With the PlayStation 5 and Xbox One X release, the gaming industry is poised to undergo significant transformation over the next 4-5 years. However, next-generation hardware isn’t the only significant trend in the gaming business to keep an eye on. Today, the video game business sees several vital trends that everyone working in (or covering) the sector should be aware of.
Indie Games Are Growing Faster than Ever
Indie gaming has been around for a long time. Differently, independent game developers now have access to platforms (such as Steam) that allow them to release their new games quickly and easily. Indie games such as The Last of Us and Stardew Valley have become bestsellers due to this. Roblox wants to take the indie game craze to the next level. How? Roblox is a platform that integrates the production of games with the distribution of those games in a single place. It appears to be functioning as well.
Roblox now has 150 million monthly active users, according to the company. Please understand that most of these users will never touch a development kit or create a game with the Roblox Studio game engine. Many people, though, do, and in fact, many companies that outsource game developers have received great insights from the platform. They also leverage the Roblox platform to swiftly obtain feedback and improve on their games from the vast player base that the platform has at its disposal.
More and More Women Are Playing (Finally)
It’s no secret that the majority of players are male. Mobile gaming seems to attract women, though. Indeed, 65% of women in the United States play mobile games. However, some games (such as Animal Crossing) have contributed to drawing more women to the console, the PC, and the gaming world. The most recent iteration of Animal Crossing was a tremendous hit. Particularly with women and girls. In reality, it is estimated that 46% of the players are women. So indeed, the split between men and women among players is about 50/50. However, the truth stands that video games are a masculine industry.
Only 21% of the people working in the industry are women. This partly explains the fact that most players are white men. The popular RPG Kingdom is indeed here: delivery received good feedback. But the lack of diversity in the game world was criticized. This is beginning to change. Like society as a whole, the gaming industry starts to pay attention to inclusion in its games. In particular, developers in the worlds they construct are beginning to make minorities and women more visible.
Fresh And Green Gaming Platforms
According to a Newzoo analysis, the PC gaming business is valued at roughly $35B. Given this, $35B might be compared to the whole gaming console market. Until recently, a single platform controlled the PC gaming market: Valve’s marketplace, Steam. In reality, 47 percent of publishers place their games on the platform Steam. Steam is very dominant.
Due to the benefit of the first mover, Steam gained prominence. It was among the first sites for gamers to explore, purchase, review and play computer games in one spot. They have also created a large population of players that play video games together, talk about bugs and produce mods. But the advantage of Steam’s first mover is beginning to disappear.
GOG.com was one of the first platforms to split the dominance of Steam. GOG concentrated first on older titles that were hard to find on Steam. But today, they provide some classic and new games with widespread releases. GOG is one of the few game ecosystems that The Witcher 3 and oldies such as Heroes of Might and Magic offer. The second famous claim of GOG is that all games offered on the platform are “DRM-free.”
DRMis a controversial game practice. Many players see DRM as a bit of a nuisance. Others consider DRM a more significant problem that breaches a consumer’s rights when paying for a piece of media. “DRM-free” practically implies that gamers may play games without having to “check” whether they have legally purchased them, which has helped GOG distinguish itself from Steam.
These are the seven most significant trends in the gaming industry that are now taking place. And are expected to continue to expand in the years 2021, 2022, and beyond. The way games are created and played is rapidly evolving as a result of technological advancements. It comes from developers who are hard at work on new AAA titles for the ninth generation of gaming platforms. From single-person creators publishing small games on platforms such as Roblox and Epic Games to large corporations like Sony and Microsoft. The gaming industry is constantly changing.