Welcome to the Game
The massive $90 billion gaming industry is one of the most exciting propositions for investors, gamers and developers alike. Ever since the first video game was released in the year 1970s decade, the industry has been growing at a stellar pace making an everlasting mark in the ever-hungry minds of gamers.
Cut to the latest meta boom where gaming and reality infuse into single collective gameplay or games known as meta-gaming, a part of the expanding metaverse.
All this said, where can gamers expect the gaming space to head into the next few years?
There are many parallel verticals where gaming platforms are expected to expand into over the next few years. It is going to be a mixture of VR Gaming, Cloud Gaming, Meta-gaming and also games based on NFTs and blockchain. These terms were alien to non-gamers if we are talking about a period of about 2-3 years back, but ever since meta has put in an aggressive campaign to build and promote e-games, the mainstream audience had a greater understanding of the gaming developments surrounding the metaverse.
Let’s look at some of the prominent areas where the gaming industry plans to place its gamers into:
Level 1- The Virtual Reality Gaming Saga
Before VR became popular with architects, doctors and real estate brokers, gamers were already totally invested in it. The popularity of VR gaming has steadily increased over the past five years, with more well-known brands like Minecraft, Grand Theft Auto and Doom paving the way to game through the revolutionary headset technology.
VR is poised to offer some of the most thrilling gaming experiences due to the dynamic experience supported by Augmented Reality (AR). AR games like Pokemon Go have taken the gaming market by storm post its introduction in 2016, and more exciting developments are expected in the AR and VR space due to building interest from major gaming companies.
Consumer headsets like the Meta Quest 2 are becoming more and more accessible due to the declining cost of hardware and ease of accessibility. These headsets have the ability to function individually and also when connected to a PC. The connection to the PC ensures an immersive and graphically advanced VR experience much greater than that of an independent Meta Quest VR Headset. Cloud VR may also become a reality soon, thereby shrinking the size of headsets. Apple’s much-awaited VR headgear, which is expected to be rolled out in 2022, will revolutionize the gaming sector and take the VR gaming console global.
Level 2-The Introduction to Meta-Gaming
The emerging platforms and games in the metaverse will increasingly reinvent themselves as individual entities enabling a unique variety of user experiences and different gameplay. The smaller gaming platforms are finding their niche in the metaverse by participating in networking, conversing and building an interactive gaming community. It will be beneficial for game developers to keep users engaged on their platforms by creating a community which they can build upon.
Offering membership perks and loyalty awards in the metaverse gaming space has been the go-to trick for platforms to increase their popularity among gamers. The Bored Ape Club has recently launched their gaming space otherside where gamers can interact with their avatars and play together. This concept of interactive and community-based gaming is sure to hook gamers the same way traditional games did.
Microsoft and Meta are at the forefront of creating an immersive and persistent online world for business and recreation. The concept of in-game universes is increasingly growing to include different types of entertainment like visual and sound experiences and promises to deliver more and more upgrades.
Level 3-The NFT and Blockchain Gaming Space
In a rather contentious move, a number of the biggest game developers, including Square Enix and Ubisoft, declared plans to incorporate non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as a medium for players to win, earn, and trade exclusive in-game stuff. The NFT gaming space is sure to build up into a successful venture because gaming houses have announced their plans for the convergence of gaming and NFTs and are prepared to invest in the space on a huge scale.
The proliferation of “play-to-earn” games that give players cryptocurrency rewards for participating in regular play has been an upcoming trend. Over a million people are active every day on the Axie Infinity space, trading tokens and playing games on the platform.
Many naïve platforms are still building their own NFT gaming spaces for their users, and a few are already beta-testing them. Blockchain has made the development and UX of the upcoming games far easier and more interactive, but some section of gamers opposes its inculcation due to the ever-rising costs and minting fees of the NFTs. However, collectively the NFT gaming space is in for a blockbuster decade ahead.
The End Update
Just like every game has a recurring update, the gaming industry will also have regular upgrades, only possible by the never-ending efforts of the gamer community who strive to make the gaming space an advanced and interactive platform for all. The next decade will see these already introduced terms take the CenterStage in gaming making it a virtual masterpiece to live, play and game in.
See You on the Otherside!
