Trends and predictions for 2024 in gaming

Like every year, the gaming industry has developed sustainably. The industry as a whole is now the largest segment in the field of media entertainment and has long since left the film world behind. Of course, it is always interesting to think about the future. We have therefore dissected the major areas of gaming in order to gain some insights into the development of the industry.

What will happen on the esports front?

Esports has become an extremely competitive field in which teams, individual players, sponsors and hardware companies are all involved. Sponsors from various sectors, from energy drinks to gaming chairs, use esport tournaments extensively to present their products. Meanwhile, teams and players have the opportunity not only to make a living, but even to become really wealthy. In the following, we discuss what will happen in esports.

Will the genre still be called Esport?

What was a niche hobby 20 years ago with CS:GO is now an industry worth millions. Esport teams are almost indistinguishable from regular sports teams, and you can now place a bet on victory or defeat at numerous Google Pay casinos. This development will definitely continue, so the question is whether esports will be perceived as esports at all, or whether they will become just another sport in our daily cultural interaction. We don't think it's impossible that esports will find its own segment on the evening news or on classic sports channels.

Further professionalisation

As a consequence, esports will become more and more professional. In the future, we will see more and more players for whom gaming is not really a hobby at all. Instead, they have decided early on to pursue a career as a professional gamer and have prepared themselves accordingly. As in many other sports, the age of entry will continue to drop. This requires competent managers, especially for the young players, who also take care of the financial aspects of esports, because, as in regular sports, such a career does not last forever. Even if the prize money is now in the millions, prudent players should secure themselves for the long term.

What we can expect in the area of multiplayer

Multiplayer has been the hot topic in gaming since before the invention of the internet. Even the first NES console came with two controllers. This will not change in the future, but rather the way players play together in the chat room or in the living room. By the way, this also offers a lasting opportunity to develop and test new technologies. It happens every once in a while that an achievement from gaming also finds its way into our everyday lives. So we can expect more of that in the future.

Evolution of AAA

The blockbusters of the gaming world have suffered somewhat in recent years. Giants such as World ofWarcraft have had to put up with a sharp drop in user numbers, which certainly has something to do with the image of the operator Blizzard. Instead, multiplayers discovered arena shooters like Fortnight, exciting indie titles like Among Us or simple party games like Fall Guys. We assume that this development will continue. The classic genres like FPS and hack n slash are already somewhat exhausted. Therefore, the decisive innovations will probably come from the indie sector.

The focus is on the experience

For many gamers, it is often no longer so much about graphics and gameplay. Instead, they want a real experience. They want to be part of something special, and the details don't really matter that much any more. This means that a multiplayer experience will be even more interactive and customised than it already is. We will see a stronger orientation towards real life, the input of the players will have an even stronger impact on the game world. In this respect, there will also be a closer interweaving between the game world and the everyday life of the players.

Solo gaming is still the core business

Esports and multiplayer are, of course, the segments aimed at hardcore gamers. But gaming alone is still the segment that appeals to the most new users and keeps the old hands happy. This is an opportunity for developers to stand out from the competition and make a real mark. At the same time, the genres are blurring more and more, almost every game nowadays contains RPG elements and many possibilities to individualise one's own character. We can already see that developers are thinking very long-term and are striving for a particularly high replay value in the top productions. Players should play through a game not just once, but dozens of times.

Classic Remastered

Remastering is nothing new; many classics have already been re-released on the latest generation of consoles. But at the moment we are already at a peak of the remastering wave. We therefore assume that in 2024 and beyond we can expect many classics from the early nineties to the present day in a new guise. Final Fantasy 7 already has the second part of its remastering. To this day, many Square fans still cherish the hope that the developers will surprise us with a new release of Chrono Trigger. But this trend will spread across all genres.

Innovation towards storytelling

Graphics are undoubtedly important, and everything has to be right in terms of gameplay. But what keeps us in front of the screen at the end of the day is a gripping story that appeals to us on several levels. This has not escaped the notice of the developers. Especially the titles that don't show any weakness in storytelling have been able to achieve gigantic successes in recent years. The best example is, of course, God of War Ragnarok, which managed to continue the story of Kratos in an exciting way. Gamers are becoming more demanding, and nowadays it is hardly possible to convince them with purely graphical top performances. Gaps in the story are quickly noticed and then discussed at length. The developers will therefore concentrate even more on offering a coherent story with several strands so that you don't get bored so quickly.