A concise history of the video gaming industry from its niche beginnings to its emergence as a global phenomenon and cultural force. The History of Video Games chronicles the dramatic rise of an entertainment industry that has become twice as big—and influential—as the film and music industries combined. Packed with pictures and stats, each chapter explores the history of video games through a different lens, from the personalities behind the games to the evolution of gamer culture and issues of gender and representation. There are stories about the experimental games of the 1950s and 1960s; the advent of home gaming in the 1970s; the explosion – and implosion – of arcade gaming in the 1980s; the console wars of the 1990s; the growth of online and mobile games in the 2000s; and contemporary topics, including twitch.tv, the Gamergate scandal, and Fortnite.