How Gaming is Changing the Media Landscape

Andrew Chen and John Riccitiello

Gaming has dominated the entertainment industry, now eclipsing both film and music. As the CEO of the game development company Unity Technologies and the former CEO of Electronic Arts John Riccitiello is at the forefront of a $139 billion industry in the midst of a transformative shift. In this talk from the a16z Summit, he and a16z general partner Andrew Chen discuss the forces propelling the unprecedented growth of gaming—from platform convergence to livestreaming—as well as Unity’s expansion into the film, automotive, and architecture industries.

More than any other media, gaming takes advantage of the top technologies available to reach and retain an audience. You're playing against live players—humans are much more interesting opponents than AI being driven some designer.

SHOW NOTES

The worldwide market for gaming has reached over 3 billion users [2:13]
How Unity Technologies has revolutionized the game creation experience by accelerating production [4:55]
The shift from mobile to cross-platform gaming [11:31]
How games have evolved from physical media to digital and interactive modes. [15:15]
The secret behind the game industry’s exponential growth? Advanced technology, social interaction, and novelty [17:03]
The rise of digital gaming, from consoles to game studios [24:45]
The enormous opportunity in direct-to-consumer gaming [32:55]
Why building the “Netflix of gaming” is a challenge [36:01]
New technologies and the rise of cloud gaming [37:38]
Gaming’s impact on other industries [40:34]

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