The virtual economy is also large. In 2021, consumers spent more than $50 billion on digital-only video games (in contrast to physical discs), and nearly $100 billion more on in-game goods, outfits, and extra lives. As a point of comparison, $40 billion was spent at the theatrical film box office in 2019, the last year before the COVID-19 pandemic, and $30 billion on recorded music. What’s more, the “GDP” of the virtual world is growing rapidly—it has quintupled on an inflation-adjusted basis since 2005.
