According to experts, the gaming industry is predicted to register a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 12% between 2020 and 2025. At a time when other sectors are nose-diving, the games industry is likely to benefit from the COVID pandemic, which has forced so many to stay at home. People are looking for whatever entertainment they can and the social interaction and immersion offered by online games is a winner.
Here we explore the other trends that are going to be huge in 2021.
#1 IT’s coming home
The gaming we used to enjoy out and about have been transformed into an experience we can have at home.
Need an example?
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#2 Virtual Reality
Virtual Reality, where you are completely immersed in an alternative gaming world, has been around for a while. People have been predicting it is going to be the next big thing for decades. The pandemic has seen a surge of developer activity and there are now more affordable headsets available for use. It really could be the next big thing this time!
#3 Augmented Reality
More likely, AR is going to bloom rather than VR. AR only requires you to use an app with your smartphone. The camera is a portal to a world where graphics can be superimposed onto reality. The idea is that the game becomes more interactive due to the combo of the real and the virtual.
#4 Better Graphics
It is astonishing to see the evolution of graphics in such a short period. From the blocky and pixelated 1990s, we are not in a world where the computer characters appear to be like real characters. In fact, game developers are using actors to help bring alive the facial features and get better detail into the gaming experience.
#5 Face and voice recognition
The use of facial recognition has been used in security fields for years. Voice recognition is also being deployed with our phones and other gadgets. Soon, it is thought that players will be able to scan their face and become the characters in the game. You will also be able to control the whole gaming experience with your voice.
#6 5G and the cloud
This advancement is huge. 5G will revolutionise the gaming industry. Rather than waiting while your game downloads to a limited GB hard drive, you will be able to play right from the cloud. No matter the console, and there is talk that this will cross platforms, you can pick up your game wherever you like. While there are questions about bandwidth and the cost of such tech, the future of cloud gaming seems almost certain.
#7 Smartphone
As much as PlayStation and Microsoft would love to persuade you that the future of gaming is console based, it is more likely that there is more money in the games for our mobile phones. The cost of developing a game for a phone is so much lower and the return for publishers that much higher.
#8 Games as a service
While games have long been iterated and improved, there is a rising trend towards games as a service. The aim for developers is to make the user experience convenient, adaptable, and increase continuous engagement on the game. Therefore, there has been an emphasis on building community initiatives around games.
#9 Regulation
While everything in the gaming sector garden looks to be blooming, there are some shadows on the horizon. There are likely to be issues of privacy and regulation, as there is increased Government interest in controlling the level of fraud during gaming transactions. As soon as a free game such as Fortnite earned massive revenue from in app purchases, the idea of regulation and control was always going to arise.
#10 Investors are interested
The Gaming Sector above all others have found a way to commercial success. The eSports movement is creating a boom in interest in console and PC gaming, such that all sorts of companies are piling in money to the sector. With this sort of backing there is always going to be money to be made in games.
