While the world of gaming hides many surprises, we already do know a few things from expos, rumours and crystal balls. From all these, we've chosen the major gaming trends of 2017 that are bound to make a difference in the way we play.

Cover: "Virtual Reality Demonstrations" (CC BY 2.0) by UTKnightCenter

AR VR gaming

Envisage seeing a few replicas of the colossal Pokémon Go, but don’t expect anything as mammoth to hit the world of Augmented Reality again this year. The upcoming AR titles might make a play to seize control of the fitness gaming or exergaming market as people look to add some sparkle to their workout whilst also tracking their progress. AR content will also likely continue to appeal to the gamers who need something to do on their commute and game developers everywhere will be busy developing a real-world amusing game for just that purpose.

Virtual Reality was expected to make a huge impact, with big moon steps last year, but instead, is continuing to take baby steps of year-on-year progress. There have been hurdles to overcome, not least the fact that we can’t remain within the VR environment for any sustained period of time without feeling like we drank a bottle of Absinthe on the world’s worst rollercoaster. Surely this is the year it all come together in terms of price, equipment and providing the rapid gaming experiences that we’ll all want to repeat over and over again.

"Bitcoin, business, tablet, boardroom, ip" (CC BY 2.0) by Whitez

Payments

Cryptocurrencies have become huge and although you probably shouldn’t throw your wallet or purse in the bin just yet, they should continue to be the currency of choice for gaming transactions. For instance, the best bitcoin casino sites now deal exclusively in Bitcoins and the advantages of this in terms of cost and speed of payment means that other types of game providers may soon follow their lead. Other payment options are likely to emerge and there has been great innovation in the area of actually paying for your gaming content, which is obviously a good thing. Although an annoyance for many, as it appears developers are holding out on us and not giving us the full package, expect to continue having to pay for downloadable content and in-game purchases. On the plus side, many developers will also be using the freemium pricing model, which is effectually a try before you buy model that will continue to appeal to gamers everywhere.

"Smartphone" (CC BY-SA 2.0) by clasesdeperiodismo

Mobile Gaming

The vast revenue opportunities available to developers in the mobile gaming industry will create a titanic variety of games and the mobile gaming scene will continue to soar. Expect to see updates change from simply fixing bugs to become downloadable content as developers look to increase the replayability value of their content. Anticipate more immersive mobile gaming experiences made possible with the more powerful CPUs and developed with the intention of expanding on the content and keeping gamers invested. We buoyantly declare that we’ll continue to receive some killer games from indie studios as they look to tap into niche markets by offering something off the beaten track. Yet don’t be surprised when you see some long dead titles given the reboot or reimagination treatment to prove irresistible to the nostalgic gamer.

There are no certainties in the gaming industry, but these are the areas of gaming that we believe will overwhelmingly dominate the gaming world in 2017. For the gaming titles that are set to overshadow all others in 2017 keep your eyes glued to this site for all the latest features and news.