My first real game was called SWIV 3D - a helicopter fighter game on Windows 95. It was admittedly preceded by Adiboo and Professor Tim, although those games never quite produced the same adrenaline levels in the 7-year old me that SWIV did. Painstakingly sweeping the ground of anything looking enemy-like (including trees, because to hell with trees), with gunfire that looked like blue candy, for hours and hours on end, made me into the hard working man I am today. Just joking. Or maybe not...

Since then the gaming industry has gone through a cascade of both incremental and paradigm shifting events. Following the improvements of computing power, graphics have gone from this or this, to this and this. Artificial intelligence gives previously static entities human like characteristics. Audio sounds genuinelly real. Size and complexity of games have increased. Storylines that involve you infinitely more than a movie ever could. The list goes on and is highly correlated (and very likely caused by) the evolution of computer technology.

When dial-up modems ended and ADSL connections became the new norm a whole new era started, namely that of online, multiplayer gaming. Games like Runescape, EVE, World of Warcraft, Counter Strike, Quake and Starcraft entered the fray. A new factor then emerged, namely that of social playing, which in some cases evolved into online, competitive playing. Although it was still highly stigmatized to spend the majority of your time on games, some chose that route, and can be classified as the very first professional gamers - i.e. those who would earn money from playing games.

Perhaps what fundamentally changed the way gamers and gaming was regarded was when Justin Kan founded justin.tv. This synthesized into Twitch.tv in 2011 - a live streaming platform where an audience can watch and follow players in their favourite games, watch tournaments or interact with the community. Twitch brought gaming spectatorship into the living rooms of the casual player, and if outside sponsors did not involve themselves in the gaming community before, they certainly had incentives to do so now. Today, with popular streamers drawing 10.000+ viewers every day, tournaments drawing concurrent viewers of over 2 million, total tournament viewers of 20 million (mind you, that is equal to about 20% of what Superbowl racks up), filling massive stadiums, prize pools in the tens of millions of dollars and an incredibly involved and responsive community, there is no wonder brands are jumping onto the new opportunities. That kid who you thought played too many video games is potentially on a path to earn a $250.000 salary each year, travelling the world, being endorsed by huge brands. Gaming is the biggest entertainment industry in the world, far surpassing the film and music industry, meaning that if you are a star, you are potentially one of the biggest stars in the world.

So what remains? Where are the opportunities in this market? It depends where you target your efforts, who you are and what capabilities you have. There are still massive openings for brands to sponsor individuals, teams or tournaments. Trawling twitch.tv for streamers that can provide consistent, quality content is a start. Since a large part of the gaming community consists of youth, good marketing can have strong network effects.

What is potentially even more interesting is the possibility to offer professional teams software to help improve their play. Analytics software used to understand the behaviour of opponents in various situations is one that springs to mind. Working out statistics and probabilities of certain plays allows you to counter it more effectively, thereby upping your win chances. Identifying undervalued or underhyped players, similar to what Oakland Athletics did when assembling a team using computer generated analysis and consequently going on a 20 consecutive win streak, might give you an advantage when roster changes have to be made.

Thanks to the major interest generated due to the competitive scenes, there is also an enormous casual scene in the various games. The same type of software to improve your gameplay can be developed for this segment. There is, undoubtedly, demand for it. Also, certain games are growing consistently and quickly, but are underserved in certain locations. Identifying the markets with the highest demand and lowest supply of competitive gaming services, e.g. South America, launching ventures that simply facilitate gaming competition on secure, quality servers, can be very successful. ESEA, launched for Counter Strike in EU and US, is one example. If one can solve the issue of latency differences between US and EU players, allowing them to play against each other flawlessly (which they cannot today due to what is referred to as "high ping" - too large of a distance to transfer data quickly enough over, basically), you would have a success on your hands.

The entrance of virtual reality is quite possibly one of the most exciting developments for gaming lately. Although many, probably most, of the current giant games will not be transferrable to such a medium, new games and ways of playing is certain to develop. The Void, opening in Salt Lake City in summer 2016, is one example of how immersive gaming has the potential to become. Oculus Rift, acquired by Facebook in 2014, who was funded 10x of what they asked for on Kickstarter, is another.

All in all, one thing is for certain. The gaming industry is booming. Some tech companies have joined the ride, and have sat on the ride for many years. The industry is estimated to grow to nearly $80 billion by revenue in 2017. Youth are not escaping it, rather it is the complete opposite. Adults are becoming more involved as well. And the industry is literally teeming with opportunities, large and small. Are there any outside companies willing to take a leap of faith, or will the incumbents reap all the goods? I guess that's up to you, boss-man.