The gaming market has always been at the bleeding edge of tech, and yet it seems that we’re currently on the precipice of a monumental new era for interactive entertainment, one which might be more significant than any which has come before.
To show you what we mean, let’s talk about how video games will have changed by the time 2030 rolls around, and the innovations that will bring about these shifts.
Artificial Intelligence Will Dominate Development & Play Alike
The concept of AI has been around in games for a long time, but usually in the context of players complaining about how badly the NPCs they interact with are able to navigate maps or interact via dialogue trees.
Now that we’ve seen what true AI can do, games are set to get better in every conceivable way, and across all sorts of experiences.
From developers using AI to design levels, speeding up production cycles without sacrificing quality, to players being immersed in virtual worlds with digital characters that behave exactly like real humans, not some half-baked approximation, the games of 2030 will make existing efforts look primitive in comparison.
Furthermore, AI has the potential to level the playing field in terms of making development tools more accessible. If you don’t have the coding knowledge, artistic abilities, writing chops or budget to make a game today, AI tools can help you turn the kernel of an idea into a fully playable product, without years of training required, and without any outside help.
Online Gambling Will Thrive Thanks to the Blockchain
We’re already seeing web-based gambling services go from strength to strength, with double-digit growth anticipated for this industry over the next few years up to the end of the decade.
However, the real innovations are happening with crypto casinos, which are paving the way for wider adoption of blockchain solutions in the gambling space more generally.
By 2030 it’s likely that the majority of major gambling operators will be using the blockchain in one way or another, whether as a direct means of making deposits, placing wagers and playing games, or for more back-end-focused shenanigans, such as player data protection and smart contract execution.
There’s also the play-to-earn corner of the gaming scene to discuss in this context. We’ve seen some drop-off in interest among players for these types of titles, but that just means we’ll probably see a rethink of how the concept of getting rewarded for remaining engaged with a game is handled going forward.
AR & VR Will Face a Reckoning
A decade ago, augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) were the hot new things not only in gaming, but in the tech world more generally. Today, they have matured significantly, although they still very much remain relatively niche concerns.
Recently we’ve seen the arrival of the second generation VR headset from PlayStation, and there are still popular PC-focused devices from Oculus and others. But there’s also a sense that we are now at a crossroads for this tech, and that something needs to be done to give it a shot in the arm, or else it will flatline.
AR is arguably in a better spot to remain relevant by 2030, because it provides that cross-over with real environments that are more engaging and accessible for average audiences. What it needs is a killer device, as well as a killer app, to take that next step.
Hopefully this will emerge in the intervening years. If not, early adopters might want to think about cashing out, as with certain crypto tokens.
The Cloud Will Kill Consoles
This is another prediction that has been a long time coming, and which has been made before without coming to light. But at this point it seems inevitable that home consoles are only going to be around for a few more years, before all of the processing capacity required to run the latest games is offloaded to remote cloud servers.
Sure, Google Stadia died a death, and you can still buy games with crypto and receive a physical copy, but if you look at what everyone from Microsoft and Sony to Nvidia are doing right now in this space, having a Netflix-like approach to gaming seems inevitable in the long run.
Wrapping Up
This small taste of the shape of gaming in 2030 is just speculative, but the predictions are based on firm foundations and current trends, so there’s a lot to be excited for, as well as questions that remain unanswered.
