Photo Credit: Gamespot/Red Bull
These cities have the best conditions for hardcore, career gaming.
The video games industry has been booming for some time now. This doesn’t come as a surprise when you consider that 72% of male Americans aged 18-29 play video games “sometimes” or “often” according to the Pew Research Center. The same study revealed a rate of 49% for women of the same age range.
If you really love video games, you’re not alone. WalletHub compared data from America’s 150 largest cities to compile a list of the best cities for serious gamers. There were 20 factors put into these rankings, including average internet cost and speed, number of eSports tournaments, and so on. This was what they found:
- Orlando
- Seattle
- Austin, Texas
- New York
- Atlanta
- Los Angeles
- Las Vegas
- Irvine, California
- Boston
- San Diego
The number of people playing video games is not the only factor behind the growth of the industry. While video games used to only produce profits from sales of consoles and games, there are now many more ways to make money from video games. The main example today is the eSports industry, which has one company (Cloud9) which is worth $310 million. As the eSports industry expands, marketers continue flocking to gaming spaces to tap into a new, niche market.
The video gaming industry has grown magnificently during the last few years. The industry was worth $36.9 billion in 2017, but jumped by 18% to $43.3 billion in 2018, according to The NDP Group and Sensor Tower. The industry is only expected to grow for the next few years, so if you like video games, now is a great time to have the hobby.
