The gaming industry has come a long, long way since the late 20th century. Primitive platformers are now a thing of the past, and modern games are all about immersive, engaging experiences achieved with 3D graphics and intense soundtracks. Engagement really is the name of the game right now, as top titles like Fortnite, Pokémon Go and even League of Legends not only retain an existing user base month after month but also see increases in downloads on a regular basis.
Surging Popularity
Gaming is now so all-pervasive that there are currently estimated to be over 3.09 billion active players in the world – that works out at around 1 billion new players every seven years. And what is it about digital games that continue to attract new players? Well, cutting-edge technology, cinematic game quality even on mobile devices and the opportunity to interact with thousands of players from all over the world ought to do it!
Yes, the gaming industry is an entertainment powerhouse, but it’s not one to stand still. With the arrival of 5G and mainstream virtual reality imminent, how else will the digital gaming industry be impacted by new tech?
Gaming in the Cloud
The premise of digital gaming is player convenience. Gone are the days when gamers would have to wait weeks or even months to get their hands on a physical copy of in-demand games, and never mind those long load times or laggy connections. While downloading games online is a great solution to having to leave the house, it has brought about its own unique set of problems.
On some platforms, it can take just as long for a game to download to a desktop or laptop as it takes for old-school CD games to install and load. Plus, not everyone has access to top-of-the-range hardware that can cope with the storage that modern gaming epics require.
Enter: cloud gaming. As one of the newest trends in the digital gaming industry, cloud gaming has the power to truly revolutionize the space by bypassing the issues associated with gaming as a service.
Thanks to cloud gaming services, players don’t need to download any software or games locally. Instead, they can access vast libraries of games through the power of the ‘cloud’ and start gaming immediately. Some cloud gaming services are even compatible with mobile devices, completely eliminating the need for a console or PC.
Gaming Becomes Incentivized
iGaming, which is the sector of the gaming industry providing real money wagering opportunities via online casino, poker and sports betting solutions, has been a core global market for over a decade. The best free casinos have kept players engaged with unmissable bonus offers, free games and a huge choice of gaming experiences.
While iGaming continues to be one of the industries leading segments, with a projected value of $103 billion (by 2025), recent developments have taken the concept of play to earn and fused it with the latest in decentralised technology.
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT) gaming is the latest iteration of blockchain gaming and is built around the play-to-earn model. P2E incentivizes the gaming experience further than iGaming, by rewarding players who complete certain tasks within a game with digital assets that they essentially own. And, as demonstrated in games such as Axie Infinity and The Sandbox, digital assets are all the rage, and players are queuing up to generate and trade them.
