When referring to technology, a decade is a very long time. In the past 10 years, there have been multiple developments in technology, which have since trickled down to gaming. From massive improvements in graphics and display technology to some significant gameplay changes, the evolving gaming demography perfectly encapsulates the various upgrades.
Video games aren’t the only niche affected by the change, as the iGaming industry too witnessed countless updates. This is evident from the ton of new casinos popping up every once in a while. Keeping that in mind, here are
5 Ways in which Online Gaming Evolved in the Last Decade
1. Indie Games
Perhaps one of the greatest developments in the last decade was the introduction of indie games. While demand for titles in the AAA category like Assassin’s Creed and Call of Duty skyrockets with every new console generation, indie games still manage to rise from the shadows to become recognised as must-play titles on all platforms.
With the help of crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter, smaller studios have been able to develop their ideas, opening up a whole new niche for gamers to explore.
2. Pre-Ordering
With the popularity of traditional brick-and-mortar establishments like Gamestop slowly eroding over the years, thanks to the newfound accessibility and convenience offered by eCommerce platforms, the pre-ordering culture slowly made its foray into the gaming industry. With consoles like the PlayStation and the Xbox cultivating the culture, pre-ordering has evolved into a crucial part of the gaming industry, allowing studios to gauge demand in advance and recover a small portion of their investments along the way!
3. The Free-to-Play Culture
As new titles flood the market every year, and the volume keeps going up, consumers have become excessively cautious about spending money on the best titles only. Thus, reducing the overall revenue. This sparked the free-to-play culture, often dubbed free-to-play as it allows customers to invest in in-game goodies, only if they’re so inclined. Most mobile games today follow this strategy quite effectively.
4. Mobile Gaming
Almost every individual residing in developed countries own a smartphone since 2015. This is a huge market for gaming studios that nobody could have predicted a decade ago! Introducing smartphones proved to be detrimental to hand-held gaming devices, whose popularity had been slowly sinking since the early 2000s. However, this opened a new opportunity for software developers to cash in on the newfound demand for mobile games. Judging from the steady demand curve in the past five years, the trend is only going to get stronger in the near future.
5. The Death of Split-Screen Gaming
Multiplayer gaming is perhaps one of the greatest things to have ever happened to the industry. While split-screen gaming was never the ideal way forward, it paved the way for what we have today. With the internet revolution and the rise of console gaming, came innovative games that changed the way gamers looked at multiplayer titles forever. Halo 5: Guardians is perhaps the greatest example of the move.
