Gaming Trend 2023-2024 - Top 5 Trends that Will Rule Industry

If the past few years have taught us something, it is that the gaming industry is evolving rapidly. In fact, nowadays it is bigger than the movie industry and sports industry combined.  It’s no wonder since it is estimated that the number of players will reach 3.6 billion by 2025. Gaming surely isn’t just for kids anymore. Studies show that 16% of players are over 55, while 38% are between the ages of 18 and 34. From monochrome lines to 3D technicolor, video games have drastically changed over the years. But, what can we expect in the following years? Here are some trends that are waiting just around the corner.

Virtual Reality

Gaming companies have talked about VR for decades now, but this three-dimensional simulation still has a long way to go to give players that immersive experience everyone is speaking of. VR equipment is still too heavy, and too expensive, so it is no wonder that the shipments worldwide for VR equipment fell by 12 % in 2022. Regardless, the future of VR still looks bright. Many companies such as Meta and PlayStation have dove into the VR industry over the last few years, so there are promising developments on the horizon. They are doing their best to make VR devices more appealing to gamers, but they still need to address the problem of the solitary nature of the VR experience. Currently, only a couple of games offer social experiences where users can hang out with each other in the simulation. If VR tech finds a way to offer a social experience, it will surely have an important place in the future of gaming. Just imagine the impact it will have on the online casino industry. You will be able to stay at home playing poker on Sky City Online casino or some other amazing platform and sit at the same table with people from all over the world in the simulation. How cool is that?

 Augmented reality

Unlike VR which completely removes you from reality, AR offers games that interact with reality. The most famous AR game is Pokemon Go, which was launched in 2016. Since then this game has earned over a billion each year in sales. The perfect combo of virtual and real has made this game a huge success, and we can surely look forward to similar games in the following years. Without a doubt, game studios will try to profit from the consumer demand for games that mash-up virtual and real.

Artificial Intelligence

For decades AI has been used in developing non-player characters, such as those bystanders in GTA. However, developers are now programming NPCs to “think” more before they act. For instance, aliens in Halo 2 can work together and come up with better attack strategies, instead of just becoming sitting ducks. Of course, NPCs can still do only what is written in their code. Apart from having an important role in the game, AI also plays a significant part in the creation of the game. Over the past few years, designers have been using artificial intelligence to generate game assets. That means they are no longer forced to draw each tree, or each pebble thanks to a technique called procedural content generation. This technique is sometimes even used to create game levels. So, that that mean game designers will soon be out of business? It doesn’t seem so. After all, AI cannot create an entire high-quality game from scratch like human developers can. However, AI-generated art will definitely have an impact on the graphics industry in the future, so we can look forward to some fantastic visuals in the next generation of video games. 

Free-to-Play Games 

A lot of gamers, especially those over 35, are interested in playing casual games they can download for free and play on their phones. The number of these games will surely skyrocket in the following years since gaming companies have realized they can monetize this interest in free-to-play games. But how do these companies earn anything when the games are completely free? There is a catch. Many games make money from ads, while others make money from in-game purchases. In fact, the company that gave us World of Warcraft reported that they made a $5.1 billion profit in just one year from in-game purchases alone.

 Cloud Gaming

The future of gaming lies in cloud gaming, and large companies such as Sony, Microsoft, and Big Tech are already getting in on the action. Cloud gaming is a type of online gaming that allows players to stream video games, the same way they stream movies when watching Netflix. This means players won’t have to spend a fortune on state-of-the-art devices in order to enjoy the newest games. Cloud gaming is expected to be worth around $3 billion by 2024, so it is definitely not going anywhere for a long time.

The gaming industry is still evolving, and it is very clear that there are some incredibly exciting developments on the horizon. Hopefully, we won’t have to wait too long to see what it will bring us next.