What Will the Video Games of the Future Look Like?

With enormous investment in creating the next big gaming innovation, the possibilities of what the future of gaming will bring are endless. We don’t know for sure, but below are some trends that can give us hints to what we can expect.

As noted above, game developers have always been adept at combining cutting edge and existing technologies. For instance, motion control gaming gained a mainstream audience when it merged with the mobile world. And what would open-world games be like without the ability to bring players together from all over the world, thanks to a connected global network?

Consider Oculus Rift, the result of a combination of mobility and motion controls. Bringing together these two already-established technologies accelerated the process and lowered the cost. Indie game developer Mike Bithell put it best when he told Vice:

What a lot of people miss is that VR technology, today, is actually relatively cheap. It’s basically some very good lenses, some very smart software, and high-resolution screens—which is like mobile technology. It’s a very clever repackaging of technology that’s already received a lot of investment, which has brought prices down ridiculously. Before, VR was bulky, and expensive to produce, but now it’s basically a mobile phone with some nice glass, in terms of its manufacture …I think VR has the chance to do what the Wii did, and bring this amazing, sci-fi tech to a mainstream audience. I’m excited about it.

A good way to predict what the future of gaming will look like is to assess what’s already here and imagine how it can evolve. Take 3D imaging or augmented reality one step further and you’ve got hologram gaming, a frontier that doesn’t seem to have any conventions and rules (except maybe to let the Wookie win). Take open-world one step further, and you’ve got world creation (i.e. Minecraft). Take AI one step further, and you’ve got a more complex, crafty computerized brain that learns the way you play, and adopts novel strategies to beat you.

Another good way to guess what the future of gaming will look like is to brush up on what new tech is available, and use a little creativity to apply it to the gaming world. We’ve seen a bit of this in augmented reality games that incorporate aspects of the real world into the gameplay. For example, you might use GPS to track and locate zombies that “live” in your city. Now take that a step further. You might have zombies busting through your bedroom door but you can deal with them with one lightning swing of your katana/smart watch. The possibilities are virtually limitless.

One thing we can say with certainty is that the future of gaming looks more exciting than ever before. With all of the current gaming wonders, the rapid march of progress in technology, and the convergence of the fertile imaginations of game developers and engineers, it’s hard to say precisely what the games themselves will look like. And what’s more thrilling than that?

What would you like to see in the gaming industry in the next few years and beyond?

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