Ben Sixsmith

What’s behind Britain’s obsession with video games?

It is bad form to be a killjoy when it comes to gaming, so I will start by saying that there is nothing essentially wrong with it. Everyone has to relax, and there are more damaging forms of relaxation like drink, drugs and arguing with strangers on social media.

About half of Britons game, playing on consoles, computers and smartphones. On average, Brits who game do so for about ten hours a week. Millions now watch other professional gamers compete with each other. Being a pro gamer has joined ‘football player’ and ‘rock star’ among the dream ambitions of young men. What’s more, Britain has a long history of making world-class video games and the industry is worth nearly £3bn to the UK economy.

The technology giants are now starting to acknowledge that people want to game just as much as watch TV shows. Google is launching a service that offers customers the chance to stream video games.

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