It’s undeniable that the online gaming industry is one of the largest and fastest-growing markets in the entertainment sector today, being in the mainstream since its emergence in the mid-1980s. Major companies in the industry have been pushing for innovations and new gaming experiences to transform the way we play video games, as technology advances at an incredible pace.
Last year, video games became a popular alternative for people staying home to comply with social distancing measures, and the online gaming market saw some of the largest growth rates in history. iGaming platforms soared in popularity, social gaming experiences like Among Us and Roblox – two of the most popular free-to-play games – broke into the mainstream, and a new generation of consoles came out in this unusual year.
Despite the fact that the pandemic is finally coming to an end, with vaccinations spreading across the globe, interest in video games remains high, with recent studies predicting that new gaming experiences like cloud gaming will have a significant impact on industry revenues in the coming years. Therefore, it’s safe to say there’s still more to come as online gaming evolves into a powerhouse within the entertainment industry.
Developers and publishers have been able to create new gaming activities, provide immersive environments, and enhanced gameplay, allowing players to enjoy different aspects of virtual entertainment, thanks to new technologies and gaming trends that are paving the way for complete transformations in the industry.
As we draw close to the end of the year, the following gaming experiences have attracted millions of players around the world, and certainly are great choices if you’re looking to try new gaming trends in 2022.
Social Gaming
Whether it’s through multiplayer features, social platforms, activity feeds, guild mechanics, or even by implementing social features within the gameplay, social gaming refers to video games that allow users to socialize while playing.
Despite the fact that social gaming is still a new idea, it soared in popularity during the pandemic, as people were looking for new entertainment alternatives to interact with family and friends, attracting gamers from all over the world and accounting for millions of hours of streamed content.
Among the most popular titles in this new genre are Innersloth’s 2018 social deduction game Among Us – which saw an increase of 15 percent in the total volume of hours played in 2021 – Epic Games’ cultural phenomenon battle royale Fortnite, and Roblox, a sandbox platform with integrated social features in which players can create games and join each others’ experiences – during the pandemic, the game’s total volume of hours increased 101 percent.
iGaming
Gambling has been one of the world’s favorite pastimes for quite some time, whether it’s classic casino games like roulette and blackjack or even sports betting. Last year, however, with the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing measures enforced all over the world, the iGaming industry experienced a surge in popularity, as land-based gambling facilities were forced to shut down physical operations.
Today, the selection of casino websites and online sportsbooks is huge; at online casinos, game options range from classics like roulette, blackjack, and poker, to table games like craps and sic bo, and with online sportsbooks, bettors are able to place wagers on major sports events from all over the world, including popular leagues like the NFL, NBA, and MLB.
With this huge offer, it can be somewhat overwhelming to find the best iGaming platforms and the most reliable operators. But there are helpful tools like onlinecasinogames.com, in which players can find trustworthy casinos and iGaming platforms, thorough reviews of operators, software providers, and casino games, and even get access to special bonuses and promotions to play these games online.
Cloud Gaming
Eliminating the need for slow downloads and lengthy installation processes, cloud gaming has finally arrived and is gradually becoming available around the world, giving gamers the possibility of playing video games on remote servers.
Cloud gaming has been around for a while now, and the concept was introduced almost twenty years ago, with companies like G-Cluster and Crytek making the first attempts in the early 2000s. However, due to limited infrastructure and bandwidth constraints, development of this technology was put on hold, and we didn’t see any progress until lately.
This new trend has become viable since internet access and streaming technology have significantly improved in the past couple of years. In the last year, the launch of services such as Stadia, GeForce Now, PlayStation Now, and Xbox Cloud Gaming sparked interest in cloud gaming, and the expansion of these services in 2021 made it a reality.
However, gamers aren’t the only ones who are ecstatic about the introduction of this new technology trend, since cloud gaming allows publishers to monetize old games years after their releases.
