As if you thought that the gaming industry couldn’t get any more exciting? Well, you’d be surprised to hear about all of the cool new technologies that are going to take over your favorite games and give you a crazy new way to experience virtual worlds online.
Want to hear more about how these trends are going to be the biggest things to hit the screens in 2025? Keep on reading…
Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) Gaming
Climbing ladders, hiding from flesh-eating zombies, and holding your cards during an intense game of poker are not just things that you have to watch from your screen, they’re going to be actions that you actually perform.
The vanishing of the digital into the physical is not a new phenomenon, but it has become a staple of the gaming world thanks to virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). Today, hardcore players can immerse themselves into fully digital experiences thanks to specially designed VR headsets that are kitted out with a pair of screens and internal sensors.
Read More - Pros And Cons Of Creating Sports ContentThese could become more mainstream in 2024, and when playing online slots, players don’t just have to sit back and watch the wheels turn, they can physically press the button, hear the noise as everything gets started, and really experience the noise of the machine in more realistic detail.
The best part of this new digital extension of human experiences is that it has gone portable. It is now available on mobile phones through applications that combine our physical reality with a virtual space.
1. Cloud Gaming Services
Cloud gaming is all about streaming games to your own device rather than having to own a specific gaming console. You may have already heard of things like Google Stadia and Microsoft xCloud, which will become much more mainstream in 2024. But, we’ll also see the arrival of other niche services that will try to target more niche genres and demographics.
The advantages are convenience and access: gamers can play demanding games on much less demanding hardware that they already have, from smartphones to smart TVs.
Will the cost play a determining role when it comes to subscriptions to the cloud gaming service? Not anymore, if 5G comes fast, since latency and data flow are being addressed, and cloud gaming is a reality with strong market leaders, including Amazon, Google, and Nvidia. In theory, game streaming is the future, not an alternative.
2. Cross-Platform Playing
Although the concept of cross-platform play is now seen as standard in games, only through 2023 could players on different hardware play together. In 2024, cross-platform play as a whole is expected to reach its broadest point up until this point.
Players from PCs, consoles, and modern mobile devices will be able to play any new game, or even enjoy older indie gems. Not only does this offer a sense of community to gamers, but the extended player base helps to prolong the lifespan of multiplayer games.
In particular, social gaming is growing as a whole, with developers seeking to add social features directly into the games themselves, through optimized add-ons that enable chat, message, group chat, interaction, cooperation, and competition between players.
3. Evolving Business Models
How we play games in 2024 is so different from how we would have interacted with games a decade ago, and the popular developers have had to completely pivot their business models to cope with these changes.
Things like subscription services, you know the ones from Xbox and Playstation that are super popular at the moment, have garnered wider acceptance, providing users with access to a massive catalog of games for a flat monthly fee.
Read Here - ATP Finals In Turin: The Exciting Tennis TournamentTo go further, the rapid proliferation of blockchain-based games, collectibles, and NFTs (non-fungible tokens) is granting unprecedented ownership and monetization possibilities for both game creators and players alike. In this context, NFTs go beyond proving ownership of unique items, but can also result in exclusive game-playing rights in blockchain-based games.
A remarkable example of the potential revolutionary impact of blockchain and gaming technologies is Sorare, a sports NFT-collecting game. While still in the early stages of development, it has already attracted notable partnerships with teams across multiple sports such as football (soccer, USA), golf, and basketball.
4. Sustainability and Ethical Gaming
Along with these concerns comes a greater push toward more sustainable and ethical play, as players begin to think about the environmental impact of their gaming hardware and what their purchases support.
In 2024, we’ll see increasingly environmentally friendly gaming hardware, as more companies aim to create game consoles using components, parts, and production methods that consume less energy over the lifetime of the hardware.
Games are also changing to address ethical concerns, becoming more diverse and inclusive as a result. We’re already seeing games that innovate in points of representation and diversity in character design. More games are taking on issues that address mental health and unfurling important personal and social issues.
