Predicting the future: Where video gaming trends are heading next

As we head towards the middle of 2019, changes in the video gaming sphere are already hinting at developments that may start to place. So, what exactly should we be looking out for in the latter half of 2019? What will the global video gaming landscape look like as we head into 2020? Whether you’re into first-person shooter titles or free slot games— it’s important to know where the industry is going next. Here we’ll look at some predictions on the whole and lay out exactly which video gaming trends will continue to increase in popularity well into the next decade.

Multiplayer gaming

The ability to join thousands of players across the globe in one online gaming arena is a change that has come around fairly quickly and definitely won’t be going anywhere soon. Titles like Fallout 76 and Fortnite are drawing in crowds of players keen to work together in teams. In fact, Fortnite’s Battle Royale game has been such a success that it attracted 125 million players in less than a year and is raking in hundreds of millions of dollars a month. It’s these kinds of multiplayer survival games that won’t be going away anytime soon having catapulted to popularity over the span of a few short years. Experts across the board are predicting these mass multiplayer survival-based online games to continue to surpass other genres in terms of player numbers.

Competitive gaming 

For many players it’s the taking part that counts, but that certainly doesn’t apply to a lot of the gamers out there today. In fact, the increasingly competitive nature of gaming is shaping the industry in major ways, with enthusiasts from around the world coming together both online and in person to battle it out in some of the most hotly contested competitions the world has ever seen. The term ‘E-sports’ has since been coined to describe this new competitive gaming phenomenon and has sparked some of the biggest gaming tournaments to date. The International, which takes places in Seattle, offers over $10 million in prize money to the eventual winners. Another tournament, EVO, which was first launched in Vegas in 2002, has since become a 3-day extravaganza, attracting teams from far and wide across the world. With attendance at such tournaments growing year on year, it’s unsurprising that the competitive gaming trend will be at the forefront of people’s minds in 2020.

The importance of audio 

With the continuing growth of sociable gaming through both multiplayer titles and the increasing popularity of tournaments mentioned above, it’s unsurprising that changes are taking place when it comes to the way gamers communicate. This paves the way for another trend, the growing importance of audio in the gaming sphere. While in the early 90s, good audio could be achieved using a catchy sound track and some well-timed side effects, nowadays, the use of audio in video gaming is more important than ever before. As player communication is now vital to gameplay, the way in which they do so has also become paramount to their success. Look out for some of the most technologically advanced gaming headphones and audio equipment that’s set to hit shelves very soon.