Video game sales create more revenue than the film and music industries combined.
Mike Donahue
Stupid me. Like most people over 40, I had NO IDEA how big an industry video games are. Huge! It is a fast-growth billion-dollar business segment and has been for many years. In 2022, the revenue from the worldwide gaming market was estimated at almost 347 billion U.S. dollars, with the mobile gaming market generating an estimated 248 billion U.S. dollars of the total.
No idea. Doing tourism for the city of Tombstone, we set up a Red Dead Redemption weekend event, and were overwhelmed by RDR II fans streaming in from around the world. Young people waiting in lines for hours, to meet with the RDR voice actors. Attendance was 3X a normal event weekend.
The game was Rockstar's first built specifically for eighth-generation consoles, having tested their technical capabilities while developing Grand Theft Auto V. It is considered an example of video games as an art form, as well as one of the greatest video games ever made. It is among the best-selling video games with over 55 million copies shipped. At $50 per copy, you do the math. Hey, I will – that’s $2,750,000,000. Almost 3 BILLION DOLLARS, for just one video game.
Already, the video game industry is bigger than ALL professional sports combined. And, as game player Mike Donahue’s quote at the top of this chapter notes, bigger than both the film and music industries combined. Wow.
Rockstar released Grand Theft Auto Five just over 10 years ago, followed shortly afterwards by the online multiplayer game GTA Online, set in the same virtual world of San Andreas and its surroundings. Together, they have made over $7.7 billion for parent company Take-Two, as reported in its earnings. GTA 5 is the second bestselling game of all time, behind Minecraft.
As of 2023, both players and Take-Two’s shareholders have been waiting a long time for the next installment in the Grand Theft Auto series, with increasing pressure on Rockstar to officially reveal it. In their May earnings results, Take-Two projected a massive $8 billion windfall in 2024, leading many to speculate that Grand Theft Auto Six will be released by the end of that year.
So. Suddenly, we have a very large and very profitable new industry that needs your art talents desperately. Look at these salaries! Look at these job openings! How to get in? See GameDesigning.org for starters. Game art is the visual elements you see while playing a game. Without visual game artists, a game would be nothing more than ideas in a designer’s head.
Some common visual elements provided by game artists:
– Concept art
– Sprites
- Character models
- Environments
Here’s a list of the most common art positions you’ll find at a game studio:
- Concept Artist
- Environmental Artist
- Character Artist
- Character Animator
- FX Animator
- User Interface Artist
- Marketing Artist
- Level Designer
- Art Director
There’s a wealth of video game art and design info on the web. This is a new field with explosive growth and very high salaries. If you like gaming, you’ll REALLY like being part of the fast-paced action making them!
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