killeryoshis on 14 November 2013
Gaming was put "mainstream" in different times actually depending on the region.
In America games were made popular by Atari and Pong. Nintendo just revived the console market
In Japan games became popular when the Famicom/NES was made popular
In Europe Sony was the first company that was able to sell and sell big in the console market. This was mostly die to Globalization and the fact that sony already had inroads there with their other products.
Another myth is that gaming has gotten more popular. It actually has been stagnant since the NES era if we include the higher income and population growth. In the U.S anyway
Fun fact about 40% of the NES audience was over 18 
Check this video at 3:20 if you don't believe me.
