The current state of gaming was fundamentally created by the rapid growth of the internet in the 90s, and there has been a very significant set of developments since then. There are huge changes in the art of playing games as the years roll on.
Online gaming has witnessed huge popularity and advancements within the last 10 years, and the industry is estimated to hit revenue of up to $200 billion this year. Currently, this stands among the fastest growing industries in the entire world, with it expanding into other fields such as online mobile gaming and even casinos – Speaking of casinos, if you’re looking for a break from grinding your favourite MMO and fancy a few blasts on a slot game, then click here to check out the newest casinos.
When and Where It All Began
The first ever prototypes for video games were created as far back as the 50s, but it was in the 1970s that the first gaming console arrived to the markets. Because of the astronomic growth of the internet, it was in the late 90s that online games became widespread, and it’s been growing in popularity and availability since then. Live online games and esports have been made popular by online gaming companies through their online platforms.
It was the huge expansion of the internet that laid the roots for the networks and games we play on today, and since then, the development has been mindblowing.
2003: Steam, the first digital storefront from where gamers can buy and review games online was launched, changing the landscape of PC gaming forever.
2004: World Of Warcraft was launched, and it became the first Massively Multiplayer Online game (MMO), and gained more than 10 million active subscribers.
2007: Mobile online gaming became a thing, allowing players to game on their hand held devices on more than just ‘Snake’.
2009: Minecraft was launched, and it went ahead to become a massive instant hit, selling over 170 million copies to become the best-selling videogame of all time. Who knew a block building online multiplayer game could be such a smash hit!
2015: The number of registered online gamers across the world grew to 1.5 billion – roughly a 5th of the population of the planet.
2016: The first AR title, Pokémon Go was launched, and it went ahead to generate the biggest revenue ever on a mobile platform within the first 4 weeks.
2019: A cloud gaming service named Stadia was launched by Google, allowing gamers to play without a console.
Innovations in technology have been at the center of the evolution witnessed in online gaming, however, there are some other significant contributing factors that can’t be overlooked.
When you consider the components of online gaming, you’ll see the relevance of the software and hardware developers, online streaming services, sales and distribution of games, games arenas, esports, actual game developers and publishers and others. They’ve all played major roles in taking online gaming to where it is at the moment.
Mobile Could Be the Future of Online Gaming and MMO’s
The mobile gaming section made up to $68.5 billion income in 2019. That stands as 45 percent of the entire market share for the year, which includes tablet and PC games.
We can say that the mobile gaming segment is relatively new, but it has witnessed an astronomic rate of progress. In 2019, up to 2.4 billion played online games and MMO’s on their mobile and this makes it the biggest platform at the moment.
A majority of this progress could be linked to the smooth user experience and innovation that it offers, owing to user friendly features that it comes with. Now that we are in the 5G era, the entire gaming world is expecting more from the mobile gaming consoles, especially in terms of MMO gaming. So, we look forward to exciting and transformative times in the industry in the future – could we be seeing a WOW mobile?
Virtual Reality & Cloud Gaming
Entertainment is taking on a new phase, and when you look at the number of people that are getting into online gaming, you’ll understand that technological advancements in the gaming world will continue in the future.
Virtual reality is already making huge waves in the industry. Valve, Oculus and other market leaders have revealed that they have new headset options in the pipeline, and with these, the chasm between reality and fantasy will be closer to blurring.
Cloud gaming has continued to make waves in 2020, just like it did in 2019, assisted by the availability of more reliable and faster internet connection. This gives gamers the chance to enjoy live streaming games against playing on static consoles.
