Rise of Esports™ – Part 2: And then there were Video Games…

Arcades gave way to consoles and couch-co-op, while PC gaming flourished in South Korea.

Transcript:

Video arcades offered a more visual and accessible way to play games on a computer, though the games were only one or two players.

Arcades provided a social space where people could not only play, but watch others looking for tips and tricks to increase their high score.

Game systems continued to be miniaturized, made modular and delivered to the home. This had the side effect of pulling players out of the arcade, making the experience less social and limiting spectator ship tow live competitive events.

However, over-saturation caused the market to go from boom to bust, with many game-makers going out of business, leaving the field open for the Nintendo Entertainment System.

Nintendo, quietly watched his american companies quit the business. Nintendo then bought licenses to the best of the arcade games. They created new games by getting independent designers to compete against each other for the right to work with Nintendo.

Nintendo’s success set off what would be known as the console wars, with Sega, Sony and Microsoft joining the battle for dominance. In south Korea, PC gaming flourished, and with it, a rich culture of social gaming. Nearly one third of the population played video games actively. There have been an average of twenty thousand pacing. Bangs, a combination cafe, restaurant and arcade in a country of about fifty million. Compare that toe only thirteen thousand Starbucks in the us, which has a population seven times larger.

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