The video gaming industry has grown at an enormous rate over the past decade. As technology has improved and become more accessible, people from all over the world are playing the latest games on their mobiles, desktops, and laptops. With a huge range of new and classic games to choose from, today’s gamers are truly spoiled for choice, but the industry hasn’t shown any sign of slowing down in terms of progress and development.
As technology has improved and become more accessible, people from all over the world are playing the latest games on their mobiles, desktops, and laptops
New trends emerge that influence how developers create games as well as how we play them. Video gaming as a hobby has become much more inclusive, but it has also developed its own separate niches, including highly professional competitive gaming, casual mobile gaming, and many more. In this article, we’ll be looking at some of the top trends that have emerged in video gaming in 2021 and how they might develop in the future.
Casino Gaming
Not the regular game category, but casino online gaming is definitely a strong trend in 2021. The games are more advanced than ever, and the rewards are great. A growing number of countries have either completely legalised online casinos or are moving in that direction as they realise how much tax revenue can be generated. Online casinos are a more accessible way to enjoy casino games like slots, blackjack and roulette, and there are hundreds of different safe and licenced sites to choose from.
Continuing Rise of Esports
Esports, also known as competitive video gaming, is a brand-new class of competition that has become much more popular in recent years. Esports competitions can attract millions of viewers on platforms such as Twitch.tv, and some of the biggest events give competitors the chance to win millions of dollars in prize money. Just like regular sports, Esports teams and competitors have legions of diehard fans, and the events have gained more respect from traditional sports organisations such as the IOC in recent years.
The Freemium Model
Free games are great as everyone can easily download and try them out without spending any money. They tend to attract much larger player bases which are particularly important for online multiplayer games with big lobbies such as Battle Royale games. Freemium games are free, but they can still make a lot of revenue by offering in-game purchases of cosmetic items like skins and other things that don’t affect the core gameplay. With this model, games like Fortnite have made billions, and the trend looks set to continue as game developers seek to capture emerging markets.
Never Ending Games
In years gone by, once a game had been released, that was it. Developers couldn’t change anything after release as games were played on a disc. Today, things are very different, with developers releasing patches and new content continuously. Over the years, it’s become the norm for games to be continually updated, at least until interest from players wanes. As new games are much more expensive to produce than ever before, we expect to see this trend continue in the future. Games are now being looked at as an ever-evolving world where the developers can add, remove and change things over time, essentially making it never-ending.
Virtual Reality
Virtual Reality has always seemed like the future of gaming, but until recently, it was little more than a gimmick. Most games developed in VR were cheaply made indie titles without much thought behind them, but in recent times there have been a few gems. Half-Life: Alyx is one of the most innovative games to be released in recent years and has shown a lot of developers what VR is really capable of. We fully expect bigger and better virtual reality titles to be released in the coming years.
