Mobile gaming has grown in leaps and bounds within an incredibly short period. Compared to a decade ago, for instance, the number of people who play mobile games has grown exponentially.
Besides, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the global gaming business exploded in popularity. Playing games online, including mobile casino games, became the new norm as most people were forced to stay at home and stay away from any form of social gatherings to prevent further infections. In fact, the turn of events last year accelerated the mobile app industry at large so much that the sector’s in-app revenue crossed the $100 billion mark by the end of the year.
Just in case you’ve been keen on the industry’s rapid growth, then you can easily predict some of the likely mobile gaming development trends for 2021. From a technical boost to a reappearance to the originals, we may perhaps see a bit of a mashup this year. So, what are some of the developments that we expect in this leading industry in 2021? Here are some of the mobile gaming trends you should watch out for.
Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality (VR and AR)
By now, VR and AR have modernized the gaming experience for a huge number of players. In 2021, we look forward to seeing Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality integrate more with mobile games and offer gamers an even more immersive experience.
As we speak, VR headsets have become an important accessory for new generation gaming experiences. The best thing about these VR accessories is that they are no longer as absurdly expensive as they used to be when they were first released years ago.
Moreover, anytime you talk about VR, then AR will certainly come to mind. Just like VR, AR is another technological innovation that has done a great deal of wonders for the gaming world. A good example of an AR application is PokemonGo. When the game first came out in 2016, it truly blew players’ minds as no one had ever dreamed of such an incredible experience with a mobile game. The gaming industry is expected to take advantage of AR and GPS along with more advanced computer visuals to make the experience much cooler than it currently is.
Cross-play Gaming Options
Thanks to cloud gaming, game developers can provide partial and full support as needed to other gaming platforms. From a player’s perspective, this makes it easier to switch from one platform to another, depending on what you want or what device is within reach at that time. For gaming companies, on the other hand, cross-play options give them better opportunities to capture new audiences without losing out on other audiences that prefer playing on certain devices.
The need for cross-play options is on the rise and is anticipated to get higher in 2021 and many years to come. Of course, this option comes with some challenges, particularly for more resource-hungry games when you consider hardware, processing power and seamless software integration with an operating system. However, even with such challenges, developers are getting better and will keep providing cross-play options to capture as many players as they can.
5G
For online gamers, one of the greatest horrors is the latency that leads to time outs and buffering when you are busy trying to complete the mission or beat an opponent. However, as luck may have it for gamers, such problems might soon be a thing of the past, with the advent of the 5G network. The mainstream rollout of 5G will make sure that download speeds will get much faster and much more stable.
While 5G is already available in some urban locations, it is still a long way from becoming an affordable option elsewhere, but even so, it’s beginning to take progressively more space. In 2021, rollouts will certainly continue, and it will surely change the game for countless online gamers.
Face and Voice Recognition
With the incorporation of face and voice recognition in games, you could make an avatar that looks and sounds like you. It is the truest impersonation of your character in your favorite games, and it will surely make video gaming more and more interesting. We should expect more advancements towards that direction this year to inject a shot of reality into multiplayer gaming.
What Else Do You Think Will Catch on This Year?
There’s so much potential in the mobile gaming world, whether we look at video games or verticals such as casino gaming. What other trend do you hope to see growing in 2021 or the next couple of years? Do let us know right here in the comments section!