When you look at the number of participants, sales, and the amount of money that goes into the development and marketing of video games, it’s more than clear that this is a major area of modern entertainment. A-list movie stars like Keanu Reeves and Charles Dance are giving their voice to video game characters, and Imagine Dragons are performing at the League of Legends tournament opening ceremony.
In other words, games have deeply penetrated the mainstream, and they’re getting bigger and bigger. Here’s what the future of this field holds in 2023.
1. AI
The ability of AI to write code, make art, and replicate voice is incredible and has many people in the gaming industry worried about the future. However, they fail to look at the big picture. Namely, indie developers are already the backbone of the gaming industry. With these tools, smaller teams can make far more ambitious projects.
Additionally, AI voice replicators may help further increase video game immersion. In the Starfield trailer, a robot pronounces a player’s name. It’s a huge step for RPG players across the globe.
In the past, when talking about AI in video games, the connotation was completely different. Usually, what people were referring to was the ability of a computer to play as a character or a faction against the player. Now, with all the incredible AI capabilities, people wonder why developers still struggle to make better AI. The answer would surprise you – making an effective AI player engine is easy (just look at chess); making one that feels fair is what’s difficult.
2. Blockchain
Crypto games are getting more numerous and more popular by the minute, which is why they are not to be underestimated. An example of this can be seen through blockchain games, which you can play to earn in-game currency and even cryptocurrency rewards.
The thing is that, due to their nature, these games sometimes have a negative reputation for being oversimplistic. At the same time, is there anything simpler than Cookie Clicker or Candy Crush? Both of these games are riddled with ads, and they’re heavily monetized with in-game purchases (bonus purchases, etc.). However, no one denies that they’re incredibly fun and addictive.
Blockchain gaming also plays a huge part in the in-game NFT use. In other words, you can use NFTs to prove ownership of in-game items. The thing is that NFTs can be used for any digital property, but their use in video games is particularly notable.
It’s also worth mentioning that in-game currency, by default, can be comparable to utility coins. In other words, overlapping is significant.
3. VR
One of the main reasons modern video games have such a huge audience is that, with a higher level of photorealism, you don’t need as much imagination to get immersed in the game. A DnD enthusiast or a child can see a green pixel and imagine a dragon or see a grey pixel and imagine a castle. Other people need more.
So, since we’re moving toward higher and higher immersion, it’s not such a wild claim to say that, in the earnest future, VR might become far more prominent. After all, more and more games are getting VR support, and for many video games, you have an avid modder community working on VR mods.
The bottleneck of this trend is, as always, VR headsets. Most people don’t have access to these devices, so the potential player pool is not as deep. This destroys the financial incentive of so many companies to engage in this type of game development fully.
4. AR
AR games are light and incredibly fun. Sure, while massively popular early on, Pokemon Go did not become as big of a global phenomenon as some expected. So what. How many people are using filters and mini-games? How many industries are implementing AI technology into the mix?
Now, it’s important to think even broader than that. Just try to consider for a second that kids spend more time playing video games and less time playing outside. Persuading them to go outside and throw rocks at trains instead of playing Call of Duty and Fortnite is futile. However, what if playing outside and video games were not mutually exclusive?
Even before the AR technology, some apps like “Zombies! Run!” did their best to erase the barrier between the real world and the gaming community. A player would hear zombies in this running app whenever they tried to slow down. While the technology behind it is simple, the concept is quite similar.
5. The new scope
One thing that’s causing a huge uproar in the video game development industry is the final release of Baldur’s Gate III by Larian Studios. The game’s scope is so huge that some smaller creators (and even bigger creators) are worried that this would set an unrealistic standard for the industry in the future. In other words, they’re worried that the players will also expect games this big from them.
A similar thing happens with Starfield, which combines hand-crafter areas with procedurally generated areas to encapsulate the universe’s vastness. This game heavily relies on modern AI technology, from AI voice generation to other quality-of-life improvements and immersion boosts.
If you remember the promise and the No Man’s Sky fiasco, you might have also forgotten that they did deliver in the future. In other words, a procedurally generated universe can be done; it’s just about doing it well.
6. Mobile gaming
Mobile gaming and casual gaming go hand in hand. These are the games that have a simple rule and a short session. In other words, these are the games that you can play when you have 5-10 minutes to kill. The thing is that these games have great replayability and immersion, which means that you can play them for hours and hours if you choose to do so.
With so many people with access to mobile phones, the potential player base is huge. There’s also a great potential for monetization, especially with most of these games operating on a pay-to-win principle and lootboxes. However, the regulatory bodies are pressing harder and harder on developers of these games regarding the transparency of their monetization practices.
Because of this type of monetization, for casual gamers, it’s sometimes better to buy a game than look for a free one. This way, they can also skip overexposure to ads. The thing is that these games usually don’t cost more than $10, and when you consider the number of hours you’re investing in them.
7. E-sports
The popularity of e-sports is at an all-time high. The number of participants, the number of players, and the number of major corporations getting involved as sponsors are all increasing. In other words, while the debate of whether they’re sports is still going on, the future of e-sports is more than secure.
In numbers, there are about 532.1 million members of e-sports audiences across the globe. The value of the market is at $1.44 billion, making it huge, even by the entertainment industry’s standards. It’s also a field that’s projected to grow quite big shortly as well.
In the past, the e-sports audience was quite young, but as they grew older (as this field is a few decades old already), they kept their interest. This is why roughly 60% of the audience is between 16 and 35. In a decade or so, the average age will go further up.
The gaming industry is definitely on the verge of something big
Whatever happens with the gaming industry in the near future, it’s bound to be transformative.
What kind of change will the AI bring to the gaming industry? Will it drive indie developers out of work or make them even more effective? Still, this is just one of many components of this change. While all of these speculations have a basis in reality, we’ll have to wait and see what comes next.