The panel “How gaming has changed the world” transformed the Weekend dvorana (Weekend Hall) into a real gaming room and introduced us to the whole video game universe. We learned about the current trends in this exciting industry as well as the increasing presence of artificial intelligence.
Host Boško Đorđević (GRAND GAMING OPEN/Games.con), was joined on stage by Vojislav Milutinović, founder and CEO of Two Desperados; Kristina Janković, executive director of the Serbian Video Game Industry Association; and Alan Sumina, CEO of Nanobit. An interesting discussion on the development of gaming, its value, and how it changed the world was moderated and led by communications consultant Jovana Tomić.
“The development of gaming took place in several phases. The first was pinball machines and devices for arcade gaming in cafes. The second phase was the emergence of gaming consoles—imagine the magic of suddenly being able to play video games on your TV at home. The third phase was the emergence of the first home computers with gaming software. The fourth phase was the emergence of multiplayer games via LAN. The fifth phase was the emergence of the internet—which fulfilled our human need to play against each other in cyberspace. The sixth phase was the advent of the server—which allowed gamers to further interact in cyberspace. The seventh phase was gaming via smartphones—which brought an interesting change because games suddenly became free. But, then again, even if only downloading the game is free, we still buy certain advantages in the game or add cosmetic accessories,” explained the host of the panel Boško Đorđević.
In addition to the various phases of development, there was talk about specific numbers in the gaming industry; its popularity around the world and in the region, and the emergence of artificial intelligence.
“The gaming industry generated 77.2 billion USD in revenue around the world last year. When we compare this with other industries, more money is generated by gaming than the film industry, marketing, the Olympics, and much more put together! Almost 8 out of 10 Zoomers and Millennials play video games. And here in the region, the Serbian gaming industry earned 120 million dollars,” said Kristina Janković.
“We approach artificial intelligence as a way for users to customize the user experience. At its core, it is a tool that can quickly analyze and display what the user may be interested in. There is a lot of talk about it, but only one in ten uses of artificial intelligence actually has a measurable effect,” said Alan Sumina from Nanobit.
The conclusion of the panel is that gaming has definitely changed the world and become one of the leading industries. In our region, it opens up great marketing opportunities due to the organization of local gaming events. The industry will reach its peak when artificial intelligence begins to be used in video games—and that is only a matter of time.
