The year American physicist William Higinbotham invented the world’s first video game—a simple tennis game.
Numbers in the News: Video Games
September 12 is National Video Games Day. From Pong to Pokémon, video games have been entertaining us for more than 60 years.
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1958
2.7 BILLION
The estimated number of gamers worldwide in 2020
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70%
The percentage of people in the U.S. who play video games on their smartphones—the most popular device for gaming
THINK ABOUT IT: How have video games changed the way kids and teens spend their time?
SOURCES: AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY, NEWZOO, STATISTA, ALTMAN VILANDRIE & COMPANY
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