Published on February 3rd, 2022 | by Sunit Nandi

Breakouts in 2021 Entertainment Tech that’ll Grow Stronger in 2022

Entertainment continues to be more and more tech-driven, from the streaming platforms that we use to access content all the way to the high-tech applications that send us to new realities. Furthermore, it’s becoming an increasingly central part of people’s everyday lives. It’s expected that global entertainment and media revenue will grow from $2 trillion in 2020 to $2.6 trillion by 2025. In 2021, we saw a lot of key technologies grow in prominence, and in 2022, further applications will continue to surge entertainment towards the aforementioned growth.

This looks to be the year that virtual reality finally kicks off

After its move to shed the Facebook name and become Meta, the colossal social media company has since announced its plans and concept art for the metaverse. To help people prepare and get in early, Meta will subsidize headsets or sell the VR equipment at cost to expand the metaverse’s audience quickly. It’s the headline-catching story of the metaverse and its sci-fi promises that will further help to push VR tech across entertainment mediums in 2022. Still very much an entertainment tech – not yet the business hardware that Meta intends it to become – more developers will expand its reach this year, from mostly gaming and experiences to more refined virtual cinemas and other such uses.

Realistic lighting, shadows, and reflections to feature in more games

It sounds like a small area of development, but there’s a tremendous amount of weight given to graphical fidelity and the immersion that it offers in gaming. Real-time ray tracing, enabled by the PlayStation 5 and Nvidia’s RTX graphics cards, is all the rage right now. We’ve since seen it implemented in the more low-level graphics of the long-running, absurdly popular game Minecraft, but also titles that steer far more towards realism, such as Metro Exodus, Control, and Ghostrunner. We’ll continue to see it utilized and to a far greater degree in some of the console’s biggest releases in 2022: there will be ray tracing in Horizon Forbidden West.

Connecting for ongoing giveaways and prizes

One of the ploys used by social media influencers to draw attention to products that they’re paid to advertise is the giveaway. It’s so common, in fact, that Wask has created a comment picker to help randomize the process of giving free goods and prizes away. It makes the experience entertaining for followers, much like a lottery of sorts. In that same line of entertainment, at the online casino, games are being enhanced with a similar ongoing giveaway system. Now, the likes of Hyper Gold, Arctic Enchantress, and Blazing Mammoth are all tied to the Must Win Jackpot, which randomly drops to any of the players who happen to be spinning at that moment. The core slot game remains present and pays out, but the possibility of the jackpot dropping on any spin from any player makes it a more communal gaming experience or gaming competition of sorts.

Letting the algorithms do some of the editing

With so many fantastical and sci-fi movies dominating at the box office, it’s fair to say that moviemakers aren’t shy of utilizing tech for their on-screen products. Still, much of the heavy lifting, production-wise, comes in the editing room: this is where algorithms are coming in handy. Algorithm technologies have come on leaps and bounds in recent years. Now, algorithmic editing utilizes a set model to then cut and reassemble footage. Digital editing is as vital as it is a tedious process, so you can bet that reliable algorithms will be deployed where they can in movies moving forward. Beyond Hollywood, artificial intelligence is also helping other video creators to release high-quality content.

Non-fungible tokens to become core to entertainment products

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are digital files on a blockchain that are easily verified as unique and authentic in the digital world. Already, NFT art is catching headlines as a speculative market, with people betting on NFT appreciation in the metaverse. While there are already NFT games out there, such as Gods Unchained and Axie Infinity, the major publishers are now looking to weigh in. The idea is that, in a space that’s increasingly pushed to in-game monetization via microtransactions and loot boxes, a pay-to-earn format would appeal to gamers. For better or worse, NFTs in games will certainly grow in 2022, with reports stating that blockchain games are on the rise despite the tumble of the cryptocurrency market. The concept could also grow once file application has been established to limited releases of films and music.

Technology continues to develop the way that people can create and that we can enjoy entertainment, with the likes of interconnected multiplayer drops, VR experiences, and NFTs set to grow in prominence in 2022.

Tags: 2021, 2022, breakouts, grow stronger

About the Author

Sunit Nandi I'm the leader of Techno FAQ. Also an engineering college student with immense interest in science and technology. Other interests include literature, coin collecting, gardening and photography. Always wish to live life like there's no tomorrow.