Well, nerds, it’s time to rejoice! After many long years of trying to convince your parents or anyone over forty really that gaming isn’t just a fad, you can now confidently look those people in the eye and say I told you video games were more than just a hobby. That’s right, according to news agency Reuters Video games are now the most popular form of entertainment exceeding books, movies, and television. In fact, more money is spent on video games than any other form of entertainment by a pretty sizable margin. In the past year Video games generated $116 billion dollars in revenue which is triple the movie industry which generated 41 billion.

So what exactly does this mean and how did it happen? Well, there are three things to take note of. The first is that based on the numbers it’s pretty safe to say that video games are no longer a niche pastime reserved for the various members of the subculture, I.E a couple of nerds scattered across various communities. The second reason comes from perhaps an unexpected source, China. Recently, China has seen a 14% increase in game sales per year in addition to a sudden jump in PC players with Steam accounts. The third reason is probably the least surprising of all, Fortnite. Yes, Fortnite has managed to permeate just about every aspect of society. The market for Fortnite has been unpredictably huge drawing in all types of crowds ranging from rappers to athletes, to teens, and everything in between. This widespread popularity has not only generated a large amount of money for the gaming economy, but it has also greatly increased the variety of people playing video games.

Long story short, in this day and age a lot more people are playing videos games and at all age groups as well. Video games have evolved from being a niche marginalized activity and grown into something incredibly mainstream. Now the time has come to watch and see how much further gaming can go.