The Five Biggest Gaming Technology Trends In 2022 – Forbes

When it comes to many of the tech trends impacting our lives, the $90 billion global video games industry is often one of the first places many people get to see them in action. This is true of artificial intelligence (AI), virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR), blockchain, and in particular, today’s hottest buzzword – the particular metaverse.

Video games have evolved a long way from the primitive plus blocky sprites that many of us enjoyed in our youth, and today’s gamers are used to exploring realistic 3D worlds and interacting with hundreds or thousands of other players in real-time. The infrastructure put within place by games developers to enable this is built on some of the most cutting-edge technology, from super-powered computers to ultra-fast 5G and cloud networking. So let’s take a look at the most exciting and important trends affecting the fast-moving world associated with gaming in the next 12 months:

Cloud gaming

Since the birth of home video gaming in the particular 1970s, gamers have come in order to accept the need to upgrade to a new console or computer every five or so years to ensure they can play the latest and greatest releases. But that paradigm could be coming to an end.

Almost all of the big players within the video game business now offer their games through cloud-based subscription services, including Microsoft, Sony, Google, Nvidia, Tencent, plus Amazon. Under this model, there’s no need for gamers to continuously buy and upgrade expensive and power-hungry hardware such as consoles or PC GPUs and keep them in their homes – smart TVs plus lightweight streaming devices like Chromecast or even FireTV are all that’s needed. Everything takes place in the cloud data center, with the output beamed into homes in the form of streaming video. Additionally, the particular ongoing spread of super-fast networks like 5G will bring us to the point where this new way of delivering games will become accessible in order to more individuals than ever. All in all, while it’s not the foregone conclusion that dedicated home video gaming systems will vanish through our life, 2022 is a year in which we will certainly see industry movers and shakers throw more resources behind their own vision of a streaming, cloud-based future.

Virtual Reality

Gamers were fully bought-in to VR long before it became fashionable amongst real estate agents , surgeons , plus the military . The past five years, in particular, have seen a gradual growth in uptake of VR gaming, along with a growing number of high-profile franchises including Grand Theft Auto, Minecraft, and Doom becoming accessible via headset technologies. Moreso than its cousin, augmented fact (AR) – which still hasn’t had a really successful mainstream gaming implementation since Pokemon Go, six years ago – VR is set to provide some of the most exciting gaming experiences of the coming year. Thanks in order to the falling price associated with hardware, consumer headsets such as the Meta Quest 2 are usually becoming increasingly affordable. They also benefit from being capable of functioning both as standalone devices and of being connected to the gaming PC to take advantage of their particular dedicated hardware to enable even more immersive and graphically-rich VR experiences. In the particular near future, cloud VR could become a reality – further reducing the size associated with headsets. 2022 might even see the release of Apple’s long-rumored VR headset , which could have the same impact on VR gaming because the iPhone had on mobile video gaming.

The particular Metaverse

While Facebook and Microsoft talk grandly of plans to create immersive, persistent online sides for work and leisure, millions of gamers are already used to congregating in virtual universes to partake within every form of entertainment, from chess and bridge to blowing each other up with homing missiles. Within 2022 this particular idea of in-game worlds expanding to take in some other forms of entertainment for example music concerts in Fortnite or branded marketing “pop-ups” in the particular hugely popular universe associated with Roblox may undoubtedly have a big effect on the business and culture of online games. Increasingly, the biggest video games and franchises will repurpose themselves since “platforms, ” allowing for a much more flexible range of user experiences. While many might still simply want in order to log into the particular latest Call of Duty to shoot guns in their friends, others will find room in these worlds to engage in socializing, chatting or other forms of shared interaction. Game creators can find value in keeping players hooked into their platforms, either simply by growing their loyalty as subscribers or even through transforming them directly into a captive audience with regard to marketers of all flavors. This trend will tie all of the others mentioned in this article, but particularly the next 1 on our list…

NFTs and blockchain

Somewhat controversially, several of the biggest creators of games (such as Square Enix plus Ubisoft ) announced intentions to build non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to their games as a way of letting players win, earn and trade unique in-game items. In 2022, it’s likely that we will start to observe some of these programs come to fruition.

The idea isn’t popular with all players, particularly because many notice these bridal party as a wasteful use of energy. This is due to the large amount of processing power necessary in order to carry out the particular blockchain algorithms needed to make them function. However, along with game publishers declaring that they see the strong long term for the convergence of gaming and NFTs and a clear willingness to spend money to create it a reality, it’s likely to become a fact associated with life.

Another growing trend can be seen in the explosion of “play-to-earn” games that reward gamers with cryptocurrencies for taking part in daily play. Axie Infinity has over a million daily active users, with some earning upwards of $250 per day. This is a pretty decent income in some of the developing countries where the game is widely played!

Esports

Esports principally refers to the particular evolution associated with video gaming in order to include aspects more usually associated along with professional sports, such as live audiences, tournaments, leagues, sponsorships, and salaried players. In 2022, Esports will debut as an official event from the 2022 Asian Games, marking their own first inclusion in a major international multi-sport tournament. As with many types of digital entertainment, Esports exploded in popularity during the Covid-19 pandemic, generating over $1 billion in revenue for the first time during 2021, with the majority coming from media rights plus sponsorship, and is forecast to grow to nearly $2 billion dollars in 2022 . Additionally, 73 million viewers tuned in to watch the final of the League of Legends World Championship in 2021 – an increase of 60% over 2020, and that will record will be expected to once again end up being smashed within 2022. This particular goes to show that gaming offers truly developed into the spectator sport, and more than the next year, we may expect to discover both the number of professional players and the size associated with prize pools continue in order to expand.

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