If there is one thing we can be confident about when it comes to gaming, it is that the online side of things has fully taken over. Even games that are designed for solo play now offer online capabilities to extend the gameplay for gamers, and to offer a way to play against others without actually having to do it in real time.
Looking beyond 2017, what will the online world of gaming bring? The answer to this is more of the same, but in a good way. Looking at the trends we already see this year, we can predict what will be big, what will have the most success, and where gaming is heading.
More Power to Consoles
While we haven’t had confirmation of the next PlayStation 4 yet, the Xbox One X has set the scene for gaming in 2017. The Microsoft console is capable of 4K gameplay at 60FPS and will offer the ultimate in online gameplay. For those looking for other forms of entertainment, the machine will also be able to offer 4K movies and television. Which is something that the PlayStation 4 Pro can also do.
When it comes to the PC world we’ll probably see the next iteration of the powerful graphics cards and processors. With the rise of the Nvidia’s 1080 cards, AMD’s Ryzen processors and Intel’s i9 chips we already know that we’ll be going into 2018 with powerful computers that can handle anything that is thrown at them.
Virtual Reality
We’ve seen a lot of progress in virtual reality in 2017, but there is no doubt that 2018 will see further success for the new headsets. With the possibility of more powerful headsets next year, this year’s variety will no doubt go down in price, meaning even more people can enter the virtual world. Just how much of a share of the gaming world they manage to take over though is yet to be seen.
Mobile Gaming
With the improving of speeds and the inevitable next iterations of the powerful phones coming out in 2018 mobile gaming will also continue its impressive success. It will be interesting to see if the free to play model of gaming will still be a success, or if gamers will want something more. It is possible they’ll get sick of all of the in-game payments required to play these games, but the big companies will no doubt be hoping that doesn’t happen anytime soon.
One thing we can confidently say though is that gaming on the more powerful phones will get better and better. Casual gamers and fans of social games like bingo can enjoy their no deposit bingo bonus and will have their favourite games at hand. It will no doubt be business as usual.
While there is technology that does make a big impact on the online gaming world, for the most part things do tend to carry on in the usual same only way. With no slowdown in the popularity of gaming, the game companies will offer the same old stuff, and adapt to the new technology that enters the gaming world. What gamers like is dependability, they want to play the games they enjoy and they want them to perform good. That is what we’ll hopefully get in 2018, so we can concentrate on having fun.
