The online gaming industry is without a doubt one of the largest and fastest-growing markets in entertainment today, having penetrated the mainstream since its early years in the mid-2000s and having set new standards for the gaming industry as a whole. As technology evolves at an astonishing rate, prominent companies in the market have been continuously pushing the envelope for enhancements and innovations, culminating in a dramatic transformation of the way we play online.
With the COVID-19 in the past two years, gaming proved to be an excellent alternative for those complying with lockdowns and social distancing, as the online gaming industry had some of the fastest growth in history. These unusual years saw the rise of iGaming platforms, the improvement of gamified learning environments, and the release of a wide variety of new gaming experiences, resulting in a whole new range of possibilities to players from the four corners of the globe.
With the introduction of new technologies, and the advent of new gaming platforms and unique online trends in recent years, developers, publishers and even software providers are currently paving the way for complete makeovers in the industry, by coming up with new approaches and providing innovative environments and enhanced gameplay.
With a whole new year ahead of us, the following gaming experiences and activities are expected to generate some buzz in the video game industry, making them great alternatives if you want to explore new gaming trends in 2024, whether it’s for leisure and entertainment, or even for learning.
iGaming
Gambling has long been one of the world’s favorite pastime activities, whether it’s traditional table games like blackjack and roulette, lottery games, or sports betting. With social distancing measures imposed globally in the past two years, and land-based venues forced to close their doors, the iGaming business, commonly known as online gambling, reached new heights.
Today, the selection of iGaming operators is almost endless, with most of them offering classic casino games and online sportsbooks. Players can choose from a wide variety of games, such as roulette, blackjack and craps, specialty games and game shows, and even click here to enjoy some of the best instant win games available online. As for sportsbooks, players can place wagers on sporting events from all over the world – including major leagues and tournaments like the NFL, NBA, collegiate sports, motorsports, and even the Olympics.
Players are able to choose for a broad range of licensed and regulated operators, who provide a profusion of betting possibilities, a slew of payment options and banking methods, as well as exclusive bonuses, promotions, and loyalty programs.
Gamified learning
Gamified learning, also known as the gamification of learning, is an educational approach that uses video game design and gaming aspects in learning settings to engage and encourage students. The ultimate objective is to increase fun and engagement by capturing learners’ attention and encouraging them to study more.
In the past two years, with social distancing measures and lockdowns keeping students away from schools and universities, gamified learning played a pivotal role in learning processes during the pandemic.
According to the gamification theory in education, “learners learn best when they are also having fun”. Additionally, it implies that students learn best when they have clear objectives, milestones, targets, and achievements to strive for, all while remaining enjoyable to the learner. Because of the enticing features of video games that intrigue children and adults as well, it’s only logical to see similar engagement results when these game-based components are applied to learning materials.
As technology advances and permeates a lot of our day-to-day lives, changing the way we work, shop, socialize, and play, teachers and pedagogy researchers are starting to explore the potential benefits of using technology in classrooms.
Cloud-based gaming
Cloud-based gaming is finally here to stay. This new digital service has been gradually launched throughout the world, with large game catalogs that can be played from remote servers, without the need for downloads and installation processes.
The concept of cloud gaming has been around for almost twenty years now, and in the early 2000s, firms like G-Cluster and Crytek made the initial attempts at cloud-based gaming but failed to come up with viable platforms. The development of this technology was then halted, and we wouldn’t see any advancement until recent years.
This exciting new service has finally become practical as internet connection and streaming technologies have improved drastically in the last few years. And gamers aren’t the only ones who are excited about the arrival of this new technology trend, since publishers and developers have become able to monetize old games and previous titles years after they were released.
The launch of services like PlayStation Now, Xbox Cloud Gaming, GeForce Now, and Stadia in the past few months spurred interest in cloud-based gaming, and the extension of these services in 2024 made it a reality. With the projection of being launched in even more countries in 2024, cloud-based gaming will certainly cause some big transformations in video games sales.
Blockchain gaming
Unless you’ve been offline for the past few months, you almost certainly heard or read about cryptocurrencies, blockchains, and NFTs. These unique trends are currently among the most popular topics in the internet, with big personalities like Elon Musk endorsing this new technology.
Nevertheless, if this is still a mystery to you, here’s a quick explanation: blockchains serve as public ledgers for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin – which are decentralized digital currencies stored in computer databases under strong cryptography – and can also be used to create smart contracts and non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, the unique digital assets within a blockchain.
Currently, one of the most popular uses of blockchains, cryptos, and NFTs is for gaming. Blockchain games, or crypto games, are gaming experiences that incorporate on or more of these features, especially decentralization and NFTs. Blockchain games have given the possibility of developers and publishers finally rewarding players for their time and effort invested into gaming, through play-to-earn features and interoperability (the ability to share assets across different gaming platforms).
The concept of blockchain gaming was first introduced in the early 2010s, with the first games being launched around 2015. At first, most of these games revolved around collecting items in the form of NFTs, such as collectible cards and virtual pets. With the improvement of blockchain technologies, these games became more complex, and today titles like Alien Worlds, an NFT metaverse in which players build worlds and even engage in politics, and Upland, in which players buy, sell, and trade virtual real state based on real-world locations, are among the most popular blockchain games.
