The online gaming industry is poised to change dramatically over the next few years. The global gaming industry is projected to grow to $2.2 trillion by 2024.
The advancement in artificial intelligence, machine learning is bound to revolutionize the gaming experience. People don’t need consoles or computers to enjoy games.
Looking ahead, the rise of cloud gaming, online gambling, and mobile gaming will be the biggest revenue drivers.
Launch of Google Stadia
Not only gaming laptops, but gaming hardware are also getting costly day by day. Google Stadia solves that problem. It was launched on November 19, 2019.
Google Stadia enables users to enjoy a wide variety of games without having to buy additional computer hardware. People can buy the games of their choice and can play it on any internet-connected device.
As Google had built a large number of data centers across the globe, it supports the streaming games in HDR at 60 frames per second with 4k resolution.
Just like Netflix changed the way we stream movies, Stadia is all set to change the way we play games online.
Microsoft xCloud
While Microsoft hasn’t committed any launch date yet, xCloud is likely to be launched in 2024. Currently, Microsoft is testing the project xCloud with Xbox.
Gamers can play over 50 Xbox games on their Android phone, streaming directly from the cloud. In the coming months, more games will be added to the preview offer.
To participate in the testing process, you need to have a mobile device (with Android version 6.0 or greater and Bluetooth version 4.0+), compatible Xbox wireless controller with Bluetooth, 5GHz Wi-Fi or cellular data connection 10Mbps down, and Xbox Game Streaming app.
Microsoft is also planning to bring xCloud to Windows 10 PCs by next year, meaning PC games could also be streamed in the coming years.
Microsoft xCloud will be the biggest competitor of Google Stadia. Both will change the way we play our favorite games.
Online Gambling Is On The Rise
There are a lot of factors contributing to the rise of online gambling. Ease of access, safety, and 24/7 availability are a few reasons.
Online gambling sites, such as King Billy Casino offer a 100% first deposit bonus and accepts various cryptocurrencies. Here is a review of King Billy Casino on Clovr.
Moreover, people save lots of money and time that they would otherwise spend on traveling. This has attracted lots of people to try online gambling.
Many online casinos have started leveraging AI-powered slot casinos to lower the chances of cheating and promote a fair gaming trend.
Featurespace, an adaptive behavioral analytics technology, has developed a machine learning system that can spot players who are cheating. It detects unexpected and unusual behavior in real-time data to identify frauds.
In the coming years, more and more online casinos are likely to use AI to boost customer experience, prevent online fraud, and encourage fair gambling.
Even land-based casinos are turning towards online channels to boost their earnings.
Mobile Gaming Continues To Grow In Popularity
Mobile revenue accounted for more than 50% of the global games market in 2018 and is expected to cross $100 billion by 2024.
The two most significant factors contributing to the growth of mobile gaming include faster and cheaper smartphones and the spread of wireless internet.
People can access the games anywhere anytime. The maturing of cloud technologies and mobile-only games will further increase the number of mobile gamers across the globe.
Even mobile companies have started developing smartphones, especially for gaming. The latest mobile phones won’t get heated even after a prolonged period of gaming. This is a major contributor to the growth of the mobile gaming industry.
The biggest gaming company in the world, Tencent, is also planning to build its own gaming phone. The gaming phone will likely have a Snapdragon Qualcomm 855 processor and uses hardware from one of the ODMs (which is said to include Taiwan-based Asus, Singapore’s Razer, and Xiaomi backed Blackshark).
Esports Has Become A Global Phenomenon
Esports has gained immense popularity in the last few years. In esports, various genres of games are played competitively against other players on different platforms.
Esports has been around since the inception of gaming. The only difference is that nowadays, the stakes and the dedication gamers put in to reach the top are higher.
In 2019, the total prize money for 4,744 tournaments was around $217,433,922. With 24,042 active players, it meant that the mean earnings per player were $9,043 while the mean tournament prize pool was $45,833.
It’s not only about players, but it is also about a loyal audience who travel halfway across the globe to watch their favorite teams play. The ones who cannot go watch the games live.
In 2018, there were 380 million viewers out of which 215 million were occasional spectators and 165 million gaming enthusiasts.
By 2024, the number of casual viewers is expected to grow to 307 million, and there will be 250 million esports enthusiasts, making the total audience of 557 million.
Major gaming companies have started investing heavily in the esports industry to reach a larger and more engaged audience. Corporations are building stadiums larger than conventional sports stadiums, especially to host esports tournaments.
In 2018, the esports industry made a total of $906 million in revenue. Out of which, $694 million came from brand investments – both direct and indirect. By 2024, brands are expected to invest around $1.3 billion in esports.
Wrapping Up
The online gaming ecosystem is evolving and growing every year. The future of the global online gaming industry seems bright, especially with the emergence of new technologies, such as AI and cloud gaming. Also, there is a huge rise in the number of professional gamers.
With gaming companies, such as Tencent getting into mobile development, the mobile gaming industry is undoubtedly going to stay in popularity in the coming years.
