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The primary source of revenue in the electronic gaming industry is the sale of games and the consoles on which they can be played. By 2010, about 60 percent of U.S. households owned a video game console.¹¹ Although a higher percentage of households have computers, console games (which play on the usually larger screens of a television) and portable handheld games constitute 95 percent of the $10.5 billion video game market, while computer games are just about 5 percent of the market. The entire video game market, including portable and console hardware and accessories, adds up to $20.2 billion a year.¹²

Beyond the immediate industry, electronic games have had a pronounced effect on media culture. Fantasy league sports have spawned a number of draft specials on ESPN as well as a regular podcast, Fantasy Focus, on ESPN Radio. On FX, fantasy football has even inspired an adult comedy called The League. Like television shows, books, and comics before them, electronic games have also inspired movies, such as Super Mario Bros. (1993), Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), and the Resident Evil series (2002–present, including a fifth installment in 2012). For many Hollywood blockbusters today, a video game spin-off is a must-have item. Recent box–office hits like Avatar (2009), Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011), Up (2009), Inception (2010), and Fast Five (2011) have companion video games for consoles and portable players. The video game–inspired Tron (1982) was revived with a sequel (Tron: Legacy) in 2010 and accompanying game and TV series. Japanese manga and animé (comic books and animation) have also inspired video games, such as Akira, Astro Boy, and Naruto.

The commercial nature of the entertainment media has influenced video games as well. Like television's infomercials and newspaper and magazines' advertorials, "advergames" are video games created for purely promotional purposes. In 1992, Chester Cheetah, the official mascot for Cheetos snacks, starred in two video games for the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo systems-Chester Cheetah: Too Cool to Fool and Chester Cheetah: Wild Wild Quest. In late 2006, Burger King sold three advergame titles for Xbox and Xbox 360 consoles for $3.99 each with value-meal purchases. One title, Sneak King, required the player to have the Burger King mascot deliver food to other characters before they faint from hunger.

While the commercial objectives of the Burger King games are clear, in-game product placement is often more subtle. In-game advertisements are ads for companies and products that appear as billboards or logos on products in the game environment, or as screen-blocking pop-up ads. In-game ad specialist agency IGA claims to put "hundreds of millions of impressions per week" in video games played on PS3, Wii, and Xbox 360 for clients like McDonald's, T-Mobile, Geico, AT&T, and Red Bull.¹³