Quaternary sector of the economy in the context of "Consultant"

The video game industry is a significant segment of the leisure sector, straddling the tertiary sector, which provides services to people, and the quaternary sector, which focuses on knowledge-intensive activities such as research and technological development. This industry includes the development, marketing, distribution, monetization, and consumer feedback processes related to video games. The industry encompasses dozens of job disciplines and thousands of jobs worldwide. The professions involved range from game designers and software engineers to sound designers, testers, marketers, and customer support staff. Video games have gradually gained increasing relevance as a widespread cultural phenomenon, exerting significant influence on many areas of contemporary society: from the economy and the labor market to education, from consumption patterns and daily habits to architecture and urban planning, passing through sectors such as healthcare, the automotive industry, cinema and television, fashion, and sports.

The video game industry has grown from niche to mainstream. As of July 2018, video games generated US$134.9 billion annually in global sales. In the US, the industry earned about $9.5 billion in 2007, $11.7 billion in 2008, and US$25.1 billion in 2010, as per the ESA annual report. Research from Ampere Analysis indicated three points: the sector has consistently grown since at least 2015 and expanded 26% from 2019 to 2021, to a record $191 billion; the global games and services market is forecast to shrink 1.2% annually to $188 billion in 2022. Video games now compete with movies, music, and television in terms of both popularity and revenue.

One classical breakdown of economic activity distinguishes three sectors:

• Primary: involves the retrieval and production of raw materials, such as corn, coal, wood or iron. Miners, farmers and fishermen are all workers in the primary sector.
• Secondary: involves the transformation of raw materials or intermediate goods into goods, as in steel into cars, or textiles into clothing. Builders and dressmakers work in the secondary sector.
• Tertiary: involves the supplying of services to consumers and businesses, such as babysitting, cinemas or banking. Shopkeepers and accountants work in the tertiary sector.

In the 20th century, economists began to suggest that traditional tertiary services could be further distinguished from "quaternary" and quinary service sectors. Economic activity in the hypothetical quaternary sector comprises information- and knowledge-based services, while quinary services include industries related to human services and hospitality.