When it comes to the state of gaming in 2024, a lot of people just focus on the new releases. The previous year was huge; some might argue it was one of the best years in the history of gaming, with releases like Baldur’s Gate III, Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, and Legends of Zelda: Tears of Kingdom released during the same year. This just sets the bar higher for the year ahead.
Still, what if we took a break from talking about releases and focused on gaming trends instead? Here’s a list of some trends that are expected to be huge in 2024.
VR gaming
In the past, buying a VR headset wasn’t as cost-effective. The device was expensive, the majority of people didn’t have the GPU to support these resolutions, and there was a lack of content for VR. None of these three is true in 2024.
Games like Skyrim already work great in VR. In general, exploration games are the best in VR format. No Man’s Sky, for instance, is a perfect game for this type of video format. Other popular formats are flight simulators, especially superhero games like Iron Man VR, and zombie survival games like The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners.
In other words, the two most intuitive ways to use VR games are to boost your adrenaline levels and to relax and unwind (two opposite sides of the same coin).
As for the VR videos, you can find them on YouTube Three Sixty, Facebook Three Sixty Video feeds, and Oculus Experience. The thing is that when more people start using VR, the production of these videos will increase.
While VR headsets for console and PC are the first thing that pops to mind, you might also want to consider what is the best VR headset for Android. In the past, mobile users resorted to a lot of cardboard headsets to get a glimpse into the world of VR; however, it might be time to consider something a tad more serious.
Video game monetization
In the past, making money on video games was so simple. You develop a game, sell the disc, and get the money. Then, Steam had the idea of selling a game license via digital means. The thing is that the “owner” of a Steam game doesn’t really own the game; they own the right to play it. What do we mean by that? Well, they can ban you at any given point (Steam, EA, Epic, or Galaxy), and you no longer have access to the games you’ve bought.
In-game purchases, pay-to-win, loot boxes, or just cosmetic upgrades (skins) are other ways in which video game companies monetize their games. Sure, some of these methods are less popular or accepted than others. This is especially the case with lootboxes, which are even outlawed in some countries around the world.
While pay-to-win games are considered to be unethical, from the standpoint of a moralist or a purist, numerous psychologists claim that loot boxes tend to be an even more serious threat. According to some, they’re a gateway to betting.
Today, there are so many monetization methods, including gaming cryptocurrency. The bottom line is that with each of these monetization venues, the gaming industry as a whole becomes significantly more valuable.
Subscriptions instead of game purchases
Then, there was another great idea in the gaming industry: what if someone started a subscription instead of a flat cost? MMORPGs started out by charging flat monthly fees, but now, you have platforms like EA Play and Paradox doing pretty much the same.
EA Play has an incredible system where you get to enjoy dozens of games for a subscription fee that’s not much higher than Netflix’s. It gets even better; you can connect your EA account to your Steam account, and the chances are that you’ll get a sizable discount on the games you play. This means that you could use EA Play as a way to figure out which games you should buy and even use them to get a discount on these games.
When it comes to Paradox, games like EU4, Hearts of Iron IV, and Crusader Kings III already have so many DLCs that buying them all could put a serious strain on your budget. Instead, you can pay a monthly fee and play a whole game. This might be the best way for companies with these massive games to actually monetize them late in development.
Remakes and reboots
Lastly, we live in an era of remakes and reboots. Soft reboots (to make games suitable for Last-Gen consoles) are one thing, but full reboots like AOE2 Definitive Edition, Diablo II Resurrected, and Warcraft III Reforged are something else entirely. These are not just graphics overhauls but full remakes with so many quality-of-life features.
A similar thing happened with the Mass Effect Trilogy and its Legendary Edition, where all three games were remastered as a single issue. On Steam sales, you can sometimes find it for as little as $7, which means that you get a game with all of its DLCs (we’re talking about hundreds of hours of gameplay) for the price that’s approximate to that of a monthly Netflix subscription.
There are some remakes that are highly anticipated, and we might see them next year. Age of Mythology, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and much, much more. Still, the latter might be in development in Limbo, and most gamers are still quite skeptical about whether it will actually see the light of day.
Overall, this remake and reboot culture is highly profitable, and we’ll see more of it in next year.
AI-driven personalization
In the past, you had two different types of games (depending on the protagonist) – games that allowed you to pick the protagonist and those that did not allow it.
For instance, in The Witcher franchise, you’re playing as Geralt of Rivia, and that’s that. The same thing goes for the Legend of Zelda franchise, where you are Link.
The thing is that even when customization was possible, it was quite limited. Games would let you choose a portrait or customize the character’s face, but even the latter was limited by the game’s engine and capabilities.
When it came to the protagonist’s name, if it was a text-based game, this wasn’t a problem, but in voiced games, this was a bit of an issue. This was solved in a number of ways; for instance, in Mass Effect, you could choose the name of your character but not the last name and all the characters would address you by it. Sometimes, they would address you by your title – Jedi, Gray Warden, Commander, etc.
Generative AI will change all that. Not only is avatar creation from a photo quite sophisticated, but AI voice generation allows for the in-game characters and cinematics to address you by your chosen name all the time. NLP platforms like ChatGPT-inspired bots can help write lines of dialog that more accurately reflect and address your in-game choices.
As a result, you get a far superior immersion.
Next year threatens to eclipse its predecessor
Sure, this is a tall order, but with so many new trends and options, it’s not that hard to see that the world of gaming is on an upward trajectory. Of course, there are always people complaining about gaming being dead in the water, but these are usually people playing one recycled game after another for years. The truth is that gaming has never been so alive.
