Video games have steadily risen in popularity for years. And with the social benefits of video games becoming more apparent, the trend has only accelerated. Gaming is now a bigger industry than movies and sports combined.
Revenue for gaming reached $184 billion in 2022, and the number of gamers is expected to grow to 3.6 billion by 2025. It’s not just kids either: 38 percent of gamers are between the ages of 18 and 34 years, and 16 percent are older than 55.
So what’s next? Culturally, gaming will only continue to become more mainstream. But what tech innovations are shaping the future of video games, and how will they influence the gaming experience?
FUTURE OF VIDEO GAMES
• Virtual reality
• Augmented reality
• Artificial intelligence
• Cloud gaming
• High-fidelity graphics
• Free-to-Play
• The metaverse
Virtual Reality
For decades, virtual reality (VR) — three-dimensional simulations players access via headsets — has tantalized gamers with the prospect of a fully immersive experience. But the technology has been slow to deliver on that promise.
Polygon’s Ben Kuchera put it bluntly in 2020: “VR has been five minutes away from some kind of breakthrough for about eight years.”
VR is still a niche category when compared to the rest of the gaming industry, with sales and manufacturing reflecting this: The global shipments for VR and AR equipment fell by 12 percent in 2022. And despite its buzzy status, it continues to give many consumers pause.
“Right now we’re sort of in this trough of disillusionment about VR,” Kevin Mack, a VR game developer, told Built In in 2020. “There was a lot of hype around it in 2015 and 2016, and then the whole world sort of got butt-hurt that their first-generation VR headset didn’t instantly morph into the Holodeck.”
Although VR has hit a few bumps along the way, tech and gaming companies are busy trying to advance the industry, investing considerable resources to develop VR hardware and games. Companies like Meta, Valve, PlayStation and Samsung have all ventured into the VR industry over the last several years. Apple is even rumored to be developing a VR/AR system, although there have been delays and issues. This trend of investment is likely to continue with the VR game industry projected to grow at 30.5 percent by 2028.
There are promising developments on the horizon for VR. But first, a few challenges need to be addressed. Namely, the bulky headsets and high prices.
Most VR headsets weigh over a pound and must be strapped tightly to a user’s face. It’s not terribly comfortable. You get sweaty and after a half hour of play your energy is sapped.
“The whole world sort of got butt-hurt that their first-generation VR headset didn’t instantly morph into the Holodeck.”
This experience chafes against that mode of playing that is typical of gaming enthusiasts — spending hours comfortably sunk into a couch. If VR hardware can’t align with the preferences of gamers, will it be able to survive? Until companies slim down their VR headsets, get rid of cumbersome connector cables and lower prices, most gamers — save the early adopters and tech enthusiasts — will continue to balk.
Companies are busy making VR more appealing to a wider audience, and hardware prices are dropping. But even when those hurdles are cleared, the fact that the typical VR experience is so socially isolating might limit its upside.
“[VR] is a solitary experience. It’s a thing that you’re doing on your own and it’s a thing that you choose to do to the exclusion of anything else,” Mack said. He enjoys playing VR games, but if someone else is around, he thinks twice before strapping the headset on.
Though he recognizes the limitations, Mack remains optimistic about VR’s future.
“VR, I think, will remain niche, but it could potentially turn into a big niche,” he said. “I think we’re going to see some very impressive stuff and very compelling stuff come down the pipe in the next couple of years.”
Mitu Khandaker, a professor at New York University’s Game Center, is hopeful about VR’s role in gaming, she said in a 2020 interview with Built In. Khandaker just doesn’t think it’s going to look like people alone in their homes playing through a headset, so much as a co-located experience that multiple people share in.
“I think that the future of VR is more through social VR,” she said.
Indeed, several VR games — such as Rec Room and VRChat — offer social experiences where users can interact and hang out with each other in real time. If VR unlocks more connections with other people, it will be able to earn a prominent place in the future of gaming.
Augmented Reality
Augmented reality (AR), a kind of gaming technology that superimposes digital images onto the physical world, typically through smartphones or special glasses, broke out onto the gaming scene in a big way in 2016.
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