How Gaming Makes Science Fiction Real
Ray Bradbury once said: “Video games are a waste of time for men with nothing else to do. Real brains don't do that. On occasion? Sure. As relaxation? Great. But not full time — and a lot of people are doing that. And while they're doing that, I'll go ahead and write another novel.”
Were he still with us, he would write a novel in which people exist in two parallel realities — gaming and non-gaming. Just as in real life, they would covet virtual real estate, they would go crazy about a virtual designer’s new season clothing or drive virtual supercars. Games would change from individual quests to one big world where anything could happen. Wait, most of that has been brilliantly described by Ernest Cline in his bestseller “Ready Player One” and visualized by the legendary Stephen Spielberg. What was once the fantasy is simply not fiction anymore, and the recent trends in the gaming industry prove it.
In Games We Trade
The years 2017 and 2018 started a new gaming era — here we saw the ascent of free-to-play games such as Fortnite and Apex Legends that catapulted this iconic brand of gaming worldwide. Their stellar example converted traditional pay-to-play games to a new “religion” where even at the end of 2018 Valve announced that the incredibly successful Counter-Strike: Global Offensive would move to a free-to-play model.
The gaming giants started to generate big revenues not from selling games, but from subscriptions, season passes and in-game items trading. This included selling covetable items such as characters’ outfits, unique guns, and cars for the player to stand-out in the game. Last year out of a $2.4 billion revenue, Fortnite has made around a billion on assets sold in the game.
Petty rivalry suddenly came into the game, as younger gamers were bullied by fellow players for not having the right outfit, as they would for not wearing their Jordans at school. Life mirrored the game as the game started to mirror life.
Now the majority of games, including those from smaller studios, are switching to the free-to-play model in order to successfully compete, we are observing the rise of in-game items trading. This is proven by massive season passes sales and rising subscriptions all over the industry. While we shouldn’t be surprised over game developers and publishers seeking ways to monetize their titles, there are small breakthroughs of users benefiting too.
Soon, they will start to trade assets not only inside of the game but across different titles, at least in particular publisher's ecosystems. GlobalData predicts the growth of the gaming industry by up to $300 billion in 2025. In 2019 according to Newzoo, gaming revenue exceeded $150 billion. The five-year forecast might be rewired drastically as throughout 2020 we will see the rise of the in-game items sector. Here people are ready to pay top-dollar to stand out among other players, just as they face pressures in the real world to afford that seasons best. Already, thousands of dollars are being traded for in-game items such as $61.000 for a weapon or a virtual Formula 1 race car for $113.000. And this is just the beginning.
In the next two-three years, there will be a major demand for third parties that will provide game developers with the platform to buy, sell, exchange and craft in-game items in the most efficient way using new technologies like AI, DLT and whatever trends are yet to come.
Head in the Cloud
The reality of “Ready Player One” is getting closer, thanks to innovative offerings such as cloud gaming. Gaming is only truly mainstream when people can play anywhere with their mobile devices and it’s mostly here — mobile gaming remains the largest segment in 2019, growing +10.2% year on year to $68.5 billion, which is 45% of the global games market. With cloud gaming, the “gaming space” becomes even more expansive, since you really can play anywhere.
Google Stadia, a streaming video game service, promises to use the cloud to deliver video games to any device with a screen. The launch scheduled for November in 14 countries will surely change gaming forever, although maybe not overnight. Offering an instant game-streaming future is a dream come true for millions of players. As soon as access to titles is relatively easy and smooth, gamers will spend even more time in the virtual world.
Gaming is growing. Right now video gamers are spending over 7 hours every week playing their favorite titles and that number is up nearly 20% from last year. With cloud gaming, it has the potential to double by 2021, as soon as titles can work at full capacity.
Life in the gaming world is becoming longer and players’ demands are constantly on the rise. It will become the every-day, upgraded. Think Superman in a super coat, a beautiful woman driving the car of her dreams, or James Bond ordering a martini while waiting for his virtual date - shaken not stirred.
Cloud gaming is eager to erase borders between games and make it one fantastic world. We will see more and more collaborations between known brands and popular games. Only back in September did Louis Vuitton and Riot Games announced a partnership that will lead to the creation of skins (in-game items) for the League of Legends World Championship.
All this will create a new in-game economy — from a player who earns his income running a virtual bar, fashion designers working to pull off an in-game show of stunning outfits, not forgetting the money to be made on buying and selling virtual racing cars or custom kits. Most importantly, gamers will be a part of a world with no borders, in which they can realize their talents and create a different reality for themselves. It may sound like science fiction now, but in just a few years it will be the reality for 2.5 billion people worldwide. And the expected $300 billion revenue can easily evolve into $600 billion by 2025.