Depending on what you actually count as a “video game” the industry is now generating somewhere between 200 and 350 billion dollars a year in annual revenue, making it by far the largest entertainment sector in the world regardless of whatever your exact definitions may be.
More people are playing video games than ever before, they are playing them for longer, and (the not so secret reality is that) video game companies have gotten a lot better at getting money out of them while they are.
Over what should have been the best half decade in the history of the industry, the overall market is down by as much as 30% from its peak, in the same time that the broader market has more than doubled.
Sooo how is it possible that even with record sales, record new revenue streams, record numbers of new players, and record new opportunities to monetize that new audience… video game companies have still managed to screw this up so badly?
I pretty much agree with your whole point here, so I had to go back and re-read what we were discussing 😀
I think the fighting for scraps thing come from everyone having limited time for these entertainment. Games aren’t just competing with other games, they are also competing with Netflix and other such entertainment, as well as from games like Fortnite and Roblox. You can argue that these people won’t play other games no matter what, but they are still party of that growth that video game industry has seen. They are still part of that 3+ billion gamers the industry claim (or 100+ Million console gamers, if just talking about consoles). And I think that’s where some of the issue comes from, all companies want their share from that pie of gamers which leads to all these decisions.