In order to have as much of a firm grasp on the concept of what a mainstream game is and what mainstream gaming is in general, we have to take a really short visit into the history of gaming, the origins of today's mainstream games.

When video games started to take root in modern-day society, way back in the 1970s, and forward, the classification of mainstream games or gaming didn't still exist. As far as the common gamer or kid was concerned, there were only video games.

The first officially recorded video game was "Tennis For Two" created in 1958 by Physicist William Higinbotham, who used an oscilloscope with control circuits and custom-made game controllers to simulate a Tennis game and thereby established the concept of video game Tennis or Pong, popularized by home gaming systems like the Magnavox Odyssey and the Atari Arcade hit classic in 1972. Also, the beginnings of computer video games was spearheaded by Spacewar!, a space shooter game developed on a PDP-1 Minicomputer at MIT in 1962.

From then on, the arcade game cabinets (the coin-op games) and the home gaming systems became an industry of its own from the 1970s onward. This is the "origins" of Mainstream Gaming, and the old game companies like ATARI, Coleco, Magnavox, and others are the forerunners of today's AAA gaming industry.

Mainstream Gaming Today

When we try to define what "Mainstream Gaming and Games" are in today's environment, these are the games developed and published by the big game companies like Electronic Arts, Epyx, Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, SEGA, and many more. These are also the games played by the public at large, and the games that cost the most to create, and usually have the best quality in terms of graphics, sounds, and the use of advanced gaming hardware capabilities.

When players log in to online games like Overwatch 2, CounterStrike, Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Skyrim, Minecraft, or any other online game developed and published by the big game companies (like those mentioned above), they are going Mainstream Gaming. Likewise, if they play offline solo-player games like CyberPunk 2077, DooM, The Last Of Us, Warhammer 40K, and other similar top-tier games, they are still going Mainstream Gaming.

As long as the game comes from a big and established AAA game company, playing it is considered Mainstream Gaming. This is how it is today because the gaming industry is no longer considered as a single whole like way back in the 70s to 90s due to the emergence of alternative game developers and the Indie (independent) games they create and publish. To date, these small independent game companies have become the big AAA game companies' strongest competitors, as they are continually producing games that rival the big games in both performance, gameplay, and quality.

Indie-developed games and gaming are not considered Mainstream Gaming, as to why the distinctions between the two have to be made clear and labeled so.

The Popularity of Mainstream Gaming

When one looks at Mainstream Gaming, one looks at the video game industry in general. As of 2024, the global gaming community is already estimated to be at 3.3 billion, that's the number of people playing games. In 2022, the video game industry's total earnings were estimated at $184.4 billion, surpassing that of the music and film industry combined.

Earnings in the video game industry are not just for the games that the big game companies market and release, but for the players themselves. What turned out to be a simple hobby for many became a source of income as gamers took their gaming to social media through the various sharing and game streaming services, like Twitch and YouTube. That's just game streaming, online, and event eSports are also major sources of huge earnings for the companies, the organizers, and the gamers themselves, with prize money going as high in the neighborhood of millions.

What's more. Mainstream Video Gaming (and video gaming in general) is practically open to all. Gamers of all ages, from the youngest to the seniors, are active worldwide regardless of gender, nationality, physical condition, or global location. Mainstream Gaming is open to all.

Advantages and contribution of Mainstream Gaming

Mainstream gaming has contributed to modern-day society not only through entertainment but also with other benefits as well. Video games are games, and games can be played in 101 different ways (so to speak), but the main advantages of playing or getting into Mainstream Gaming (and its alternatives) can be categorized into 3 major benefits. These are Cognitive, Social and Emotional, and Cultural and Societal.

Cognitive Benefits: To begin with, gaming in general can help greatly in exercising and developing an individual's cognitive skills. Through practice, they improve memory, focus, as well as pattern and spatial recognition. Many games require critical thinking and decision making, which can improve a gamer's ability to solve problems in the real world.

Fast-paced games improve coordination and dexterity, the hand-to-eye coordination skills, while the more sedate of games rely on creativity and attention to detail to achieve the goals of the game.

Social and Emotional: Online gaming platforms and multiplayer games provide gamers a way to connect with each other, no matter one's location in the world. They enable people to form online communities where they can socialize as well as play games together. Multiplayer and co-op games teach crucial social skills like cooperation, communication, and most of all, teamwork.

The most important advantage to the individual player though, is that playing games online with others is a great way to reduce everyday stress, isolation, and anxiety, which contribute to one's mental well-being.

Cultural and Societal: Video gaming has become deeply embedded in today's modern culture. It practically influences the modern norms and practices of today's societies and drives these influences into the continual growth of related industries. What's more, gaming has been a strong driving force in the innovation of current-day technology like VR, AR, and global online gaming.

Also, Mainstream Gaming is not only a massive and diverse form of entertainment but a strong societal influence in raising public awareness to certain critical issues that affect the entire world today, like climate change and public health, among others.

The current disadvantages of today's Mainstream Gaming

The main disadvantage in the gaming industry today, particularly in the mainstream games market, is the state of the industry itself. There are so many reasons that can be pointed out as major contributors to the obvious and much-felt current decline in mainstream video gaming, especially with the newer game releases in recent years.

Today's current state of society (which is quite tumultuous and confusing at best is affecting the direction and operation of the overall gaming industry. Problems like over-monetization where companies place profit first above all else, sans the main source that drives their business, the gamers (customers), the lack or developers response to addressing feedback and proceeding with what they deem the gamers will take and accept as opposed to what the gaming public really wants, has led to many new games going immedietly bunkrupt and punging into oblivion.

The problems are myriad, and wrong directions are taken, which end up in low gameplay and storyline quality in many newer AAA games, with themes and stories rehashed time and time again, causing a lack of originality to the dismay of the target gaming public. All these varied factors together, with the chaotic current-day social media with practically all sides against each other, is causing a huge spiraling slump in today's Mainstream Gaming Industry.

With all this confusion, it is quite difficult for gamers to get the kind of gaming satisfaction they were used to in the past, and many have turned to the more stable and continually growing Indie games market, which seems to be in line with current gamer preferences and doing its best to cater to them.

In closing, we can only hope for the best, but no matter what, the overall gaming industry will survive and carry through as people all over the world will always make time for their favorite pastime.