The gaming industry has changed a lot over the past few years, with new technologies and innovations helping to make games more exciting and interesting than ever before. Improvements to computing power have brought us more powerful consoles, better graphics and more complex game mechanics. On top of this, the fact that game companies can make millions of dollars in sales has led to more investment in the games industry. The end result is that players are spoiled for choice, with hundreds of quality video games being released every year.
And it’s not just the console gaming industry that is reaping the benefits of improved technology. Mobile gaming, PC gaming and even casino gaming have all seen big changes thanks to better technology. Sites like CasinoWings offer more details on the improvements in the casino industry but we’ve made a list of some of the top game development advances predicted for 2022.
Virtual Reality
Virtual Reality (VR) is a computer-generated simulation of a 3D environment. Using a specially designed headset and peripherals, users are transported into a fully immersive game world, where they have greater control over their avatar. Virtual reality has been around for a long time now, but game development companies are starting to get a lot more out of the technology. Recent releases such as Half Life Alyx have shown just how good VR can be when done correctly.
In 2022, we can probably expect a lot more VR games, including the VR MMORPG NYX and Sam and Max: This Time It’s Virtual. These games have a lot of potential to deliver an immersive gaming experience to players. Hopefully, the price of VR headsets will also continue to fall, as right now, they’re quite expensive for the majority of players to enjoy.
More Freemium Games
Freemium games are games that are free to play from release but offer in-game purchases. While AAA games have always been quite expensive, there’s a growing trend for big publishers to release games for free in order to build the player base and profit more in the long term. This approach is a bit of a gamble for publishers but can result in huge profits, as seen with games like Fortnite and League of Legends.
The Freemium model started out in mobile gaming but has quickly moved to PC gaming and is expected to soon become more prevalent on consoles too. In 2022, we could see even more freemium games hit the market as publishers compete to capture the biggest player bases. While some people dislike these games due to in-game purchasing, most of the time, the purchases are cosmetic only and have no impact on the game.
Better Graphics
The quality of graphics has steadily improved over the years as the computing power of modern PCs and consoles have increased. Although the graphical difference between next-gen games and current-gen isn’t as big as it used to be, the improvements are still noticeable. Provided you have the latest console or an up-to-date PC, you can experience games in stunning 4K, with ray tracing, particle effects and other features that help to provide an incredibly realistic experience. Even if you don’t have the latest tech, you don’t need to miss out on playing games on the highest settings. Cloud gaming services such as Stadia and Geforce Now are quickly becoming more popular than ever. These services allow users to rent a virtual machine to play their games on, giving them access to high-performance PCs while paying a small monthly fee. The popularity of these services will only grow as high-powered graphics cards get more expensive and harder to find.