The business of video games: How much is being spent and why

People think of video games first-and-foremost as a mode of entertainment, but it’s also a business, and a lucrative one at that. According to the 2017 Entertainment Software Association report on the video gaming industry, gaming content sales in the United States alone hit $24.5 billion.

But this reports sheds light not only on how serious of a business gaming is, but what’s being spent, why and by whom — all important figures in understanding the flow of the gaming industry.

The first conclusion to draw from the data is that content is still king. Yes, people still like their gadgets and they still need the right hardware to keep up with the times and play new games, but these account for a relatively small portion of purchases in the gaming world. In fact, U.S. gamers spent just $2.2 billion on accessories and $3.7 billion on hardware in 2016.

That figure for accessories was barely up from $2.1 billion in 2015 and spending on hardware actually dropped by $1.2 billion from 2015. Spending on content, however, rose by a solid $1.3 billion. What’s happening here? Well, it’s difficult to isolate and identify specific trends without multiple years of data, but mixed with other statistics from the report, we can draw some reasonable conclusions from these figures.

Digital purchases are on the rise in a big way. While just 4% more purchases were digital in 2011 compared to 2010 for a total of 35%, 74% are now entirely digital, bought from hubs like Steam and GoG. With these figures we can hypothesize that hardware requirements for many games are decreasing to make them more accessible to anyone with an internet connection and accessories aren’t going out of style, they’re just going digital.

So, rather than purchasing fancy new gaming headphones that maybe just a couple of friends will see, more people are buying the virtual in-game items that they can show off to the entire gaming community. According to the report, the overall growth in the value of the video game industry can be partly attributed to the fact that most gamers feel that gaming provides more value for their money than movies, music or DVDs.

Part of BUFF’s aim is to expand this digital market for virtual items. By rewarding gamers with BUFF coins just for gaming, BUFF is giving players around the world a new currency to buy all those digital items everyone is excited for. It’s a model that goes a long way towards making a good gaming habit self-sustainable and more worth-while.

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