Why do video game workers offer labor at a discount? How can you design a video game for blind and sighted players? Does that design have lessons for other industries? These and other questions about the business of video games answered in todays episode. The Indicator just wrapped a weeklong series decoding the economics of the video game industry, we're excerpting some highlights. First, we meet some of the workers who are struggling with the heavy demands placed on them in their booming industry, and how they are fighting back. Then, we check in on how game developers are pulling in new audiences by creatively designing for people who couldn't always play. How has accessibility become an increasingly important priority for game developers? And, how can more players join in the fun? You can hear the rest of our weeklong series on the gaming industry at this link, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was hosted by Wailin Wong, Darian Woods, and Adrian Ma. Corey Bridges produced this episode with help from James Sneed. It was edited by Kate Concannon, fact-checked by Sierra Juarez, and engineered by Robert Rodriguez with help from Valentina Rodríguez Sánchez. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer. Help support Planet Money and hear our bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
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Okay, let's do a quick comparison.
$184 billion.
By one estimate, that's how much the video game industry made last year.
Now, if you look at movies, the record for the global box office is $42 billion.
That was back in 2019.
Blockbuster movies like Avatar and Endgame made billions of dollars each.
But so do games like Minecraft and Pokemon.
But the difference is maybe that video games just have a more lucrative shelf life than movies.
Take Grand Theft Auto five, the franchise's most recent release from 2013 that's already made more than any movie ever.
All this is to say, the business of video games is huge and growing.
And yet it's easy to miss the scale of the industry and what it takes to build one of these blockbuster games.
There is a cost to putting out these complex products, and that cost is often felt in human terms.
Workers at video game companies are known for putting in long, grueling hours.
This punishing schedule is so entrenched in the industry that it has a special crunch.
Crunch.