Nothing beats the thrill of coming home to thrash out a few console games with your peers or a stranger-turned-co-op partner after a long, tiring day at work or school. If you’re a game developer, technical artist, reviewer, or localization specialist, to name a few, such bonding sessions spill over to other aspects of your life where you get to connect with like-minded people in the gaming industry.
Over time, your network grows into a large tight-knit community of folks from different walks of life. Now, imagine the diverse opportunities this can offer, all from doing something you love—playing COD, developing visual concepts for characters, and evaluating user experience. It’s clear proof that certain hobbies are great for meeting new people, and gaming is one of the greatest examples of this. Having a hard time grasping this? Let’s break it down.
How Big Is the Gaming Industry?
It’s easy to understate the immense value gaming offers when viewing the entire industry from the lens of “just playing video games.” But you might be surprised to learn that this multi-billion-dollar sector dominates as the highest-grossing entertainment market worldwide, netting $159.3 billion in 2020. For comparison, the music industry stood at $19.1 billion, and the movie industry at $41.7 billion in the same year. That’s three times and almost four times less than the amount generated from gaming alone.
This is an industry where console giants like PlayStation and Xbox duke it out with high-performance hardware while partnering with lead game development studios to provide the best gaming content. It’s also one where streaming platforms such as Twitch, GeForce Now, and YouTube compete to attract millions of viewers globally and give eSports enthusiasts access to live and recorded gameplay.
Even more, there’s PC gaming, which offers flexibility and lets you tinker under the hood, and mobile gaming—the king of the hill—that thrives on casual and free-to-play games like Candy Crush and Genshin Impact and monetizes through ads and in-app purchases. And if you’re not settling for leisure, Esports is where the big leagues play, with million-dollar tournaments up for contest, streams blowing up in your face, and sponsors fighting to slap their logos on the best players.
Of course, it’s not all smooth sailing, considering the role of crunch culture and pay-to-win schemes in our community. But bear in mind that gaming isn’t just about entertainment anymore; rather, it’s a cultural juggernaut that connects us and shapes how we see the world—that’s how big it is.
Why You Can’t Afford to Overlook This Industry
Networking as a gamer isn’t just a buzzword, but a necessity for you to carve a niche for yourself and leave footprints in the sands of time; here’s how the gaming industry makes it happen:
Professional Inner Circles
There’s no better way to secure your gaming career and enjoy long-term success than having a company of professionals backing you up along the way. With such a network, you can access opportunities like collaborations, job offers, and valuable insights that are generally inaccessible. But first, you have to make the move: attend conferences, join online forums, and participate in industry meetups like the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) and DICE Summit. There, you’ll find peers and veterans open to sharing their ideas and supporting your journey.
Learning and Growth
This perk is embedded in building the right connection, with which you can broaden your knowledge and improve your skills in all things gaming. You may be good at what you do, but there’s always someone better out there, whose experience might help you refine your creativity. What’s more, this person knows other professionals in the industry, and linking up with them could mean the possibility of partnering with a reputable studio, further widening your horizon.
Access to Resources and Funding
For indie devs and startups, networking has no price tag. It’s priceless! If you fall into this category and want to go big, you need competent hands in your corner to show the world what you’ve got. How? By establishing yourself as an authority. And that requires deep pockets, hi-tech gadgets, and enough manpower to drive your ideas forward.
In this scenario, your network gives you a direct line to investors, publishers, and partners who can pull in the cash and help reduce costs, especially if your project is creating the right buzz. It also means you’re not flying solo when it comes to making critical decisions or handling tricky situations that would normally stifle your progress.
Marketing and Promotion
The most mind-blowing game ever won’t see the light of day if there’s no one there to help get the word out. It’s not enough to “talk to a few friends and family members.” Anyone can do that. You need an actual professional who is neck-deep in the business of showcasing new games to the right culture and audience—someone who understands the ever-growing competition in the industry and can implement market research, competitive analysis, and pricing strategy formulation, among others, to give your product an edge.
This is a tall order you can’t fulfill alone, as it demands time, energy, and knowledge, which is where your network comes in handy. There are those within this circle whose influence can help you reach out to household bloggers and reviewers. Picture the millions of potential gamers these experts might pitch your game to, consequently earning you more attention and sales—that’s marketing and promotion via networking at its best.
Update With Industry Trends
Information is the new currency in today’s digital age, and the gaming industry is no exception. But not every development team, publisher, and studio can afford to splurge on acquiring the latest market stats and business intelligence. They need the network (an inside scoop), and the network has these resources.
So, when developers ask for help in understanding the latest trends and how they affect the future of the industry, publishers respond with their insights based on what they’ve observed from industry veterans and peers. These professionals are within rights to guide them, as they have firsthand experience. Similarly, your connection can help you stay in the loop.
Reputation
Your name carries weight in the gaming industry. Think Ubisoft, Electronic Arts (EA), and Capcom; these brands aren’t only known for their games, but what they stand for—innovation, success, and longevity. Their reputation stems from years of partnering with the right team to produce quality products that fans can always rely on. Toeing the same line puts you a few steps ahead in the race to become an industry favorite. And with great fame comes greater opportunities.
Conclusion
If there’s one lesson to glean from this guide, it’s that gaming isn’t just a passion but a movement that has created a global thriving community of friends and professionals who are ready to help you take the reins in your life and career. This is only possible if you reach out and connect with them. It’s our hope that this guide encourages you to take that action to build the future you desire.
