Published on October 12th, 2016 | by Guest

Top 5 trends in virtual reality gaming in the nearest future

Virtual reality has been increasingly attracting the attention of both consumers and producers. In 2016, virtual reality has penetrated into the masses. It pleases all gamers, digital-specialists, representatives of the movie industry. Virtual reality gaming has become the essential part of the contemporary art penetrating into various fields of industry.

Various specialists evaluate trends in virtual reality gaming in the nearest future quite differently. Opinions are divided radically. Some of them believe in the incredible breakthrough in the coming years, while others are quite skeptical, believing virtual technology fascination to be only a temporary surge.

Virtual reality is a new breakthrough that will undoubtedly change the digital world and everyday life as dramatically as Internet, personal computers, and smartphones did.

IT industry leaders’ interests in virtual reality

The world’s biggest IT companies really believe in the potential of virtual technologies. They make great efforts for both their development and promotion.

In 2014, Google introduced a cardboard virtual reality glasses called Google Cardboard VR Toolkit. They immediately became popular due to its low cost and simplicity;

In 2014, Samsung introduced Gear VR virtual reality helmet, which is already widely used in the projects of different companies;

In summer of 2015, Razer in collaboration with Sixense, Nod Labs, Leap Motion, and Gearbox Software launched an open platform of virtual reality titled OSVR. It consists of a helmet and associated open software – OSVR Hacker Dev Kit;

Microsoft suggests using Windows OS as a platform for VR-projects and develops virtual reality HoloLens smart glasses;

At the same time, Sony develops a virtual reality headset called Project Morpheus, as well as actively implements virtual reality in PlayStation;

Apple patents a device that will be able to create a virtual reality system using iPhone;
Facebook plans to provide many opportunities with the help of virtual reality technology. It might be widespread 3D-games and the opportunity to use 360-degree video for sharing via social media;
Mark Zuckerberg really believes in the development of virtual reality. It is certainly supported by the fact that Facebook spent more than $2 billion to buy Oculus, a company which created a virtual reality helmet. IT experts estimate the fact of such a purchase as a driver for the virtual reality on the market.

Analysts’ forecasts

Judging by the forecasts of many research institutes, analysts believe in the rapid growth of virtual reality market.

ABI Research analytical agency`s experts predict even better results in AR&VR-gadgets industry. According to their forecasts, by 2020 the total number of devices will have grown to 65 million;
Analysts from Digi-Capital investment bank report that by 2020 the total volume of the virtual reality market will have reached $155 billion;
Tractica Research Company predicts that the volume of global market of smart glasses, accessories and content of virtual reality from 2016 to 2020 will grow from $110 million to $23 billion.

Consumers’ interest in virtual reality gaming

As news portal of new generation Tuko has reported recently, young people are very susceptible to technological advances. According to hot study by Touchstone Research, adolescents aged 10 to 17 years are aware of VR experience games and consider it incredibly cool.

The popularity of search queries “Virtual Reality” confirms consumers’ interest, which is it clearly seen on Google Trends over the past five years.

Content for virtual reality devices

High-quality content is needed for the development and popularization of this technology. It must interest any user enough to make him employ virtual reality smart glasses continuously.

Developers of virtual reality platforms actively participate in various types of content creation.

Oculus VR makes VR-films. In addition, being the largest distributor of computer games, the company funds independent game developers;
Sony has created a separate studio for developing exclusive games for Sony Morpheus;
Valve has been developing own VR-ecosystem, including 2 Source engine;
Such huge corporations as Unity Games, Epic and Crytek consider virtual reality to be one of the key areas of their own activity in the future.

Top 5 trends in virtual reality gaming in the nearest future

The number of older gamers increases

Having retired, many people switch their attention to games. This is a huge market for developers. A vast new segment of games market will be formed soon. It will simulate social experience in an entirely different way than the current game offer.

In such games much broader range of life experience of older players will be allowed. According to psychologists, older gamers can find important role for themselves in virtual reality games to communicate and collaborate through sharing gaming experience with their younger friends.

Popular games turn into platforms and services

We can see how game developers for such popular smart phones games as Zynga or Rovio have turned their games into the platform in response to statistics. They start adjusting the complexity and adding supplements to their great brands, instead of issuing traditional sequels.

Presently, such flexibility and responsiveness becomes a mainstream in console development. Many consoles have already adopted popular “free-to-play” technology.

Gamers = creators

Gamers will be able to observe the process of game development and contribute to it in the nearest future. For instance, the number of companies which offer potential sponsors some creative roles in their projects is constantly increasing on Kickstarter.

Of course, modding has always been an important part of gaming scene in PC segment. However, in 2016, developers are able to effectively pass the creation of new content to most faithful gamers.

Watchers’ experience

Developers have been increasingly thinking about the fact that their games will not only be played but watched as well. Statistics shows that the number of people, who like watching how others play, is constantly increasing. Therefore, more developers will try to exploit this trend by targeting their games to YouTube audience.

Moreover, this is already happening. Such projects as Gang Beasts or Speed Runners have been specifically developed to attract both YouTube and Twitch streamers.

Parents as game mentors

The first generation of parents who grew up playing video games has already appeared. Now they are happy to pass own passion and gaming preferences to their children. 70% of parents play video games together with their children.

This trend might lead to a sharp increase in the number of projects aimed at game partnership of children and parents. However, such market can be significantly increased as more representatives of generation of gamers become parents.

Conclusion

Virtual reality is primarily used in the gaming industry. As generation of gamers grows older, virtual reality then becomes very clear and accessible instrument for the vast number of users. According to experts, the main advantage of virtual reality technology will be its unlimited possibilities for working with different content: movies, education, travel, sports, training simulators and instructions, entertainment, and art.

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