Technology

Online Gaming: The Rise of a Multi-Billion Dollar Industry

Published

4 years ago

July 15, 2020

Katie Jones

Online gaming market graphic

Online Gaming: The Rise of a Multi-Billion Dollar Industry

From tabletops to virtual reality, how we play games is changing with the times.

In just a few short decades, the world of online gaming has exploded in popularity. Estimated to reach $196 billion in revenue by 2022, it is now considered to be one of the fastest growing industries on the planet.

The infographic above explores the humble beginnings of the online gaming market and dives into the technological possibilities driving its future.

The Birth of Online Gaming

Although video game prototypes were created by scientists as early as the 1950s, the very first gaming console was not introduced to consumers until the ‘70s. Subsequently, use of online games began to proliferate in the ‘90s as a result of widespread internet adoption.

1990s: Online gaming rapidly gains popularity due to the increasing availability of the internet
2003: Digital storefront Steam launches, allowing gamers to buy and review games online
2004: World of Warcraft launches, the first massively multiplayer online (MMO) to eclipse more than 10 million active subscriptions
2007: Online gaming starts shifting to mobile
2009: Minecraft launches and becomes one of the best selling video games in history with 176 million copies sold
2009: Apple announces In-app Purchase feature for iPhone apps
2015: 1.5 billion gamers around the world
2016: Augmented reality game Pokémon Go is launched, generating the most revenue grossed by any mobile game in its first month.
2019: Google releases Stadia, a cloud gaming service that allows gamers to play without a console

It is clear that technological innovation plays a huge role in fueling the evolution of online gaming, but there are also several other factors at play.

The Components of Online Gaming

In the world of gaming, there is often confusion between commonly used terms such as “online gaming” and “esports”—when in fact esports is just one segment that sits within the enormous online gaming ecosystem:

Distributors and Retailers: Platforms that distribute and sell games
Streaming Services: Services that allow users to livestream games
Hardware Developers: Companies that build the electronic infrastructure required to play games
Gaming Arenas: Venues that host gaming events
Esports: Organized, multiplayer video game competitions, typically between professional players
Software Developers: Develop applications that allow users to do specific tasks
Game Publishers: Companies that finance and distribute games
Game Developers: Studios that develop games

This ecosystem creates dozens of revenue streams for the industry as a whole. For every one of these channels, the shift to mobile gaming presents significant opportunities for growth.

Mobile: The Future of Gaming

Mobile is the largest gaming platform, producing $68.5 billion in revenue in 2019—45% of the total market that also includes PC and tablet gaming.

Although still a relatively new segment of the industry, mobile gaming has developed at an astonishing rate, with 2.4 billion people playing games on mobile in 2019. Part of mobile’s breakneck growth can be attributed to an innovative and seamless user experience which relies on engaging features such as in-app purchases and loyalty rewards.

With the 5G era quickly descending upon us, these pocket-sized game consoles could transform online gaming, and make the industry even more exciting.

Towards a New Age of Entertainment

As the number of players continues to grow, it is clear that the technological possibilities of online gaming are endless. Some are already beginning to take shape:

Virtual Reality

With industry leaders such as Oculus and Valve announcing cheaper headset options, blurring the lines between fantasy and reality is becoming more accessible for mass markets, and the pace could pick up further in 2020.

Cloud Gaming

Cloud gaming takes advantage of faster, more reliable internet connections by giving gamers the ability to stream games rather than playing on a console.

Real-time Personalization

In the future, games could automatically generate game content that is customized to fit each player’s personality and playstyle, based on their player data.

As these technologies develop, they alter the way users experience games, and provide new opportunities for brands and advertisers to tap into enhanced viewer engagement.

Many industry players will thrive in this new environment, while others will fall by the wayside. Who will emerge victorious, and lead us into the future of entertainment?

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Technology

Ranked: Semiconductor Companies by Industry Revenue Share

Nvidia is coming for Intel’s crown. Samsung is losing ground. AI is transforming the space. We break down revenue for semiconductor companies.

Published

7 days ago

April 9, 2024

Pallavi Rao

A cropped pie chart showing the biggest semiconductor companies by the percentage share of the industry’s revenues in 2023.

Semiconductor Companies by Industry Revenue Share

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on Apple or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Did you know that some computer chips are now retailing for the price of a new BMW?

As computers invade nearly every sphere of life, so too have the chips that power them, raising the revenues of the businesses dedicated to designing them.

But how did various chipmakers measure against each other last year?

We rank the biggest semiconductor companies by their percentage share of the industry’s revenues in 2023, using data from Omdia research.

Which Chip Company Made the Most Money in 2023?

Market leader and industry-defining veteran Intel still holds the crown for the most revenue in the sector, crossing $50 billion in 2023, or 10% of the broader industry’s topline.

All is not well at Intel, however, with the company’s stock price down over 20% year-to-date after it revealed billion-dollar losses in its foundry business.

Rank	Company	2023 Revenue	% of Industry Revenue
1	Intel	$51B	9.4%
2	NVIDIA	$49B	9.0%
3	Samsung Electronics	$44B	8.1%
4	Qualcomm	$31B	5.7%
5	Broadcom	$28B	5.2%
6	SK Hynix	$24B	4.4%
7	AMD	$22B	4.1%
8	Apple	$19B	3.4%
9	Infineon Tech	$17B	3.2%
10	STMicroelectronics	$17B	3.2%
11	Texas Instruments	$17B	3.1%
12	Micron Technology	$16B	2.9%
13	MediaTek	$14B	2.6%
14	NXP	$13B	2.4%
15	Analog Devices	$12B	2.2%
16	Renesas Electronics Corporation	$11B	1.9%
17	Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation	$10B	1.9%
18	Microchip Technology	$8B	1.5%
19	Onsemi	$8B	1.4%
20	KIOXIA Corporation	$7B	1.3%
N/A	Others	$126B	23.2%
N/A	Total	$545B	100%

Note: Figures are rounded. Totals and percentages may not sum to 100.

Meanwhile, Nvidia is very close to overtaking Intel, after declaring $49 billion of topline revenue for 2023. This is more than double its 2022 revenue ($21 billion), increasing its share of industry revenues to 9%.

Nvidia’s meteoric rise has gotten a huge thumbs-up from investors. It became a trillion dollar stock last year, and broke the single-day gain record for market capitalization this year.

Other chipmakers haven’t been as successful. Out of the top 20 semiconductor companies by revenue, 12 did not match their 2022 revenues, including big names like Intel, Samsung, and AMD.

The Many Different Types of Chipmakers

All of these companies may belong to the same industry, but they don’t focus on the same niche.

According to Investopedia, there are four major types of chips, depending on their functionality: microprocessors, memory chips, standard chips, and complex systems on a chip.

Nvidia’s core business was once GPUs for computers (graphics processing units), but in recent years this has drastically shifted towards microprocessors for analytics and AI.

These specialized chips seem to be where the majority of growth is occurring within the sector. For example, companies that are largely in the memory segment—Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron Technology—saw peak revenues in the mid-2010s.