The gaming industry has been for years, a very competitive scene amongst developers. With the release of consoles such as the Nintendo Switch, PS5, and Xbox Series X, major changes are in place within the gaming scene that could dictate a lot about where the trends will fall in place. It isn’t just with the rollout of AAA titles that decide what’s going to work within gaming but rather includes other factors such as the gaming platforms, diversity, cloud services, etc. Suffice to say, the industry is flourishing but what other factors decide the trends in gaming?
PC Gaming Platforms
Gaming room no people in equiped with RGB powerful personal computer for online videogames tournament and gaming chair, first-person shooter game on screen. Cozy room with neon light.Steam by Valve Corp. has been around for so long it has become a behemoth when it comes to providing its users with a large catalogue of games. It’s no brainer because they are one of the first platforms to allow gamers to not only browse and buy games but also post their reviews and play the game they bought within the Steam library itself. It has dominated the PC gaming market for years with 47% of publishers preferring to put their games on the said platform. The Steam community has also grown overtime with discussions on the forums about bugs, mods, and walkthroughs. However, Steam is gradually losing its edge with the introduction of GOG.com with the latter focusing on older gaming titles that weren’t available on Steam. In recent times however that has changed, and GOG now provides not only older games but also the newest and mainstream ones. However, one of GOG’s advantages over Steam is the fact that the games they sell on their platform are DRM-free. Basically, DRM is related to digital copyrights of a game, however being DRM-free means that gamers can essentially play the games they’ve purchased on here without needing a platform to check whether their copy is bought by legitimate means. However, GOG actually isn’t the top contender that’s about to shake up the PC gaming market and make Steam completely lose its dominance—it’s Epic Games. While Epic Games may be similar to GOG and Steam, what makes them different is their library that features unique games such as Fortnite which is developed by the platform developers themselves thus the reason why they are the only ones who offer Fortnite. Epic Games also gives away free games every week for its users and once they avail it for free, it’s theirs forever. They’ve offered titles such as the Bioshock Collection and Fallout 3 among others.
Increased Diversity in Games
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The gaming industry is mainly a male dominated industry. However, research confirms that mobile games seem to appeal to women with 65% of women in the US playing mobile games. With titles like Animal Crossing, more women have been brought into trying out console gaming as well as PC and esports. Overall, the estimation of female gamers totals to 45%. Additionally, only 30% of the people who work in the industry are female. However, the diversity in games seems to be taking a step forward with gamers criticizing the 2018 game Kingdom Come Deliverance for the lack of minorities in the game’s open world. Developers are starting to make women and minorities more prominent in their games. This can be seen with 2020’s biggest release, The Last of Us Part II which features a female protagonist and a diverse cast of characters.
Next Gen Gaming Consoles
It’s no surprise that with every release of the latest gaming console results in a big change within the gaming industry. With the release of the Nintendo Switch gaming became accessible anywhere and anytime with its portable handheld design. On the other hand, the PS5 which released in 2020 comes with a high-end SSD which is a significant upgrade over the PS4 because it significantly reduced loading times. But what makes the consoles standout is the fact that plenty of titles are exclusive within the console platform such as Animal Crossing on the Nintendo Switch. Of course, the console with the best library of games will be ahead of its competitors.
Remakes and Reboots
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Just because a game is old with outdated graphics and sometimes clunky UI doesn’t mean it’s a bad game. More often than not, these older games are considered a classic that helped shape the games that are currently out today. Slowly, developers are starting to realize that remakes and reboots tend to sell well. This factors a lot of things such as childhood nostalgia and the title being a solid game on its first release, and now with its updated graphics and gameplay, of course this is a very attractive offer from the developers to the gamers as once again people who’ve played the game back in the heyday will be able to experience it again without the issues and limitations of the past. An example would be the Legendary Edition of the Mass Effect series which is a remaster of the earlier released titles and features additional content apart from the original. It’s definitely an upgraded experience. Basically, reboots and remakes are less likely to fail as seen with Final Fantasy VII which topped the best seller lists for a time.
Early Access Games
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Early access games are abundant within Steam with the platform offering approximately 15% of early access games. But what is early access? Early access games allow the player to play a game in its early development which is a contrast to beta testing because early access is open for everyone to try. Early access games are slowly becoming the norm for many developers as it is seen as a win-win for both them and the community of gamers. Gamers like early access as they are able to play a game in advance. Meanwhile, developers use this as an opportunity to get user feedback that can drastically improve the overall game. Once the game is finally up for release, it will already have a community of expectant players which can boost the game’s sales. An example of success from the early access scheme is Rimworld, a sci-fi strategy game which eventually became one of Steam’s highest rated games. Rimworld ended up selling thousands of copies as an Early Access title and received positive reviews in its full release years later.
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