All Fun and Games? Israel’s Gaming Industry Is Blowing Up

January 26, 2022 iGaming & Gambling

Gaming in Israel is becoming as big as hi-tech. Local firms are rooted in online gambling, producing games designed to extract more and more money out of users

The gaming industry’s estimated income in 2021 is $176 billion dollars – more than the music and cinema industries together. In fact, it emerged as the world’s biggest entertainment industry a few years ago and has since left all the others far behind.
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Nonetheless, the gaming industry’s great leap forward took place in 2020, when income rose by 22.6 percent. The reason was clear: The coronavirus pandemic left people shut in at home, unable to go to restaurants and cinemas. Everyone was forced to find a new source of entertainment. Many turned to an activity they may have never considered before – video games.

The success was so huge that an estimated 3 billion people, about 40 percent of the world’s population, currently play computer, console or mobile games.

Israeli companies are taking up a growing place in this thriving industry, although they mostly specialize in a specific niche. It is possible that there are Israeli developers who dream big and aspire to develop the next Grand Theft Auto (the popular game known as GTA) and thus win the hearts of hundreds of millions of gamers. But so far no Israeli game developer has yet aimed for heavy gamers, trying to offer complex games with an elaborate plot.