Early this year, Microsoft stunned the gaming world by making a $75 billion bid for Activision Blizzard, the gaming developer behind huge hits like Call of Duty and more. The buy-out is the biggest in industry history and is a strong indicator that the future of big tech will revolve, at least in part, around gaming.
In fact, video gaming has steadily overtaken other forms of digital entertainment in the last five years. In 2021, Financial Times reported that gaming was worth close to $180 billion, which combines mobile, console, and PC titles. For comparison, global box office revenues hit only $39 billion back in 2019.
The future of gaming looks bright—especially considering the biggest names in tech, from Facebook to Google to Microsoft, are now all invested in the industry. Already, a slew of advances has laid out new possibilities for mobile, PC, console, and browser gaming—and there are only more slated for the future.
Keep reading for recent innovations that are changing the gaming industry worldwide, and where these changes may lead in the next decade.
Sweepstakes Models
Quality online poker platforms are constantly evolving with new features, tournaments, and innovations. One such company—Global Poker—allows players to compete completely free. When playing games in their innovative sweepstakes model mode, verified players can redeem their winnings for cash prizes.
Gamers who regularly play poker online can try out new poker variations and tournament types via unique competition structures. Global Poker’s big tech also involves one of the US’s largest playing pools, which includes more than 250,000 players.
eSports as Mobile Apps
As mentioned above, gaming was worth $180 billion worldwide in 2021. Of that total revenue, $93 billion came from mobile titles alone. One of the biggest innovations in mobile gaming is the adaptation of popular eSports titles. Today, PUBG: Mobile and Call of Duty Mobile are two of the most popular eSports-to-mobile titles.
In fact, PUBG Mobile is the most-downloaded mobile game of all time with more than 1 billion downloads. Meanwhile, Microsoft is now making improvements to its Call of Duty Mobile title, originally released by Activision back in 2019. Looking forward, pushes to adapt eSports for mobile will continue to improve.
Chat-Ready Platforms
There’s another huge push in gaming sectors worldwide: social features. As demonstrated by Global Poker’s player pool size, the ability to connect and compete with other remote gamers is a huge priority. Already, platforms like Twitch have pivoted toward a more social experience by opening up ‘Just Chatting’ channels.
These channels allow subscribers to engage with their favorite gamers and vice versa. The popularity of such features will likely see new applications throughout the industry. For example, many PC gamers rely on programs such as Discord to stay in communication while playing open-world titles.
To move away from this multi-program model, some games are looking to introduce social feeds directly into the title. These would allow for in-game chats and push notifications.
Game Subscriptions
Today, gaming subscriptions account for a tiny slice of the industry’s total revenue from game purchases. So far, Sony and Microsoft have both created subscription models for their PlayStation and Xbox consoles—and the future remains uncertain. Recently, Sony’s CEO claimed the subscription models would reach similar levels to music apps like Spotify or video streaming like Netflix.
But that’s entirely certain. And, despite the claims made by Sony’s CEO, PlayStation continues to build its own subscription model. Looking ahead, subscriptions may be a stronger fit for VR, as more gamers will need to experiment before finding a title they’re interested in purchasing. When it comes to consoles and PC gaming, most gamers have a preferred title or genre—but that may not be true for AR and VR titles.
