From the days of the first Pong, to Dota 2, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Overwatch betting, almost years have passed. Games have long ceased to be positioned as superficial, simple entertainment.
In the 21st century, in light of the continuous development of high technology, it is the gaming industry that has become the conduit for ideas of creativity and innovation. Now big AAA projects from companies like Sony and Microsoft are having a big impact on the world economy and culture.
A big player in a big economy
The gaming industry is gradually becoming significant in the global economy. Following NEWZOO Global Games Market Report, it has been revealed that the industry’s estimated value for 2017 was around $116 billion. These figures are 10.7% higher than years earlier. According to the latest figures, the most expensive companies in the game development and production market are
- Microsoft – $421.9bn;
- Nintendo – $42.5 billion;
- Sony – $38.1 billion.
The financial success of the industry has led to the emergence and development of certain trends. For instance, virtual reality, mobile and indie games as well as cyber sports play a major role. These are trends that should be paid close attention to when assessing the state and prospects of the gaming industry.
Virtual reality here and now
The last few years have been revolutionary for VR technology and we can expect even bigger breakthroughs in the future. Most companies have opened up their own VR game development departments.
This segment of the market has received special attention. Sony, for example, produces the PlayStation VR virtual reality helmet. And Oculus specializes in Oculus Rift, a virtual reality goggle company. According to preliminary forecasts, the VR market will exceed $45 billion by 2025. All of this points to the great potential of VR within the gaming industry.
Together with VR, augmented reality – AR technology is developing. AR is mostly used in mobile applications. A notorious example was Pokemon GO, which created a wave of interest in AR. Companies such as Vulkan Bet eSports, Apple, and Facebook are investing in the promising market, expecting the technology to make breakthroughs in the areas of
- entertainment;
- education;
- sience.
According to Augmented Reality Market research, the global augmented reality market will grow to $124.4bn in 2022.
Indie games with soul
While high-budget games are criticized for leaning too much into commerce, for art lovers there is a segment of indie games where developers show absolute freedom of creative expression. It is in these author’s games that you can see the real handiwork, the attention to every detail and the real love of the business.
One of those games that showed the industry that indie games can be commercially successful and still be able to retain their individual style was Journey, released in 2012. It became the fastest selling game on the online PlayStation Store. The average score on the respected Metacritic was 92 out of 100.
