In the past five years, the gaming industry has experienced explosive growth around the world. Growth was seen in all segments, but mobile games on the two main platforms, iOS and Android, were the main drivers during this period.

It is worth noting that the United States and China make the largest contribution to the volume of the games industry, but the market structure of these favorites is very different. In the US, the largest segment is console games, and in China, MMOs.

The reason for this specificity of the Chinese games market is interesting. Until 2013, there was a moratorium on the sale of game consoles in China. This ban was the catalyst for the rapid development of the direction of MMO games. As a result, China has become the main producer of a huge amount of often very similar, but at the same time, sufficiently high-quality game projects in the MMO segment. China’s gaming market in 2014 was estimated at almost $ 18 billion, and the number of gamers at 173 million.

Minecraft Among the most significant events in 2014 can be canceled:

Microsoft’s purchase of Minecraft for $ 2.5 billion. It was originally an independent project by a lone programmer. But as he developed, he won an army of fans. Built on open technology, it has exploded in content and has surpassed all other entertainment among digital kids in popularity. In the fall of 2014, the number of registered players exceeded 10 million, and this happened with absolutely no advertising.

Facebook’s purchase of Oculus VR technology for $ 2 billion. It is clear that the technology can be used in many areas and for various tasks, but for the gaming industry, this technology has become a fundamental breakthrough for the formation of a new VR direction.