The gaming industry is projected to grow in 2023 and beyond, even despite a global cost-of-living crisis. The gaming industry has stood tall for the past decade, with no signs of it slowing down any time soon.
Here are a few of the key ways that the gaming industry is changing.
The subscription service model saw a massive rise in profit over the COVID-19 pandemic and since. It’s clearly an effective model, but customers have noticed how it leads to monthly, guaranteed charges.
1. Subscription Services
There are many subscription services in the gaming industry: PlayStation Stars, XBOX Game Pass, and more. You can expect this to continue growing in future as more executives have cottoned out to the profitability of the model.
2. Demand Overtook Supply
Due to supply issues caused by COVID, gamers have been having to wait for new XBOX Series S/Xs as well as PlayStation 5 devices to hit shelves. The PlayStation 5 is particularly difficult to get hands on, as it regularly goes out of stock minutes after restocking.
When demand exceeds supply, it leads to raising prices as companies know that customers have no other option to get the device. You can expect this to increase in future as rival companies to Sony realise it’s actually a lucrative business model.
3. Cloud-Based Solutions
Cloud-based solutions have been around for years across many different industries, but you can expect to see the number of cloud-based gaming solutions grow in the future.
Logitech will be releasing a cloud-based console in future, and subscription services such as PlayStation Now have shown how successful cloud services can be for gaming companies.
4. Free-to-Play Model
The free-to-play model is well-established now; with a game dropping at F2P and being filled with various microtransactions. Often, F2P games end up massively outperforming games that ship with a typical $60 price tag.
In future, you can expect the number of games launching with a free-to-play model to continue increasing as it shows no sign of slowing down.
5. Cross-Play Is Becoming the Standard
Cross-play makes sense for most gamers – it means that you’re no longer restricted by your console on which friends you can play with. Game companies have been typically slow to adopt cross-play functionality.
In the future, you can expect cross-play to become the standard as more popular game studios (Blizzard, Activision et al) have adopted it. Gamers are more vocal about wanting cross-play these days, which marks it more likely it’ll become a default standard in the near-future.
The Gaming Industry Is Changing
The gaming industry will continue to change and you can expect that to have some effect on your gaming experience in the future.
However, there are still a lot of great titles coming out soon, and many of the shifts in the industry look likely to result in higher-quality titles.