Kaylee Wells

Video games used to be a real boom or bust industry, a lot like Hollywood.

But instead of everyone rushing to go see Wicked, we'd all rush to buy the newest PlayStation or Nintendo gaming system and wait for months or years for the next installment of Zelda or Star Wars or Madden.

Those booms still happen.

Dimitri Williams is a communications professor at USC.

He says there was a boom when the Nintendo Switch 2 came out last June, for example.

What's different is there don't seem to be busts anymore.

And most people do want to play.

Aubrey Quinn with the trade group the Entertainment Software Association says one in three people over 80 years old and most baby boomers play video games every week.

The 8-year-old Roblox Warriors and the 80-year-old Candy Crushers are primarily spending on what's called the free-to-play games.

These are the ones where you can grind for hours without paying a cent, but you get interrupted every five minutes with an ad, and you know?

if you just spent $4.99 a month, you could get rid of the ads and unlock this special currency that would make building your virtual garden go way faster.

If you've ever done that, you have added to the $61 billion gaming industry.

The other growing model here is gaming subscriptions.

Just like you pay for Spotify or Netflix, you might buy a season pass that unlocks cool costumes and catchphrases for your character.

Meanwhile, the gaming industry itself is resonating with other forms of entertainment.

We've had movies on Super Mario and Minecraft.

And gaming gets a lot of free advertising on social media.

Sam Ani with the digital analytics group Sensor Tower says all of that has been driving growth in the industry.

2025 also got a good old-fashioned boost from the new Nintendo console.

And this year is set to get a boost, too.