Long relegated to the sidelines, the $160 billion video game industry has emerged as the preferred pastime for 3 billion people worldwide. Gone are the days of awkward kids playing games in their parents’ basements all hours of the night. Today major publishers and large tech firms spend billions to capture share in a market that barely seemed to exist a few years ago.

Indeed, how have video game companies managed to thrive in the face of digitalization where conventional media firms faltered? We’ll discuss how video games became mainstream and what it means for the future of entertainment. You’ll hear about the trends, the major players, and predictions around live streaming, user-generated content, advertisers entering the space, and Big Tech’s impact on the global games’ economy.