visual styles and greater creative freedom for developers.
The U.S. Video Game Market: September 2026
U.S. consumers spent $4.756 billion on video games in September 2026, a 1% decline from $4.796 billion a year earlier. Content spending came to $4.177 billion (-2% YoY).
- The U.S. video game market saw a 1% year-over-year decline in September 2026, with total spending reaching $4.756 billion and year-to-date spending down 3% to $41.038 billion.
- PlayStation 5 hardware sales grew 43% in dollar terms and 22% in units during September, driven by the release of 'Marvel's Wolverine,' which became the month's best-selling game.
- Xbox console unit sales hit an all-time September low, with physical game sales for the platform falling 32% year-over-year and representing only 4% of total physical unit sales for the month.
Industri Gim Sumbang Ekonomi ASEAN Hingga Rp148 Triliun, Ini Peta Persaingannya
Industri gim Asia Tenggara menyumbang US$8,2 miliar (sekitar Rp147,6 triliun) bagi perekonomian kawasan pada 2025, menurut white paper "The Video Game Industry: Unlocking the Next Level of Economic and Social Development in Southeast Asia" yang disusun Tencent bersama Access Partnership dan diluncurkan di World Conference on…
- The Southeast Asian game industry is projected to contribute US$14.2 billion to the regional economy by 2030, a 73.2% increase from US$8.2 billion in 2025, and create 1.16 million jobs.
- In 2025, Malaysia was the largest contributor to the ASEAN game industry economy at US$2.5 billion, followed by Indonesia (US$1.8 billion), Thailand (US$1.7 billion), Singapore (US$1.3 billion), and the Philippines (US$1 billion).
- While hardware manufacturing generally dominates the ASEAN game industry's economic contribution (averaging 55%), Singapore's economy is primarily driven by game development (67%), and the Philippines by retail sales (43%).
Kemenekraf dan Tencent Bidik Peningkatan Kontribusi Gim Lokal yang Baru 7%
Indonesia's Ministry of Creative Economy (Kemenekraf) and Tencent are partnering to raise the contribution of locally developed and published games, which currently account for only about 7% of the national game industry's value added.
- Kemenekraf and Tencent aim to increase the contribution of local game development and publishing, which currently stands at only 7% of Indonesia's game industry value added.
- In 2025, Indonesia's game industry generated US$1.3 billion in revenue and US$1.8 billion in value added, accounting for 0.12% of the country's GDP.
- The largest contributions to the Indonesian game industry's value added come from hardware and peripherals (47%), esports (24%), and retail (21%), with game development and publishing contributing only 7%.
The U.S. Video Game Market: August 2026
U.S. video game spending fell 9% year over year in August 2026 to $4.259 billion, the third consecutive monthly decline.
- U.S. video game spending fell 9% year-over-year in August 2026 to $4.259 billion, marking the third consecutive month of market decline.
- Gaming hardware unit sales dropped 15% year-over-year to 559,000 consoles, the lowest volume for an August since 2013.
- The average price of a new console reached an August record of $541, with year-to-date average prices for Xbox and PlayStation rising 26% and 20% respectively, contributing to significant consumer price sensitivity.
Russia’s Video Game Strategy
Russia's Video Game Industry Strategy, published by the Russian Video Game Trade Association (VIDO) at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum on 9 June 2026, is the country's first formal plan for its games sector.
- The Russian Video Game Industry Development Organization (VIDO) has published a formal national strategy aiming to increase the gaming sector's contribution to Russia's GDP to 0.4%-0.5%.
- The strategy proposes state-backed funding for startups, tax incentives for investors, and mandatory representation for the gaming industry in Duma policy discussions.
- Russian gaming policy is increasingly intertwined with state objectives, including the potential resurrection of a China-style approval system and the use of state-backed ID systems for player logins.
The Premium PC/Console Gaming Market: H1 2026
Premium PC and console games generated $30 billion in gross revenue over the twelve months from H2'25 through H1'26, with PlayStation taking 45.1%, Steam 38.6%, and Xbox 16.3%.
- The premium PC and console market generated $30 billion in revenue between H2 2025 and H1 2026, with PlayStation capturing 45.1% of the share, followed by Steam at 38.6% and Xbox at 16.3%.
- Market revenue grew 5.3% year-over-year to $13.8 billion in H1 2026, driven by a strong second quarter that saw a 13% revenue increase compared to the previous year.
- Steam's revenue is heavily reliant on back-catalog titles, which accounted for 68.7% to 74% of total revenue in H1 2026, despite a record-high volume of 11,800 new game releases during the same period.
Keeping Ms. Pac-Man Out of the Club: Pacmania, Video Game Magazines, and the Gendered Guardrails
Early video game history was defined by a pervasive, gendered culture that systematically marginalized female players and reinforced the expectation that the typical gamer was male.
- Early 1980s video game culture was defined by a pervasive, industry-wide expectation that the typical gamer was male.
- Video game magazines of the early 1980s played a significant role in establishing and reinforcing gendered guardrails within digital spaces.
- Marketing campaigns, including those by Nintendo, were heavily gendered and actively shaped the cultural environment to favor male participation.
The United States’ Strategic Political Communication and the Production of a Strategy Video Game
The United States utilizes strategic political communication through the development of specialized video games to influence public perception and advance foreign policy objectives.
- The U.S. military utilized Modeling & Simulation (M&S) technology to develop the strategy game 'Labbaik Ya Iraq' as a tool for strategic political communication and public diplomacy.
- The primary objective of the 'Labbaik Ya Iraq' project was to move beyond passive messaging by encouraging target audiences to learn through active participation and decision-making.
- The game integrated multiple Lines of Operations (LOOs) into a single interactive product to influence civilian perceptions and promote foreign policy objectives in Iraq.
What Makes a Video Game "Good"? A Case Study with Secondary Students
This study investigates lower secondary students' video game preferences and their criteria for defining a "good" video game, aiming to inform educational interventions.
- Lower secondary students (N = 301, aged 12–16, two schools in northern Spain) favour mainstream commercial titles, led by Fortnite, FIFA and Roblox.
- Students rated audiovisual and technical quality (M = 4.70) and gameplay (M = 4.60) as the most important criteria for a 'good' game, with narrative rated lower (M = 4.22).
- Boys rated technical quality and gameplay as significantly more important than girls did, and placed narrative clearly behind the other two dimensions, whereas girls' ratings were more evenly distributed.
US vs Genshin Impact: Settling Video Game Loot Box Consumer Protection Concerns? An International Comparison of Gacha Monetisation Design
This analysis evaluates Cognosphere's compliance with a US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) settlement regarding loot box monetization in its games, specifically Genshin Impact.
- Cognosphere (HoYoverse) agreed to a $20 million penalty and specific design changes in a January 2025 US Federal Trade Commission settlement over loot box and gacha monetisation in Genshin Impact and sister titles.
- A preliminary compliance test of five Cognosphere games found widespread non-compliance: all examined games still contained loot boxes, and US versions still required converting real money into virtual currency before buying most loot boxes.
- Only one currency exchange step was removed for some prominent items in US versions, and cost ranges and drop probability disclosures appeared only for prominent loot boxes rather than all of them.