Last year was a roller-coaster ride for the gaming industry. What were the trends this year and what can we predict for 2019, well read ahead and find out?
Subscription Anyone
Subscription based models are gaining a lot of attention, thanks to the success of such a platform when it comes to other entertainment. Come to think of it, this model may not be very alien to the gaming platform after all. Slot games like Book of Ra, card games like Rummy have always worked on a similar model.
But who knew that this model would start gaining steam with games as well. It may not be as straight forward as the online video streaming market, but places like Humble have managed to strike a good balance between curating games and offering them for a monthly subscription. This market may be in its infancy right now, compared to something like a Netflix or Hulu, but you get the drift. Subscribers are now attracted to the prospect of getting original content that is curated and unique offering them a diverse and varied experience.
Live Gaming Experience And VR
2017 saw a massive boom in the live casino set up where people from across the globe logged on to get a feel of how it is to play in a casino. 2018 is going to see a massive increase in live casino sites as well. With live dealers, real time chats as well as feeds, the mission is to replicate the casino setup online. Achieving this kind of authenticity is difficult without the tremendous contribution of VR.
Virtual Reality is sort of the back-stage partner to all online games, especially when it comes to online casino games. Adoption of VR in the online gaming industry has led to a higher better player retention.
Sequels And Prequels And Stretching The Narrative
Once upon a time casino games were meant for one kind of audience. Those that were not very interested in the story or the content, but just in the reward. This is fast changing, thanks to the other games in the market that run solely on strong and compelling content. Today there is a changing trend in the casino games circuit, with improvised avatars, better narratives, casino games too are getting into the story line spectrum, where the story becomes the driving force compelling the gamer to play on.
Storylines in an online, casino game set up also ensures higher player interaction, increases sign up rates, which is what it is all about, one such great example is the Book Of Ra Online. While storyline is all set to take the casino games circuit by storm, console games are all set to add to the existing storyline. For example, this year has lined up reboots of old classics like Obsidian Entertainment’s own franchise Pillars of Eternity II, as well as Shadow of the Colossus Remastered which is getting a massive boast to match present gaming standards. 2018 like last year is all set to release sequels to already existing names in the gaming world. With said sequels and extensions come a whole new experience, either by character development, introducing newer story lines or by expanding the gaming experience.
This year surely looks like it is riding on the nostalgia wave, whether this trend turns out in their favor is still debatable.
Women In Gaming
Whether you like it or not, gaming was never without its gender bias. I am not implying that women don’t enjoy video games or they are in any way lesser than male players, its more like how the game is constructed. Games, take any of the big names, don’t really have a female protagonist, and barring a few obvious ones like – Lara Croft, but you know what I mean. The problem arises when it is time for you as a player to select a female character in the game, there were almost nonexistent. Games are now including strong female leads as character to select from with Ubisoft using Kassandra as their female lead to demonstrate Assassin’s Creed – Odyssey at the E3 press briefing earlier this year. Games like Last of Us Part 2 and Gears of War 5 are now including strong female narrative into their game plots.
This is most definitely a small step in the direction of adding more diversity into our games, at least where gender is concerned. It is interesting to note that makers of games are finally paying attention to the growing female demographic that is playing more games.
