As of today, emerging technologies are positively disrupting just about every industry. In banking, manufacturing, healthcare and retail, AI, cloud-based technologies and AR/VR are bringing better productivity and enhancing user experiences. But how are today’s tech trends impacting game development?
Below we will examine the most recent game development trends that are here to last.
Augmented Reality
Experts say, it will be 5-10 years until immersive technologies become omnipresent. The HDM’s (head-mounted displays) need to be refined, and lack of high-quality 3D design stands in the way to fast AR adoption. However, it’s in the gaming industry that immersive technologies are finding the most frequent application. Luckily, the latest versions of professional game development platforms like Unity3D and Unreal Engine 4 support AR/VR.
The popularity of PokemonGO suggests more AR-based games are soon to follow. Game designers are now releasing games one could easily play with a smartphone app or AR-enabled console without having to use heavy headsets. Apart from PokemonGO, games like Zombies, Run! and Geocaching have over million downloads on GooglePlay.
As of today, Europe and the US are pioneering AR gaming industry, with key market players like Siemens AG (Germany), Legrand SA (France), Honeywell International, Inc. (US), Assisted Living Technologies, Inc. (US), CareTech AB (Sweden) and ABB Group (Switzerland) keeping ahead of the curve. The list of AR game development companies is growing at a head-spinning rate with the estimated global AR game market CARG of 175%.
Virtual Reality
A logical extension of AR, VR is rapidly finding application in gaming. Brands like Oculus Rift and Gear are further refining their VR headset technology and VR games made with Steam are proving the VR gaming niche is quite promising. PS4 is launching VR headsets, so the market is getting saturated with even more options.
By 2020 the markets for VR gaming are expected to reach $22.9 billion with Europe and North America accounting for biggest VR game sales. What we are likely to see in the upcoming years is the integration of VR gaming with social features, enabling multiple players from across the world to meet as avatars in virtual environments. Surely, this experience is bound to deepen player connections and introduce the new level of closeness for gaming community members.
Indie Game Development
With the growing number of game design platforms from basic ones to state-of the-art development environments like Unity, Unreal Engine and Amazon Lumberyard, game development is no longer an arcane field only accessible to the chosen few. Getting your hands on game development has never been easier, so in years to come we are likely to witness the advent of more games like Dead Cells, Night In The Woods and Oxenfree, which will have increasing number of followers.
With Amazon Lumberyard Twitch integration feature, streaming your games is also easier than ever, so streaming is also likely to persist as a continuous cultural trend. Apart from Amazon, companies like Google, Sony and Microsoft are also launching streaming platforms.
Mobile Gaming
Mobile gaming is set to further develop towards multiplayer competitive genre and embrace more AR features. But with more and more young people ditching PC and console games for smartphones, the future of mobile gaming looks even brighter. The kids enjoy playing together and smartphones give them more flexibility in this respect. This pack-driven mentality, according to former VP of game design for Playdom Steve Meretzky, will shape the future of mobile gaming and will eventually spill over to other social circles. Understandably, mobile gaming will be increasingly cloud-based.
Players will increasingly engage in PVP battles in the real time, which sets the stage for the growing demand for reliable mobile backend. Increasingly, game developers will discontinue developing their own server-side solutions and use mBaaS for mobile gaming and apps.
The global mobile backend-as-a-service market is predicted to reach $87 billion by 2013 at a 64% annual growth rate between 2019 and 2023. This growth is not solely driven by mobile gaming; the growing number of mobile apps requiring a flexible cloud backend and the advent of IoT also account for the quick growth rate. What sets backend solutions for mobile gaming apart from others is the enhanced support of rapidly peaking and subsiding workloads. With increasing numbers of indie developers, the demand of cloud-based mBaaS solutions like Festi Cloud Platform may at some point exceed the supply.