The rise of video games has been steady over the years. And, as people seek new ways to socialize and entertain themselves, the trend has only accelerated. This has catapulted gaming to become a bigger industry than ever before and game developers into the most sought-after professionals.
By the end of 2022, the gaming industry is expected to be worth $200 billion. With over 2 billion gamers worldwide and billions of dollars at stake, we can anticipate many innovative technological advancements in the future. Aside from this advancement that enables new types of gaming experiences, we may also witness a shift in revenue sources toward free-to-play games.
It does, however, change with time, and new game development trends emerge every year. With technological advancements, game development studios find more opportunities to innovate and experiment.
So, what comes next for gaming? It would no doubt become more popular. But, it is yet to be seen what improvements await in the future and the impact they will have on the gaming experience.
Here’s a sneak peek at the future of gaming and the role of game developers in shaping it.
Virtual Reality
Though virtual reality is still gaining traction, the technology has the potential to change the way gamers interact with visuals.
VR has vast potential and game developers can facilitate a full video gaming immersion in the coming future as we’ve never seen before. There is also scope for developing technology that will allow players to maneuver around the gaming environment as if they were physically present. Game developers are combining these virtual tactics with other advancements such as facial recognition, high-quality graphics, and more, to make video games virtually indistinguishable from real life.
Facial Recognition
Facial recognition and 3D scanning technology are bound to play a major role in the gaming industry. With the popularity of multi-player royale games such as PUBG, Fortnite, and Call of Duty, game coders could utilize these advanced technologies to create avatars identical to the players.
Game developers have utilized this 3D scanning technology to create a realistic avatar for the player. While playing, players can even imitate their emotions on their avatars. To state an example, if you change your expression in real life, your avatar would automatically switch its expression as well depending on the situation.
Augmented Graphics
Video games have developed leaps and bounds since the old days of low graphic arcade games. Thanks to Augmented Reality game developers, players can now experience photo-realistic layers and fully rendered environments developed by using cutting-edge 3D modeling softwares and improved processing technologies.
Cloud Gaming
Cloud is the future of gaming and game programmers are adapting to the cloud technologies to allow gamers to stream games regardless of the device. Essentially, it allows users to play video games streamed from distant servers of tech companies in the same way that they can watch Netflix movies on their laptops. With the help of cloud gaming or gaming on demand, game developers allow players to instantly access thousands of games as long as they have a good internet connection. This significantly improves the game quality and also lightens the space load or other requirements.
High-fidelity Graphics
Game developers have come a long way in their quest for ultra-realistic graphics. PC gaming companies such as Nvidia and AMD have made significant progress in developing graphics cards that enable high-fidelity game design and techniques such as ray tracing, etc. Previously, shadows, reflections, and lens flares were brought into effect by being painted onto the objects within the game.
Now, game developers are using these high-end graphics to create an illusion of reality inside the game. The objects inside have a resemblance to their real counterparts in every angle and even do the same function they are meant to do. While it would take years to see fully developed graphics that would be strikingly similar to real-world objects, recent developments have shown that it isn’t that far in the future.
Voice Recognition
While controllers are excellent for gaming, they come with limitations. For a long time, gamers have used speech to communicate in multiplayer games. However, the transition to in-game voice commands had not yet been completed. Voice commands are now used by players to turn their consoles on and off. By speaking to their gaming systems, they can also control some aspects of gameplay, browse the web, and access their media libraries. Game developers are improving the voice recognition technology and such voice commands will have an impact on the future of gaming.
Mobile Gaming:
The rapid development of the internet has transformed gaming from indoors to the palm of the gamer’s hand. Mobile gaming has surpassed hard-core online gamers and dedicated consoles, as evidenced by the number of people huddled over their mobile devices during their daily commute and other public places. Some game developers purposefully make mobile gaming more accessible. For example, players can play PUBG on their Android devices for free but must pay for a PC game.
The metaverse
And of course, there is the much talked about metaverse. Any discussion about the future of gaming would be incomplete without mentioning the metaverse.
In plain words, the metaverse is a parallel virtual realm where everyone can live their second life by simply logging in. It has taken the tech world by storm and dazzled the world’s foremost tech companies.
In the metaverse, game developers will merge virtual and augmented reality and give it its own economy, as well as interoperability.
While we are still a long way from achieving it, the metaverse is already finding its way into various platforms and events. And it will be more than just gaming. It might incorporate bits and pieces of our mundane life as well such as office work, daily commute, and more.
These are just a few of the technological advances coming out of the gaming industry. But one thing is clear: game developers are setting the pace.
Conclusion:
The gaming industry is growing rapidly and it becomes difficult to predict what will happen in the next ten years. The possibilities in game development are just endless and it might just be that the industry would never completely be explored. Game developers are going above and beyond to integrate futuristic technology into the games and offer gamers a platform to do everything, from experiencing virtual reality to leading a second life!
Needless to say, the future of gaming is here and what awaits us is something beyond our wildest dreams!
