A Timeline of Gaming Revenue Streams
Buying software applications - Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony
Nintendo NES launched in 1983 and saw main competitors PlayStation and Xbox emerge in 1994 and 2001 respectively. All such revenue models, including educational games running on early PCs, required the purchasing of the software application itself in the form of a compact cassette or CD.
Online RPGs, downloading and streaming games
Widespread broadband technology allowed for in-game revenue generation by way of paid membership of online RPGs such as World of Warcraft and RuneScape. Sony and Microsoft launched online downloading and streaming services for the PlayStation and Xbox a few years later. In spite of this explosive growth, gamers themselves could not profit from their participation.
Sponsored eSports
eSports date back to the late 1990s, but became profitable for gamers themselves in the 2010s, who earned salaries from sponsors looking to capitalize on the explosion of spectator interest in top eSports athletes competing with one another.
NFTs and Metaverse: The Blockchain Revolution
The integration of blockchain technology to gaming provides new security assurances for players to invest in in-game assets in the form of NFTs and trade them with other players, earning real-world income for their Metaverse achievements.
Multiple Revenue Streams
The number of active gamers has risen rapidly over the past decade, with the introduction of e-sports, mobile gaming, and live streaming of entertainment, sports, music and games, delivered via interactive platforms including YouTube Gaming, Facebook Gaming, and Twitch.
Gaming continues to grow year on year and has rapidly overtaken both the music and film industry, now making more money than the two combined.
A successful online game offers multiple streams of income potential for its investors.
