What will the games that will be released years from now offer us? We have brought together and explained the concepts that come to our minds when it comes to the future of games.
Video games, which have become more intertwined with technology in the last 10 years, have entered into a continuous evolution. In this article, we will try to find out what kind of future awaits us by considering the “future of games” and “factors affecting the development of games”.
His past is just as important as his games future.
In the nearly 50-year history of video games, we have met tens of thousands of productions and thousands of products. Some of these were very innovative, and some of them were products that we still could not figure out why they came out. But there were also products that almost never sold, that inspired the main element of a console that sold millions.
Therefore, it is possible that we will find the future in a grain of sand on the beach. First, let’s take a look at what can happen on that beach.
Virtual Reality (VR)
Virtual reality glasses, which I have talked about for a long time and which host many games, have not reached large masses at this stage due to both the difficulty of portability and the high price. That doesn’t mean it can’t be reached. But it sure has a long way to go before it evolves and becomes usable and accessible.
In between, there were very basic virtual reality glasses (built on Google’s cardboard technology) released by some companies. However, the lack of content, the lack of support from their producers, and even the glasses that were only released to fit the fashion unfortunately took their place on the dusty shelves of history over time. The Samsung Gear VR Headset was one of the best examples of this. Although the product, which was released in 2017, was renewed for three more years, it could not reach a sufficient audience and was withdrawn from sale.
Glasses developed by Google, on the other hand, were withdrawn from production, possibly due to both security concerns and the development of applications for violation of privacy.
We also see that VR glasses manufacturers still maintain the problem we call Motion Sickness, no matter how much they say we fixed it.
When we gather all these negative features together, virtual reality glasses are not yet sufficient in terms of gaming.
Of course, this does not mean that this will always be the case. It will take time to solve the mentioned problems. However, when it takes the right path, it is certain that it will be one of the most important products for the future of games.
Augmented Reality (AR)
If you’ve been following the Pokemon GO game that we’ve been talking about a lot these days, you know what augmented reality is. Although it was not released in our country in 2016, Pokemon GO, which we downloaded and played APK, is one of the biggest examples of this genre. We roam the streets and hunt Pokemon. If I’m not sure, but I disagree, it was called Car Wars. There was another AR production, where you could fight with other cars on which the application was installed, while driving on the road. Although it was very enjoyable to play, it was canceled after a while because it caused accidents.
Augmented reality, when properly edited and combined with existing technology, is an editing system that can provide an extremely powerful gaming experience. Even if the games are not the future, it will have very successful results if the games of the future take place in the games of the future.
When these types of productions, which we see mostly used on mobile devices for now, are combined with portable VR devices, the result will be really impressive. Imagine playing the Resident Evil VR game in your own home. If you like horror games, you can be scared at home even just going to the toilet.
Mobile Games
The technological advances of mobile devices are guiding the games that will be released in the future. When it comes to mobile games, don’t think of puzzle or sudoku tailor-made creations that most of us understand. At least don’t think anymore. Many big game manufacturers have started or are starting to bring their latest productions to mobile phones. Now that mobile devices are also powerful enough, they even started to allow crossplay games between all platforms. Konami is working to achieve this in eFootball. EA Sports has also said it will do that in the next FIFA game.
With such an advanced technology in hand, it will be one of the most important details that will change the color of the work.
Of course, mobile platforms also have their own problems. Neck pain when playing for a long time, insufficient battery life are the main ones. But when we say that technology is developing, these problems will also be overcome.
When we look at the games released in AAA quality, productions such as GTA San Andreas, Genshin Impact, PUBG Mobile provide extremely sufficient information for the future of mobile games.
Therefore, it should not be surprising if mobile phones take the place of PlayStation, XBox and even PCs as the only gaming platform in the next five years. Nintendo continues to work with the Switch to lead this, as it has in many generations.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Here we are, in fact, at the point where zurna calls zırt. Artificial intelligence, as the name suggests, is artificial. In fact, your opponent (NPCs managed by your device) has no intelligence of its own. You can also call it decision trees that are produced entirely by considering the reactions of people. They show a pre-planned behavior against one of your actions.
Even if every game maker says that they go much further in their artificial intelligence, they can reach results that can cause big problems on the manufacturer’s side. Because the more artificial intelligence develops, the more it increases the production cost of the production. Not only does it increase it, it can also lead to more difficult problems. Imagine that the creature at the end of an episode gave up fighting with you and ran away. You won’t even be able to move on to the next chapter.
Recently, many companies have started to focus on multiplayer support for this reason. They can produce productions with less investment in artificial intelligence. Let me even go a little further, the reason why the MOBA genre is so successful is that it hardly needs artificial intelligence at all. Those who play the production many times can encounter different tactics each time and try to go for different solution methods. No matter how old the game gets, this helps to keep it vigorous and prolong its life.
The emergence of eSports is based on this. While no one liked LoL when it first came out, Riot’s enrichment of content instead of concentrating on artificial intelligence not only allowed the emergence of new content and new tactics, but also allowed it to reach more masses. This extended the life of the game. Of course, that’s not the only truth behind LoL’s success. But one of the most important.
We can multiply examples. However, the possibility that AI itself will be the future of the game world does not seem very likely. At least when looking at today’s productions.
eSports
Last year, Newzoo’s Global Esports Market Report, one of the industry’s most trusted sources for market forecasting and analysis, found esports revenues to reach $950 million in 2019. In 2022, the global esports market is expected to generate approximately $2 billion in revenue.
These data show the direction in which the new brands will go, both existing and newly revealed, in front of the game manufacturers. Increasing sponsorship revenues are an extremely valuable resource for companies to reach ready audiences. For this reason, it shows that in the next few years even games like Uncharted can step up to grab a share of eSports, which Naughty Dog may have tried with its multiplayer experience.
Another impact of eSports on the future is that it can provide stability even on devices that are not very technologically advanced so that it can be easily accessed. This is an important step for companies to adapt their productions to mobile. Indeed, Riot has done just that with League of Legends: Wild Rift. Mobile Legends, which is of the same type, has passed the 80 million player threshold per month alone.
When the increasing player and audience are combined with the companies that attach importance to the mobile platform, it will play a much more important role in the gaming world in the near future. Of course, visually, I don’t know if it can gather enough viewers to fill a stadium, let alone enjoy a monitor or television screen. Although Blizzard is doing this with Hearthstone at its own event, BlizzCon, it may not be taken as an example as all Blizzard fans came to the Hearthstone area at this event.
Cloud Gaming
The future of games can also happen on a computer you don’t own. So in the cloud. Cloud gaming offers users the ability to play video games streamed from tech companies’ remote servers the same way they stream Netflix movies on their laptops without needing to open a DVD first.
As these services are often offered as subscription services, it shifts players from the mentality of owning physical media to renting digital content.
In the past years, Sony and Microsoft have launched their own cloud gaming services. NVIDIA also joined them. Of course, Google cannot sit idle and has launched its cloud gaming service Stadia. Amazon, on the other hand, launched its cloud gaming system called Luna in 2020. Even Netflix, which we have known for its movies and series, has shown signs of entering the cloud gaming market.
Considering all this, it is hard not to see that big investments are on the way on the cloud gaming side.
One of the biggest handicaps in the system, which transfers the games to the device you use, is the use of the internet. For this reason, you must have a very stable and unlimited internet. Considering what 5G promises, it is certain that it will play a very important role in cloud technology. However, how possible it is to have unlimited internet, I am not sure at this stage.
5G
Probably one of the most important elements in the future of games is the developing internet distribution technology. Game files that are increasing in size are pushing the games that are already difficult to obtain into even more difficult conditions. The productions, which are almost completely turned into digital copies, reach 100 GB, and this can sometimes delay you to reach a game you bought for a few days.
5G technology may be the solution to this problem. It is certain that this technology, which provides both stable and low ping times and much faster access, will have an important place in the future of games. The fact that it has not yet become fully widespread does not mean that we will not be able to reach it easily in the coming years. In addition, modems operating over the mobile network, which operators try to bring into homes, are becoming more and more common. With this aspect, 5G technology will take the game world into your hands in a short time.
Also consider the result of 5G when combined with cloud services. With a mid-range mobile phone in your hand, it will allow you to play the latest productions even at the highest settings. It will allow you to play the game with the highest settings without buying a video card by giving tens of thousands of liras.
Metaverse
Players are one of the groups that have the most information about the Metaverse. Terms such as online and cross platform are among the concepts that are always expanded with Metaverse. Also, gamers are millions of people willing to participate in world events and interact with brands.
At this stage, both players and companies are discussing how exactly they will reflect Metaverse in their games. While some of their games say that they will be included, the opposite statements of others show that they do not fully see how to evaluate them. However, as the concept expands and becomes more clear, I’m sure it will take its place in the gaming world.
Conclusion
We have a lot more to add when it comes to the future of games. However, just think of the productions where the above mentioned items will be together. Think of the sound, entertainment, and quality that a production that can bring together VR, mobile, cloud, 5G and AR. When that day comes, we will start using the term Game V2, maybe V3.