In the 1980s, the most powerful gaming hardware was confined to amusement arcades where pocket money was casually exchanged for a couple of minutes’ playtime on a dedicated machine. It was the growth of affordable computers (Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum) and later gaming consoles (SNES, Sega Mega Drive) that established the hobby as something that families could enjoy at home.

According to a survey from last year, 39% of UK households have some sort of game console. In the past two decades, gaming hardware has become exponentially more powerful, and we’ve enjoyed the launches of three new generations of consoles, from PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. We’ve also seen Nintendo pivot from vying to produce the most powerful console to absolutely nailing the family/casual gamer market, most recently with the huge success of the Switch.

It’s easy to forget that the iPhone also had a profound impact, encouraging a glut of new gamers: Pokémon GO’s much-heralded launch in 2016 attracted 232 million players. And while VR remains a niche proposition, the technology has come on leaps and bounds in recent years, with a number of reasonably affordable headsets now available. While it will never dominate the hobby (VR isn’t the future of gaming, it’s just an alternative), it offers an immersive experience unrivalled by traditional hardware.

But what have been the key games over the past 20 years? Since its release in 2011, Minecraft has sold more than 300 million copies, making it the best-selling game of all time. Recognising its potential, Microsoft quickly bought it up for an astonishing $2.5bn and later released an education edition specifically for use in schools. More of a platform than a game, Minecraft is ubiquitous, accessible and versatile, and soon enough practically a whole generation will have been raised using it to play, create and learn.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of World Of Warcraft. Remarkably, it’s still going strong, with its newest (ninth) expansion, The War Within, due later this year. At its peak, in 2010, the game had 12 million subscribers paying a monthly fee, although that number has plummeted in recent years. Nevertheless, in the face of a fickle market, World Of Warcraft’s ongoing success is extraordinary and, in 2016, Duncan Jones directed a film adaptation of the franchise that took $439m at the global box office.

Other recent cultural behemoths include Fortnite, which has expanded from a cartoonish battle royale to a multimedia empire that regularly teams up with other huge brands for what the bean-counters might describe as symbiotic cross-promotion. Call Of Duty has grown from a simple (if quietly groundbreaking) WWII shooter in 2003 to a pervasive cultural sensation, with a new instalment dropping every November without fail. It’s no coincidence that the biggest releases of the past 20 years are all ‘live service’ games. Even Grand Theft Auto V, which was originally released on PS3 and Xbox 360 more than a decade ago, thrives today thanks to its publisher’s decision to focus on its multiplayer mode above all else. Of course, such a vast industry can never be without its problems and controversies. In 2004, a risqué minigame nicknamed ‘Hot Coffee’ was discovered hidden within the code for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Developer Rockstar had decided not to include it in the game and it was unplayable without first modifying the files on PC. But the resultant fallout, including intervention by the US government, had long-lasting implications for the industry. In today’s cultural climate, the whole debacle seems rather twee.

Some live-service games have had huge financial success thanks to the nefarious employment of loot boxes, which offer randomised game elements (cosmetics and equipment for two) for real money. Considered by many to be a form of unregulated gambling that appeals to children, various European governments have stepped in to outlaw the practice. In 2022, the UK government decided to let the industry regulate itself.

Much more seriously, around ten years ago the Gamergate movement brought to the surface a toxic deluge of misogyny. Purporting to be a campaign promoting ethics in video-game journalism, it was in fact a hate manifesto directed against female journalists, developers and gamers. It had a profound impact on the culture wars, with many of its proponents later moving on to work with far-right organisations to help elect Donald Trump as US president.

Now, as more women, girls and minorities get into gaming, developers are having to dedicate more resources on anti-toxicity measures to intercept and deal with racist, sexist and homophobic abuse. According to numerous surveys, many of the most popular online games feature near-parity between the sexes, yet even today you’ll rarely hear a female voice speak up during play. Gaming culture has undergone a radical shift over the past two decades, largely thanks to the internet. Where kids once gathered in arcades, watching players over their shoulders, that socio-cultural experience has been replaced with the likes of Esports, Twitch, and the rise of streaming.

That said, many of the biggest competetive games (Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, League Of Legends) attract hordes of fans around the world, and last year the Esports market was valued at $1.72bn. Given the hobby’s relatively niche reach in the 1980s/1990s, it would have seemed unfathomable then that people could earn not just a living but a small fortune simply by playing games while chatting over video.

Increasingly, other media are showing interest in the power of gaming franchises. Last year’s triumphant TV adaptation of The Last Of Us was the first real indication that the tide might be turning; over nine episodes, it remained faithful to the game’s spirit while improving on its story with an outstanding additional plot strand. And Prime Video’s take on the Fallout series brought in 65 million viewers in its first 16 days, second only to its Lord Of The Rings spin-off, The Rings Of Power. Once considered a cultural outlier, gaming is increasingly taking centre stage, and its market value has long vastly eclipsed that of music and film. It’s been an eventful two decades since Game On last came to town. It’ll be fascinating to see what comes next.
Game On, National Museum Of Scotland, Edinburgh, Saturday 29 June–Sunday 3 November.