Today’s gamers have almost infinite choices when it comes to the type of content they play and what they use to do it. In addition to the AAA titles that often grab the headlines, modern gamers can also choose from a much wider range of content. Online casino games are some of the most popular options, thanks in part to the huge variety of different video slots that are available and the ever-growing number of free spin promotions offered by the casinos.
In addition to this, there are now millions of casual titles that players can download to whatever device they choose to use, the vast majority of which are available for free.
The direction of travel for gaming content seems pretty clear. Developers are embracing microtransactions and regular updates to create a software as a service model rather than the traditional approach of a customer buying a game once.
But while it’s easy to see which direction the games themselves are going in, there is less certainty about what the gaming platforms of the future will be. Meta and Sony are investing heavily in virtual reality hardware, meanwhile, Google is continuing to develop its Stadia streaming platform. At the same time, Valve is going all-in on Linux by creating its own Steam distro, while Microsoft is blurring the lines between its Xbox console and its Windows PCs.
With so much going on, it’s hard to predict which gaming platforms will dominate in the future.
The Evolution of Gaming Platforms
Ever since the first home computers and games consoles of the late 1970s and early 1980s, the way that most of us have played video games has remained the same. These consumer electronics devices replaced arcade machines due to their convenience and flexibility, but nothing has come along yet that’s been able to dislodge consoles and PCs from their dominant position in the market.
Over the decades, technology has come on leaps and bounds. This has given us machines that are much more powerful and capable of running games that are considerably larger and more complex.
New developments in technology have also created new ways for us to play video games. They’ve all promised to revolutionize the medium and have each achieved varying success, though none (as of yet) has managed to kill off consoles or PCs.
In the late 1980s, various companies experimented with different ways to allow players to enjoy games on the go, but Nintendo was the clear winner of this after its success with the original Game Boy in 1989 that continued right up until 2020 when it discontinued the 3DS, its final portable console.
Many other gaming gadgets haven’t fared so well. Nintendo’s Virtual Boy VR console was a huge flop, while Atari, Sega, Panasonic, and Bandai all eventually pulled out of the hardware market.
In more recent years, the rise of smartphones has helped to create new ways for people to enjoy games and even encouraged more people to take up the hobby. That wasn’t all plain sailing either though, many attempts at creating “gaming phones” ended in abject failure, including the Nokia N-Gage and a device named the Gizmondo.
This constant state of flux that gaming finds itself in doesn’t look like it’s going to change anytime soon though, so the way that we’ll play our favorite titles in the future is far from certain.
End of the Line for Consoles?
Traditionally, video game consoles have been cheap, low-powered, efficient machines that were designed to be very good at playing games and nothing else. That’s why the PlayStation 2 was capable of playing games like Grand Theft Auto San Andreas with just 32 MB of main system memory and a GPU with a clock speed of just 147.456 MHz.
Up until the PlayStation 3, Sony used specially-designed custom architecture in its consoles, but it eventually followed Microsoft’s lead to create x86/x64-based machines. Using the same architecture as PCs makes it easier for developers to create content for both the Xbox and the PlayStation simultaneously and then port it over to the PC.
Consoles still offer one of the best gaming experiences at the moment by striking a balance between cost and performance that lets players enjoy all the latest and greatest titles without the need for an expensive gaming PC. But the gap between them is narrowing and we are likely not far from a future when consoles are no longer necessary.
We will almost certainly see a PlayStation 6 and a new Xbox console with another unpredictable name at some point in the future, but there will become a point when they go the way of the Sega Dreamcast, Nintendo DS, and Atari 2600.
A Virtual Future
Two new technologies could also do away with traditional consoles. The first of these is video gaming streaming which essentially creates a virtual console for you to play in the cloud.
While there are still elements of this that need to be ironed out to create an experience that is entirely on par with the PS5 or Xbox Series X, services like Google Stadia allow you to play AAA titles from a smartphone, TV, or cheap laptop.
Another type of technology that promises to change the way we game is virtual reality. While the Nintendo Virtual Boy was a huge flop, technology has finally caught up with the idea and both Sony and Meta have been investing heavily in virtual reality gaming.
Like streaming, there are still technological barriers with VR though, but with billions being invested in its development, these will be overcome in the near future. After that, the only things holding VR gaming back are its practicalities and its social element.
To play a virtual reality game, you need to don a headset and you’re tempted to move around. This requires you to have a lot of open space available or you risk running into walls or punching your TV.
Additionally, entering a VR world requires you to separate yourself from other people in the room with you. So while you could play a console game on a TV and chat with your friends, it’s much harder to do with virtual reality.
Conclusion
There are many different ways that video gaming could go. It seems pretty likely that consoles have a limited future as streaming technology evolves and the PC treads on its toes. Beyond that though, it’s hard to predict exactly what the gaming landscape will look like in 10 or 20 years. All that we can say for sure is that it won’t be the same as it is now.