Games are refreshment for some, entertainment for a few, and a part of life for the rest. No matter which of the groups you belong to, ignoring the fact that the gaming industry has come a long way in serving the specific needs of users would be difficult, isn’t it? If you are a game lover in your 30s or 40s, you are lucky to have observed the overall evolution of the games and the gaming industry as a whole.
Today, the market scenario is in no way similar to what it used to be when you were a child. You might have begun with PC games, video games and then switched to gaming consoles in your growing years. In recent times, you must be enjoying multiple fantasy games like online fantasy cricket. So, the gaming interface, the gaming technology, and smoother navigation along with the freedom of gamers to choose their preferable portable device to play their favourite games have made the gaming industry flourish like anything.
Tech giant Accenture, in its recent report, depicted that the gaming industry has already overcome the revenue made together by the movies and music industry, accounting for being a niche garnering more than $300 billion alone. When it comes to exploring the future of games and the continuous implementation of the latest technology, together they indicate many more revolutions and reforms to be introduced in the future.
Prior to browsing through what the gaming industry has in store for gamers in the future, it is significant to take a quick look at the history of it.
The History of Gaming
Dr. Edward Uhler Condon was the first one to have recognized an example of a game machine at the New York World’s Fair in 1940. It was based on the game of Nim, an ancient mathematical game, which people played while it was displayed in the fair for six months.
After three decades, a commercial gaming system was designed to be used by aspiring gamers at home. Ralf Baer, in 1967, named the prototype as the Brown Box. It was a vacuum tube circuit that users could connect with their TV sets. Two users were allowed to control the cubes to chase each other, their moves being reflected on the screen.
The next phase in the gaming industry witnessed the introduction of Atari and Arcade gaming followed by a multiplayer gaming interface available for multiple players to connect and play the same game. With the gradual evolution, the industry has now reached the stage where people sitting at home can choose their favourite sports and select their own teams for the real-life contesting matches through fantasy gaming platforms. The performance of their chosen players on the field helps them earn points, thereby making them win cash prizes too if they appear to be the winner on the leaderboard.
The Present of Gaming
With the advancement in technology, the gaming interfaces have been made interactive enough for players playing from different locations to be in touch and communicate while the game is on. With the wave of COVID-19 hitting the regular lifestyles of people hard, there is hardly any face-to-face interaction that occurs in the current times. No matter how close one person is to the other, meeting physically has become a dream. In such a scenario, online games, which are the lately evolved phase of gaming, try their best to help people have social interaction virtually while enjoying the daily entertainment i.e., their chosen games.
This social interaction and, of course, the real-time gaming experience that the gamers are enjoying today is only because of the technological products and instruments that are utilized and implemented to make this happen. From equipment included in the gaming software for facial recognition to voice recognition to having wearable devices to lovely graphics and smooth navigation, everything together makes the gaming platform one of the best junctions for gamers to spend their time on.
Thanks to the technological impacts of virtual reality and augmented reality, the present gaming industry is flourishing with an expected double positive impact to be witnessed in the future.
Whilst all of the above things remain prominent, the most significant technical achievement is that the games are available and compatible with Android devices and Smartphones. Therefore, gamers of all age groups and from every corner of the globe can connect with each other and start playing from wherever they want while interacting via audio at the same time.
The Future of Gaming
So far as the future of games is concerned, every technology being included today will be inculcated in the games of tomorrow in a more enhanced manner. The technological advancements, including virtual and augmented reality, are still in their infant phase and a lot more work needs to be done. Above all, the game manufacturing industries and experts need to explore the technology even more and develop an enhanced understanding of the same before incorporating them in the best way for the best results.
The games that are streaming today might turn into mainstream game choices of tomorrow. Of course, with the technological infrastructure advancing every single day, gamers will surely see themselves buying the games live and playing them while streaming. Moreover, the gaming platforms, which host online card games, fantasy sports, etc., are becoming the potential advertising platforms for brands that specifically target the young generation.
With games like Pokemon Go and Fortnite, one thing that has been observed is that gamers love to play when they get a real-time experience. The game developers are quick enough to understand the bent of mind of the aspiring gamers and they know how to keep them glued. Hence, it is expected the next generation of games would offer a better command experience to gamers besides being available in 5G.
Final Thought
During the budding phase, games were just a pinch of entertainment in the lives of the people. Today, with the enhanced technological framework they work on, these games have become one of the best ways of keeping up the social interaction element alive in the lifestyle when social distancing has become an inevitable part of life. Besides that, strategically developed games are not easy to play. Gamers need to focus completely on the same and utilize their skills to the fullest to ensure they win. As a result, they get a chance to work on their cognitive abilities and help enhance the same by involving in the different games available online.
