Today I want to talk about what trends have begun to emerge in the gaming industry as of today.
Trend #1: The gaming industry continues to grow, and mobile gaming is its fastest-growing segment
After the sharp beginning of the pandemic, the forecast that industry growth would slow down sharply did not come true. There was no global market decline. On the contrary, video games have become a more extensive industry than movies and North American sports combined, thanks to the pandemic.
There was some decline in PC and console games, but for the most part, this can be attributed to a lack of parts to produce new hardware. As for mobile games, in 2021, they brought in about $93 billion - more than a third of the total revenue of the gaming market. By 2023, this figure is expected to cross the $100 billion mark with an overall average annual growth rate of more than 18%.
This unstoppable growth attracts investors, so there are even more companies and projects, and the competition is growing. At the same time, the process of mergers and acquisitions of studios continues. Key market players continue to buy new studios. This is noticeable both in the PC/console segment (the same Embracer Group) and in the mobile segment (M&A activity and opening offices in other countries by Playrix, MyTona, and others).
However, no one knows how long it will last, but until it does, employment in the game industry looks very promising in the coming years.
Trend #2: Crossplay and franchises strengthen brands
Indeed, developing for multiple platforms with crossplay increases costs, but at the same time, it can open doors to a much larger user base. We all see major PC and console developers trying to enter the mobile market, from Epic Games with Fortnite to Genshin Impact and Pokémon Unite.
But a game designed for gamepads and 75-inch monitors won't offer a similar experience when launched on a smartphone. That's why studios are increasingly creating spinoff games, using their leading brand from console or PC versions in variants optimized for mobile devices, such as Mario Cart Tour and Wild Rift.
However, not all such games end with success. For example, Ubisoft never brought Tom Clancy's Elite Squad to release, so the most notable appearance on the mobile market were collabs with AFK Arena.
Speaking of collaborations in general, their number is also growing in recent years. Persona 5 will appear in the AFK Arena; Neon Genesis Evangelion will appear in Dragon Raja. Naturally, such events attract attention. Sometimes not only from players but also from the outside, and we can expect that their number will only increase.
Trend #3: The hardware crisis will continue to dramatically affect the industry
The latest graphics cards and next-gen consoles are proving to be an elusive scarce commodity even a year later, and this is one of the main problems delaying a new technological leap in graphics. Even if the developers themselves are already ready to release products at the peak of technical capabilities, the problem is that there is simply no one to play them.
Forecasts for the video cards market in 2022 are very different - it is more likely to say that the problem will be resolved in 2-3 years. In 3 years, we should expect revolutionary changes in the graphics.
Trend #4: Postponed game releases will finally have final dates
The IT sector is the least affected by the pandemic and the mass transition to remote working. It even benefited from it. But if you look at the figures from trend #1, the forced restructuring of work processes has played its not very positive role.
Under the pressure of the new pandemic reality, many of the production chains at the major studios making AAA games are collapsing. It takes time to adapt. It's impossible to produce some aspects of game development (such as mockups and sound design) entirely in-house.
As a result, in 2022, we will have many new projects postponed for the last two years.
It is worth noting that medium and small studios proved to be much more flexible, as they were able to rebuild and restore the efficiency and speed of development much faster. Asian companies did not hesitate to take advantage of this. They released many large and successful projects in 2021 and continued to develop existing ones (Genshin Impact, Garena Free Fire, PUBG New State, Arena of Valor, and others).
Trend #5: With the spread of 5G, a whole new speed of mobile gaming awaits
Although right now, 5G seems more like a myth than a reality, and the areas covered by it are far from being all over the world, it's more a question of when it will fully come into the lives of mobile device users.
This means a significant increase in content download speeds for the mobile gaming market. Players will be able to download heavy clients of modern games much faster and easier - significantly since the built-in memory of smartphones is also growing. Playing synchronous PvP games, where ping values and a stable connection are fundamental, will become more comfortable. This is also a significant incentive to increase the segment of large, heavy mobile games, particularly cross-platform.
Also, an increase in mobile internet speeds positively affects cloud gaming services. And due to the above-mentioned hardware shortage, which is not going away anytime soon, cloud gaming will grow even more and seem to be a more tempting alternative for users.
Conclusion
Of course, this is not all. Among other things, we cannot ignore the increased interest in NFT and meta-universe. Although many people are skeptical about such phenomena, and it is unclear how long they will last, these technologies and approaches show that studios are actively seeking new ways of development. The potential here can be seen with the naked eye: the market for open economy games is growing at an unprecedented rate, and more and more big players are entering the race.
You can also read another article on what you can do to make Reddit aware of your game. It is based on real experience.