“Men trip not on mountains, but they stumble upon stones” – Emma, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, 2025, Sandfall Interactive/Kepler Interactive
Ever have one of those discussions and, suddenly, discover you’re both talking about different sides of the same topic? Or when you’re both right/wrong? We had one of those discussions recently about gaming. In discussing the gaming market, a friend and I both agreed mobile gaming isn’t really gaming (in our opinions). It’s just a way to avoid thinking; filling time in dull meetings, boring classes; wasting time on planes/trains—and basically designed to get all of your info and pitch ads. As we said… in our opinion.
But we do know serious gamers—you know, the kind of person who thinks nothing of spending 10, 20, or more hours to immerse themselves and challenge the nuances of the game. We recently read (and watched) a number of reviews on Baldur’s Gate III, and it looked like the kind of IP that would be great for a movie. Our serious gamer friend said it was on his to-play list but would have to block out several hundred hours to attack it. But he was taking a wellness break after investing 30 hours to challenge Clair Obscur: Expedition.
Thirty hours, seriously? He quickly explained that the game, which was developed by France’s Sandfall Interactive, was on a par with the best French cinema. A good recommendation, but we’ll wait for the 2-plus-hour movie.
Actually, the movie/show industry—and now streaming—has always drawn themes and hero/villain storylines from the gaming industry. After all, according to one research firm, gaming is the world’s largest entertainment industry at 70.8%, followed by movies at 21.2% and music at 8%. Some might say the industry survives and thrives because of the game developers’ work.
Today, the streaming market may not yet be 20 years old, but it’s already big—projected to be worth $109 billion this year and $194 billion by 2032 as it entertains more than 1 billion of us around the globe with a broad range of genres. Nice, but gaming is a mind-boggling $523 billion business and is expected to reach $692 billion by 2029, with an active playing audience of nearly 3.4 billion.
Gameplay is not only global, but it also covers every age category, especially the younger millennials, Gen Zers and up, and emerging Gen Alphas. According to eMarketer, almost three-quarters of Gen Zers will be digital gamers by 2027. In fact, Reed Hastings, former CEO and founder of Netflix, told Wall Street that the world’s leading video streaming service’s most serious competitor for people’s time and engagement was video games. That was probably one of reasons the company acquired casual game developers Night School Studio, Next Games, and Boss Fight Entertainment.
Of course, Wall Street was surprised/skeptical about the company “losing its focus.” After all, adding gaming to their library would dilute the company’s attention—and investment—from its major goal: film/show leadership. They missed the key benefit of gaming… stickiness.
