The gaming industry has seen steady success since the very start. The ever-changing gaming technology has kept gamers’ interest alive and kept them excited and hooked throughout the years.
Game developers worldwide are continually trying to develop ways to make the experience more engaging and entertaining for gamers.
The industry is seeing exponential growth and is expected to hit 180 billion dollars of profit in 2021.
Video games, online board games, and online casino games all have their share of loyal fans, and more and more people are hopping on the bandwagon.
The gaming industry has reached the point where players are amused with the preview of an upcoming game before it’s introduced.
The future of the gaming industry seems promising, let’s take a look at some interesting trends that we can expect to see in 2021.
Some exciting trends in gaming technology to look forward to in 2021.
1. Introduction of 5G Technology
The transition from 4G to 5G will be a big one for the gaming industry. The latency of the internet only limited the growth of smartphone games. With 5G the internet latency will be reduced from 10 milliseconds to one millisecond which, in terms of gaming feels like an eternity.
The widespread use of 5G networks is expected to grow in 2021, which will open up doors to multiple possibilities. It will instantly double the industry’s user base. Consider this: in the past 40 years, about 1.5 billion game consoles were sold, but 2.2 billion people already use cellphones to play games.
5G technology will make high-quality gaming more accessible.
2. Gambling and Casino Eames Entering Mainstream
Video games are popular, but gambling and online casino games are also becoming increasingly mainstream. Technology has enabled players to play casino games that were once restricted to brick and mortar on their PCs or mobile phones. Nowadays, there are numerous legal online casinos, and thanks to us, finding the online casino games in India to plan is easier than ever. Explore reviews of casinos and casino games and see a list of safe, legal, and secure online casinos in India.
3. VR Technology
Virtual reality is changing the gaming industry. It is making games and players’ experience more immersive. However, it might take a while to see more widespread use of VR, mainly due to the high costs of manufacturing.
4. Augmented Reality Technology
Another feather in the cap of the ever-increasing popularity of the gaming industry. AR will make the gaming experience more interactive due to the combination of the real world with the virtual. It also adds a motion control factor to the process, making the experience even more enticing.
VR and AR technology raised $1.8 billion and $1 billion, respectively, in 2016; in 2021, these figures are anticipated to reach $19 billion and $20.3 billion, showing us that they are an integral part of the gaming sector.
5. Hyper-Intensive Gameplay with Photorealistic Graphics and Storytelling
The gripping, lifelike graphics and storytelling will become even more advanced. Combining virtual reality with advancing graphics, the gaming experience will be even more enticing. It would be hard to tell the real from the virtual. Developers will be seen developing elaborate gameplays to keep the players hooked for a longer time.
6. The Changing Portrait of a Gamer
Another that has been slowly changing and will keep changing is the typical portrait of the gamer.
While up to the time only a teenage boy was considered a gamer, today, about 45 percent of American gamers identify as women. The average age of a player has moved up to 34 years. Players play everything – from simple puzzle games to deadly shooters.
By 2021, many millennials will reach the peak of their purchasing power and become the central part of gaming.
7. Streaming of E-Sports
When twitch was introduced as a streaming service in 2011, it took recognition as a place where shows can be streamed like on YouTube. However, twitch nowadays serves as a video game streaming platform for gamers.
Twitch receives over 2 billion live-stream viewers per hour, giving us a hint about the growing popularity of video streaming. Thanks to streaming, video games have gained fame as e-sports. The player base has grown on an average of 10% a year since 2015, and the viewership base has doubled. In 2017, total esports revenue was $655 million. In 2021, this figure is estimated to approach $1.6 billion.
8. The Emergence of Cloud Gaming
Cloud gaming is not a new concept. However, we will see PCs and consoles that will adopt the idea behind cloud gaming in the future.
Players will be able to play any game they like through a live stream on the device. It means players can play the latest games even on their low-performance PC since they will run on high-performance servers. Also, no waiting for updates since all games will automatically be updated.
Cloud gaming, paired with 5G network, will revolutionize the gaming experience.
9. Socially Engaging Virtual Reality Games
Games at one time were believed to be the play for the lonely. But with the emergence of technology games are now turning into a group activity. The future of gaming technology will modify games into virtual space rather than playing alone.
Battlefield games like PubG where apart from playing together, gamers can even communicate with each other in the game through voice and texts will make the play more engaging.
10. Open Source Game Development
Colossal AAA game developers or companies majorly dominate the gaming industry. It is difficult to enter this industry alone.
However, this will all change since new tools arise that will make the idea behind a software development kit (SDK) less important. It means that small level game developers or lone wolves will be able to release their games.
11. Face and Voice Recognition
Face recognition technology is widely popular in every other area of life, and gaming is not behind. Soon players can scan their face and create avatars similar to themselves in the game. A similar change is considered to be with human voice recognition. Using it, players can control the whole gameplay down to switching the console on and off.
12. Mobile Games Will Take a Front Seat
With the help of fast data speed enabled by 5G and cloud gaming, mobile phones will take a front seat in the gaming industry. More and more games will be developed that players can play on the go.
Final Words
The gaming industry will undergo a lot of changes in the coming years. It will be interesting to see what the future holds and how the predictions will unfold.
