The pioneers of the video game industry run into a handful of names; Allan Alcorn (the inventor of Pong), Tomohiro Nishikado (Space Invaders) Nolan Bushell (co-founder of Atari), Shigeru Miyamoto (Donkey Kong / Mario) and Toru Iwatani (Pac-Man). For the British, it was Clive Sinclair (the Spectrum computer). It was Clive Sinclair who can be credited for creating the British video game industry that tens of thousands owe their livelihoods today. 

Image credit @Valve

One of the interesting by-products of the Covid pandemic has been the insatiable demand for electronic hardware. The shortage of graphic cards, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series consoles has been well-documented. It could be argued, given the current chip shortage impacting multiple industries, that streaming games could be an alternate solution. 

A “correction” to spending growth in the video games market is not a surprise. The spike in demand due to the Covid-19 pandemic was expected to taper off. The release of the calendar Q2 2021 financials from AAA publishers has mostly proven the assumption that the correction has come, but some uncertainty remains. Increased monthly active users and greater spending on some live service games such as Call of Duty and FIFA has added variables to the model, but overall a downward trend is evident.