Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
When it comes to tech trends that affect our lives, the $90 billion global video game industry is often one of the first places where many people get to see them in action. This is true for artificial intelligence (AI), virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR), blockchain, and especially the metaverse, which is the most popular word right now.
From the simple, blocky sprites that many of us played as kids, video games have come a long way. Gamers today are used to being able to explore realistic 3D worlds and talk to hundreds or thousands of other players in real-time. The infrastructure that game developers set up to make this possible is based on some of the most cutting-edge technology, like super-fast 5G, cloud networking, and super-powerful computers. So, let’s look at the most interesting and important gaming trends that will happen in the next year:
Since the 1970s, when home video games first became popular, players have come to accept that they have to buy a new console or computer every five years or so to play the newest games. This way of thinking might be changing, though.
Almost all of the big names in the video game industry, like Microsoft, Sony, Google, Nvidia, Tencent, and Amazon, now offer their games through cloud-based subscription services. Under this model, gamers don’t have to keep buying and upgrading expensive and power-hungry hardware like consoles or PC GPUs and keeping them in their homes. Instead, all they need are smart TVs and small devices like Chromecast or FireTV that can stream content.
Everything is done in a cloud data center, and the results are sent as streaming videos to people’s homes. Also, as super-fast networks like 5G continue to grow, more and more people will be able to use this new way of delivering games. Overall, it’s not certain that dedicated home gaming systems will go away, but 2022 will be the year when big players in the industry put more money behind their vision of a streaming, cloud-based future.
Cloud gaming
Since the 1970s, when home video games first became popular, players have come to accept that they need to buy a new console or computer every five years or so to play the newest games. But this way of thinking could be changing.
Almost all of the big names in the video game business, like Microsoft, Sony, Google, Nvidia, Tencent, and Amazon, now offer their games through cloud-based subscription services. Under this model, gamers don’t need to keep buying and upgrading expensive and power-hungry hardware like consoles or PC GPUs and keeping them in their homes. Instead, all they need are smart TVs and lightweight streaming devices like Chromecast or FireTV.
Everything happens in a cloud data center, and the results are sent to people’s homes as streaming video. Also, as super-fast networks like 5G continue to spread, more and more people will be able to use this new way of delivering games. Overall, it’s not a sure thing that dedicated home gaming systems will go away, but 2022 will be the year when big players in the industry put more money behind their vision of a streaming, cloud-based future.
Virtual Reality
VR was popular with gamers for a long time before real estate agents, surgeons, and the military started using it. In particular, VR gaming has become more popular in the last five years, with more and more popular games like Grand Theft Auto, Minecraft, and Doom becoming available through headsets.
More than its cousin, augmented reality (AR), which hasn’t had a really successful mainstream gaming application since Pokemon Go six years ago, VR will give us some of the most exciting gaming experiences of the next year. As prices go down for hardware, consumer headsets like the Meta Quest 2 get cheaper and cheaper. They also have the benefit of being able to work on their own or be connected to a gaming PC to use their dedicated hardware and make VR experiences even more immersive and graphically rich.
Soon, cloud VR might be possible, which would make headsets even smaller. The long-rumored Apple VR headset could come out as early as 2022. It could change VR games in the same way that the iPhone changed mobile games.
The World Wide Web
While Facebook and Microsoft talk about their big plans to make immersive, persistent online worlds for work and play, millions of gamers are already used to getting together in virtual universes to do everything from playing chess and bridge to blowing each other up with homing missiles.
This idea of expanding in-game worlds to include other forms of entertainment, like music concerts in Fortnite or branded marketing “pop-ups” in the very popular world of Roblox, will definitely have a big impact on the games industry and culture in 2022. More and more of the biggest games and franchises will be remade as “platforms,” which will give users a much wider range of experiences.
Some people may still just want to play the latest Call of Duty game to shoot guns at their friends, but others will find space in these worlds to talk, chat, or do other things with other people. Game makers will find it useful to keep players hooked on their platforms, either by making them more loyal subscribers or by making them a captive audience for all kinds of marketers. This pattern will connect all the others in this article, but especially the next one.
The blockchain and NFTs
Several of the biggest game companies, like Square Enix and Ubisoft, have said they want to add non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to their games so that players can win, earn, and trade unique in-game items. This has made some people angry. Some of these plans are likely to start coming to life in 2022.
Not all gamers like the idea and many of them think that these tokens are a waste of time. This is because the blockchain algorithms that make them work take a lot of processing power to run.
Esports
Esports is mostly about how video games have changed to become more like professional sports, with things like live audiences, tournaments, leagues, sponsorships, and paid players.
At the 2022 Asian Games, eSports will be included for the first time as an official event. This is the first time that Esports will be included in a major international multi-sport tournament.Esports, like many other forms of digital entertainment, became very popular during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, they made more than $1 billion in revenue for the first time, with most of that coming from media rights and sponsorship. By 2022, they are expected to make nearly $2 billion.
Also, 73 million people watched the final of the League of Legends World Championship in 2021, which was 60% more than in 2020. This record is likely to be broken again in 2022. This shows that gaming has truly become a spectator sport, and over the next year, both the number of professional players and the prize pools are likely to keep growing.
READ MORE ARTICLES:
