https://www.ibisworld.com/industry-statistics/market-size/video-games-united-states/

In current dollars, we have a $90 billion gaming industry in the US today.

Economists generally adopt a utilitarian view of value and conclude that if individuals choose to consume more of a good or service it is because they more highly value that good or service versus other options that they could consume. Economists try not to “second guess” consumption choices as being better or worse for people, even though they may have personal preferences that are quite different. “Games”, like “alcoholic beverages” have been second guessed by society and restricted at various times and places, but economists conclude that free individuals’ consumption choices are very relevant.

In my 1960’s and 1970’s childhood and young adulthood, video games were just emerging. We were an analog generation, lured into spending our dimes and quarters on pinball games. The pinball world peaked in 1979, with 200,000 new game devices sold that year to be played in bars, community centers, restaurants, student unions, pool halls, VFW’s and Lions’ Clubs. At less than $1,000 per machine, the total wholesale market was about $200M. The new electronic video arcade games grew very rapidly from 1975 to 1980. Estimated total coin operated pinball/video games sales were estimated to have grown from $300M in 1978 to almost $1B in 1979, an amazing 3-fold increase in one year.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_video_games#:~:text=According%20to%20trade%20publication%20Vending,to%20%242.8%20billion%20in%201980.

https://pastimepinball.com/a-brief-history-of-the-silver-ball#:~:text=Pinball%20in%20its%20modern%20form,and%20didn’t%20involve%20skill.

That $300M in 1978 was a tiny fraction of the current dollars $2.5T GDP that year. One out of every $8,250 of GDP (.012%) was devoted to pinball machines and elementary video games.

Pinball machines were clearly the predecessors of video games.

https://pastimepinball.com/a-brief-history-of-the-silver-ball#:~:text=Pinball%20in%20its%20modern%20form,and%20didn’t%20involve%20skill.

Brief History of Pinball

https://www.polygon.com/2014/4/4/5570814/how-pinball-and-boardwalk-amusements-gave-rise-to-video-games

Video games grew rapidly from 1978 to 1983 before encountering a crash in 1983 and then resuming their heroic climb in claiming the attention of youths, mostly males at first, but eventually everyone.

https://www.gamedesigning.org/gaming/history/

https://www.history.com/topics/inventions/history-of-video-games

https://www.si.edu/spotlight/the-father-of-the-video-game-the-ralph-baer-prototypes-and-electronic-games/video-game-history

https://electronics.howstuffworks.com/video-game2.htm

The most detailed history of the emergence of video gaming as the computer industry evolved.

Video Game History Timeline

For economists, with neutral utilitarian values, this is an incredible increase in community well-being. Consumers now choose to consume 75 times as much gaming entertainment services as they did in 1978.

The global gaming entertainment market is more than twice as large as the US market, an estimated $214B.

https://techcrunch.com/2015/10/31/the-history-of-gaming-an-evolving-community/

https://www.insiderintelligence.com/insights/us-gaming-industry-ecosystem/

About one-half of Americans are considered active gamers.

https://www.ey.com/en_us/tmt/what-s-possible-for-the-gaming-industry-in-the-next-dimension

Consumers game on various platforms.

https://www.bain.com/insights/level-up-the-future-of-video-games-is-bright/

The global market for gaming entertainment is expected to double in the next 5-7 years.

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/07/gaming-pandemic-lockdowns-pwc-growth/

https://www.ibisworld.com/industry-statistics/market-size/video-games-united-states/

https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/global-gaming-market

https://www.bain.com/insights/level-up-the-future-of-video-games-is-bright/

https://www.yahoo.com/now/gaming-market-size-worth-usd-113000927.html

Summary

Humans with extra time have always sought “amusements” through entertainment, sports, travel and personal services. The “games” category has grown rapidly in the last 50 years and appears ready to keep growing for the next quarter-century at least. This is fundamentally “good news” because people are consuming more of what they desire. It is especially “good news” because “games” are available at relatively low costs, so they are available to most of the population as an improvement to their lives.