Trends In Video Game Development
by Arnab Dey Technology 19 August 2022
As the video games industry continues to grow and develop, companies look for new ways to grow new audiences and keep the existing ones engaged.
To do that, they implement new trends that, in turn, appear due to the latest technology advancements. Learning these trends can help you understand how the future games will look like and what you can expect from them.
So what are the current trends in video game development? Read further to find out.
Video Game Development Industry Trends For 2022
In 2020, the pandemic struck, and people started spending much more time indoors. That affected the video game development industry greatly. In 2020, there were 7 billion gamers worldwide, which is about 35% of the world’s population.
The numbers weren’t that big by 2021, but still remained quite impressive: last year, there were an estimated 3.24 billion gamers across the globe.
The pandemic didn’t simply help to increase the number of active gamers, but also led to the development of new trends, which remain relevant in 2022.
VR and AR
Virtual reality or VR is one of the latest game development trends. It allows the players to dive deeper into the game’s worlds and experience it on so many new levels. VR offers an immersion experience, unlocks new levels of interaction, and makes content perception more engaging.
However, at the moment VR experience is isolating. It’s hard to imagine how to play VR games along with your friends or partner, which could be a big drawback for those who view games as a form of socialization.
In this case, augmented reality or AR could provide a more engaging and socially rewarding experience. AR is all about modifying the real-world environment by adding sound, visual elements, and other sensory stimulation to it.
This technology was used to create Pokemon Go: the well-known game that encouraged players to spend more time outside and explore new places looking for Pokemons. Such experience could be shared with your closest ones and also used to meet new people.
Mobile gaming and cross-play
Mobile games might not be as complex as the AAA titles built for PCs and consoles, but they too can be engaging. In 2022, the number of active mobile gamers worldwide exceeded 2.2 billion, and 43% of all smartphone users are currently using their devices to play games.
Knowing that it’s no surprise that game developers create mobile versions of their titles (League of Legends: Wild Rift) or release games on a variety of platforms, including mobile (Hearthstone, Genshin Impact).
As mobile devices become more powerful and some of them (for instance, iPad Pro) could already compete with certain laptops in terms of performance, the gaming market could expect more mobile adaptations of popular games and the new ones created with mobile in mind.
But it’s not only about mobile devices: cross-play options are a great advantage for any game these days. Not all gamers want to purchase multiple consoles to be able to enjoy any title they want. Furthermore, the recent and still-lasting chip shortage makes purchasing certain consoles and powerful laptops difficult even now.
Offering titles supported for multiple platforms allow the gaming industry to cover larger audiences and retain its existing customers.
Cloud gaming and streaming
This trend is also a contribution to mobile gamers. Mobile games consume a significant amount of storage space, which could impact the device’s performance over time. At the same time, due to more reliable mobile networks and faster Wi-Fi, it’s possible to store these games in the cloud instead of the device’s storage space.
This will allow players to enjoy their favorite titles while not worrying about them occupying too much storage space and slowing the device’s performance.
At the same time, cloud gaming and streaming are a way to interact with other players around the world. This could be a big advantage for those who enjoy multiplayer games and social interaction.
Increased diversity
Gamers are a very diverse audience in terms of gender, age, budget, and preferences. This already affected the gaming market, making it more diverse — and this will likely continue.
For instance, making the games more affordable and less demanding in terms of graphics can help companies increase their audience because users with lower incomes will be able to play these titles without purchasing high-end PCs or consoles. Making the games more unorthodox could help attract the audience who is looking for something creative — indie titles already do that.
The diversity could also be reflected in the gameplay: for instance, when a player could choose the race, gender, and love interest of their character without it affecting the overall story. This is already implemented in AAA titles like Dragon Age and Mass Effect but can develop even further.
Involving gamers in the game development
Years ago, the games were created without taking the players’ interests in mind. The developers simply built them and then the marketing team worked hard to sell them. These days, however, the situation is quite the opposite.
Large game development companies run plenty of market research to learn about the audience’s expectations and interests. Marketers also work hard to make the titles appealing to potential players. This is already a win-win situation for both gamers and companies.
To sum up
There are plenty of ways to make the games more relevant and appealing to the players, and implementing new trends is one of them. In the near future, we could expect more titles created with the help of VR and AR technologies, more console game development solutions, and more diversity and involvement of the players in the process of game development. Probably, not all these trends will be implemented quickly, but still, they are worth the wait.
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