The future of video games is bright, with billions of gamers around the world and hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue. Some key statistics:
According to SuperData, the gaming and interactive media market generated more than $120 billion in revenue in 2019; mobile games accounted for more than half of PC and console revenue, at $29.6 billion and $15.4 billion, respectively.
According to Statista, there will be 7 billion gamers worldwide in 2020 – about 35% of the world's population.
As the gaming industry evolves, companies such as Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft continue to advance innovation in the console space. The market has attracted tech giants such as Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google, all of which have their own gaming products and products that extend gaming to the cloud.
Knowing the history of the industry helps to understand the future of video games. A brief timeline of the evolution of video games from the 1970s to the present:
1970s: Family and arcade games are gaining popularity. Popular games of the decade include Atari's arcade game Pong, the computer game The Oregon Trail (developed by the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium), Atari video computer system, and arcade game Space Invaders (made by Taito).
1980s: The video game market boomed in the '80s, starting with the arcade game Namco, followed by Nintendo's Donkey Kong, which launched Jumpman, today's Mario. Nintendo launched the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1985, the role-playing game The Legend of Zelda in 1987, and the handheld console in 1989, dominating the rest of the decade.
1990s: Microsoft added card games to Windows 3.0, bringing the game to millions of people. Before Sony released the PlayStation in the U.S. market, Sonic the Hedgehog and Sega Genesis consoles dominated in the early to mid-90s. Midway Games was introduced in the decade, video game violence was brought to the attention of the U.S. Senate, and hearings were held.
2000s: The Sims game The Sims by Electronic Arts (EA) kicks off the decade. In 2001, Microsoft entered the console market with the Xbox, and in 2005, the software giant became a major player with the Xbox 360. With the Nintendo DS introduced in 2004, Nintendo maintains its dominant position in the handheld market. The company subsequently introduced the Nintendo Wii, which included motion sensors. Games such as Rock Band and World of Warcraft are the most popular. FarmVille and Angry Birds, two mobile games, have also hit the market.
2010s: The popularity of mobile games increased due to the rise of smartphones. Games such as Minecraft, created by indie developers, and Pokémon Go, which laid the groundwork for augmented reality (AR) in video games, have transformed the video game market. Nintendo introduced the Switch in 2017, allowing players to take with them games to play on their home TV screens. Sony dominated the 2010s with its best-selling PlayStation 4 console, surpassing all other console developers in a decade. In 2018, the online cross-platform battle game Fortnite generated $2.4 billion in revenue.
Today, technologies such as AR, virtual reality (VR) and 3D graphics, as well as trends such as streaming services and mobile gaming, continue to change the future of video games. Other drivers include innovative game consoles, mobile devices, and technologies such as facial and speech recognition, gesture control, high-definition displays, and wearable technology.
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The type of video game
Video games are usually categorized by genre or genre, depending on how players interact with them. Here are six popular video game genres:
1. Action games
"Action" is a broad term that refers to games that require high reaction speed and strong hand-eye coordination. Players often face time pressure to overcome physical challenges, including combat, when participating in activities such as solving puzzles.
Popular subtypes of action games include fighting, first-person shooter (FPS), and survival. Early action games included the Super Mario Bros. series. Recent action series include Assassin's Creed, Resident Evil and Acts.
Fighting: Close-quarters combat between two or more characters or groups. Title: Street Fighter IV, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Tekken 7, Virtua Fighter 4, Soulcalibur VI.
First Person Shooter: Weapon-based combat from a first-person perspective. Title: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Halo 5: Guardians, Wehrmacht Headquarters II: The New Colossus.
Survival: Collect tools, weapons, and other resources to survive in a variety of environments. Title: DayZ, Subnautica, Forest.
2. Idle games
Idle games, also known as incremental games, require little interaction. Players earn rewards by tapping on basic actions such as clicks. Rewards can take the form of in-game currency or opportunities built on success.
For example, players at AdVenture Capitalist start with lemonade stands, but over time, with minimal action, they can grow their business into a thriving, lucrative business. Titles: Realm Grinder, Cookie Clicker, Clicker Heroes, Idle Miner Tycoon, Flower of the Century.
3. Role-playing games
Role-playing games (RPGs) typically allow players to create custom characters that represent them in a fictional space. Players inhabit the character to interact with their in-game peers and others and make decisions that can bring rewards such as skill points and inventory. The main features of role-playing games include combat, a developing storyline, exploration and discovery, and choices and consequences.
An early example of RPG is dungeon master in 1987. Recent popular role-playing games include Final Fantasy XV, Pokémon Yellow, and World of Warcraft. Popular subtypes of RPG include massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) and sandboxed RPGs:
Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game: A large number of players in a permanently online world play MMORPG. Titles: EverQuest, Guild Wars 2, RuneScape, The Elder Scrolls Online, Star Trek Online.
Sandbox RPG: The gameplay in Sandbox RPG is open-ended, allowing players to roam the virtual world at will and make changes without restriction. Titles: Astroneer, Minecraft, Roblox, Mars Survivor, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wilderness.
4. Simulation game
Simulation games, also known as sims, take place in simulated real-world or fictional experiences. Examples of real-world simulations include flying a fighter jet, cooking like a chef, or driving a truck. Fictional Sims may involve participating in historical events or living life as animals. The Sims offers both authenticity and entertainment for gamers.
Popular simulation game subtypes include:
Life: The player controls the daily life of the virtual character in both the real world and fictional environments. Title: Animal Crossing: New Horizons, The Sims 4, Second Life.
City Building: Players plan, build, and lead cities, towns, or worlds. Titles: Evan Colony, FrostPunk, Jurassic World Evolution, Skyline, Mars Survived.
Flying: Users get an in-cockpit experience. Titles: Kerbal Space Program, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, X-Plane 11.
Vehicle: The player sits behind the wheel. Title: American Truck Simulator, F1 2020, SnowRunner.
War: Simulate the experience of war from strategy to making life-defining decisions. Titles: Company of Brothers, World of Tanks, World of Warships.
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5. Sports competitions
Sports games simulate real-world sports such as football, basketball, boxing, or rugby. Some sports games aim to realistically depict gameplay elements, including the laws of physics. So-called arcade sports games care less about accuracy, including impossible physics and unrealistic settings. Other elements include franchise management and player development.
Popular subtypes of sports games include:
Racing game: Users race on a simulated track. Titles: Need for Speed Heat, iRacing, Forza Horizon 4, Asphalt 9: Legends.
Professional sports: Users manage teams, trade, and play their favorite athletes. Titles: ESPN NFL 2K5, NBA 2K11, FIFA 13, Madden NFL Series, PGA Tour 2K21.
Arcade Movement: Take motion to unrealistic and fun extremes. Title: Mario Tennis 64, Rocket League, Windjammers 2.
Extreme sports: Users perform difficult, high-risk virtual sports. Title: BMX The Game, Riders Republic, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2.
6. Strategy games
Strategy games allow players to make important game decisions that determine the outcome. Thinking, skillful planning, and managing resources are essential to success. Themes typically include military scenarios where the player plans battles, gathers necessary resources, builds bases, and recruits and trains troops. In peacetime strategy games, players may have to make important decisions to find treasure or save humanity from the impending doom.
Popular sub-genres include:
Multiplayer Online Battle Arena: A MOBA game involves two teams competing against each other in a predefined environment. Titles: Heroes of the Storm, League of Legends, Punishment, Conflict.
Real-time Strategy: RTS games involve quick strategic decisions to beat opponents under a ticking clock. Title: Age of Empires 2, Command & Conquer, Company of Heroes, Rise of nations, StarCraft II: Wings of Freedom.
Graphic design for video games
Video game graphics have come a long way. The limited processing power of the first generation of home consoles, such as the Atari 2600, allowed only simple graphics. Arcade games, such as Space Invaders — a type of FPS where players defend Earth from pixelated spaceships — have boosted the popularity of games across the globe, with game developers seeking new ways to make money.
With advances in bit technology, video games have shifted over the past few decades to include better graphics and more complex features, leading to the modern 3D graphics era.
Graphics evolved from 8-bit to 64-bit
In an 8-bit game, each pixel consists of 8 bits (1 byte) of image information in your computer's memory. Early video games offered only up to 256 colors and 8-bit graphics resolution, limiting the ability of game developers to simulate realistic visuals.
As hardware and software evolved, the game featured 16-bit graphics available in 65,536 colors, leading to the popularity of Nintendo's Super NES and its catalog of 16-bit video games.
The introduction of 32-bit graphics allows for 16,777,215 colors. Sony PlayStation used a strategic layout and integrated 2D bitmaps known as sprites to create 3D visuals that became the most popular console of its time.
The Nintendo 64 uses 64-bit technology to create more realistic 3D images, supporting higher color depth and advanced visual effects such as gradients and transparency, but also requiring more processing power and memory. The advantages of 64-bit technology increase the ability and speed to process high-end graphics.
3D graphics
Advances in bit technology eventually led to the development of true 3D graphics. Throughout most video game history, game developers have used 2D technology to achieve 3D effects. The 3D polygon graphics engine released by id Software for its game Quake in 1996 marked the beginning of a new era of gaming: true 3D. 3D graphics allow the game to run in three dimensions, simulating the natural movement of characters and objects. Since Quake, 3D game innovation has evolved.
Video game development process
Whether it's an AAA game with a large production and marketing budget, or an indie game with a small development team, a lot of effort is put into the development of video games. The process involves working with a variety of art media – music, art, animation, video – programming and marketing. The following key steps make up the development process.
Philosophy/Core Philosophy
The vision of the game was born in the creative stage. Developers determine the type of game, imagine the hero and protagonist storyline, establish game rules, and develop themes and environments. Putting ideas into practice requires a proof of concept, a process of gathering ideas from various stakeholders to determine the feasibility of making a viable game. At this stage, the development team addresses costs, timelines, and technical capabilities and sets expectations.
Market analysis
The FPS game Duke Nukem Forever was developed for 15 years, but all that time and effort didn't translate into critical or financial success. Most games don't take that long, but game development is a resource-intensive and costly process, and expensive games with inferior prices cost developers time and money.
Market analysis helps determine if a game will sell and determine the needs of your audience. At this stage, game developers check game trends, follow fan sites, and may interview or survey gamers about what they're looking for in the game.
Pre-production
Market analysis provides useful information about the features players want to see, paving the way for pilot production. During the pre-production phase, designers, developers, writers, and programmers work together to outline the game mechanics, create prototypes, set project deadlines, create documentation, and develop test plans. The development team brainstorms ideas for the story and characters and identifies elements of the game.
produce
With so many parts involved, production can take years to complete. During the production phase, the development team executes the elements established in pre-production: the user interface, characters, audio, storyline, and programming. After months or even years of work, some aspects of the game can change or scrap for a variety of reasons, such as cost overruns, design changes, limited resources, or poor presentations.
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Test
Before releasing a game, developers work hard to make sure it works properly. Quality assurance (QA) testers identify errors, look for vulnerabilities or corrupted features, such as roles that walk through walls.
The testing phase also determines whether the game's processes are valid, also known as process analysis. Does the story match the player's journey? Answering this question can help improve the game. Sometimes, game developers release alpha versions to a very limited audience, expanding the base of users who report bugs and suggesting possible improvements.
After fixing bugs and implementing feedback, game developers take the next step: release an official beta version as part of a pre-release. Beta stages open the game to a wider audience, disseminate information about the game and attract input and feedback from influencers.
After the beta phase, the developer merges the final changes and continues to resolve the bugs, and then finalizes the release version, which can be sent to the factory to produce physical media or published online. The final key step in publishing a game is marketing, which includes advertising, promotions, and sometimes playable demos of certain levels.
Post-publishing
The post-release phase includes evaluating the success of the release and identifying ways to improve the game. Post-release efforts can include providing regular software updates, refreshing content, adding new features, and fixing bugs through patches.
Driving innovative gaming industry trends
From AAA-level big budget games to crowdfunded indie games, successful developers follow trends to understand the needs of their audiences and anticipate future video game development trends. Here are six notable gaming industry trends:
1. Cloud gaming and streaming
Increased smartphone usage, faster Wi-Fi and Internet services, more reliable mobile networks, and greater hardware storage capacity in mobile devices have become major drivers for people to consume more digital content. Usually, users download games to their devices.
With an internet connection, gamers can interact with other people anywhere in the world while playing the game, but the game still runs locally on their devices. Over time, this can affect the performance of the player's device. With cloud gaming and streaming, users can play games from their devices, but the games actually exist elsewhere, such as data centers.
2. Digital Distribution
Companies like Netflix and Amazon have disrupted the home video market, and the video game industry is moving in the same direction. While game revenue is up, physical video game stores are declining due to declining sales of physical games.
Digital distribution of games through services such as Steam complements a publisher's marketing strategy, enabling companies to deliver a constant message to users, constantly rolling out new features, updates, and games.
3. New business models
Business models that have left their mark on the industry include free-to-play games and game-as-a-service (GaaS). Free mode allows players to play for free. These games are typically available on mobile devices and gaming PCs, and then introduce monetization opportunities. For example, players can buy points to remove ads, interact with other players, or play games unimpeded.
GaaS is primarily a subscription-based on-demand streaming service that enables users to play games on a video game publisher's hosting server. GaaS, combined with other monetization opportunities, helps extend the life of the game over the long term.
4. Increase diversity
The idea that gamers are entirely young men is a myth. According to Gamify, U.S. men ages 18-35 and 10% of women play video games. Among people aged 50 and older, 13% of men and women play. In addition, with the rise of cloud gaming and similar trends, the video game market continues to become more diverse. For example, according to Deloitte Insights, users with lower revenues can participate without having to buy a high-end gaming PC or console.
5. Mobile games
Mobile is becoming the platform of choice for consumers looking for new ways of entertainment. According to Deloitte, more than 2 billion people around the world play mobile games, and mobile phones are the biggest driver of growth in the video game industry. During the COVID-19 lockdown, mobile games proliferated as it provided users with more accessibility to video games. According to the Deconstructing Mobile & Tablet Gaming report, the number of mobile gaming users in the U.S. and Canada has increased by 12% since 2019.
6. Next-generation console
Due to trends such as mobile gaming users, distributing digital models, and cloud gaming, gaming has attracted many new audiences. In response, major console manufacturers embraced the change by launching next-generation consoles that would enable players to use both physical and digital games. For example, Xbox Series X gives subscribers access to hundreds of game libraries that are constantly updated. With state-of-the-art graphics, lightning-fast loading times, and easy access to new games, the next generation of consoles will continue to drive the video game industry forward.
Artificial intelligence in video games
Artificial Intelligence (AI) describes computer algorithms that allow machines to think and learn like humans. In video games, AI can teach itself to become unpredictable like a human player, finding ways to be smarter than human users.
AI can also bring benefits during game development. Game developers are experimenting with using artificial intelligence to create games that automatically evolve based on player feedback. For example, AI algorithms can respond to players' choices by quickly and automatically developing new challenges, characters, worlds, and elements in the game, creating levels and challenges for players to explore.
VR in video games
The terms AR and VR are often used interchangeably, but they offer different experiences. VR games immerse players in a world of software created using hardware such as Samsung, HTC, Google, PlayStation, and Facebook's headsets. AR games add a digital layer to the real world, overlaying video and graphics on top of reality.
The top VR games available today include:
Beat Saber: Music-based action/dance game
Catan VR: Video board game
Age of Falcons: Adventure Game
Superhot VR: First-person shooter
Skyrim VR: Adventure Game
WipEout Omega Collection: The Racing Experience of the Future
The future of VR is promising. One area of potential growth is education. For example, some medical schools already use high-quality VR applications to help students immerse themselves in simulated surgical experiences without risking their lives.
While VR is relatively new — Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and PlayStation's PSVR all launched in 2016 — it's revived a classic video game experience: going to arcade. VR arcades give players the space to play without harming themselves and turn games into a social event. While VR Street airports continue to sprung up across the United States, the pandemic lockdown has affected expansion.
What will shape the future of video games?
The gaming industry has developed rapidly over the past few decades. Video games are evolving thanks to technological advances such as 3D graphics, VR, and AI. As developers roll out new innovations, players will find more realistic, fully immersive simulations on screens and lenses, and will be able to connect further with others. The future of video games will depend on our desire to create amazing experiences and increase our opportunities for social interaction and engagement.