Gaming is an extremely popular activity worldwide. The number of people who play games is estimated to be over 3 billion. Some estimates put the worldwide gaming market value between $180 billion and $220 billion in 2022. This is about double the market for the global film industry. The majority of the gaming market is people playing games on their smartphones.

The word gaming originated in the 15th century to refer to gambling in dice or card games. Gaming was used to refer to gambling until the late 1900s, where it was applied to playing recreational board games and pen-and-paper role-playing games. With the introduction of video games in the 1970s, the term gaming became more associated with its current use.