Gaming Trends for the 2020’s

Being just a year into the decade, we’re already starting to see the emergence of big gaming trends that have had a small continuation from the end of the last decade, and whilst somewhat uninteresting to some as it provides more of the same, it does also provide some opportunities for uniqueness to slip through too. The biggest successes will certainly be found in the mobile space as a changing audience primarily a little older has certainly helped to develop a growing interest in the online gambling space, some examples of non-UK casinos in particular have been amongst the favourite here and will continue to grow in popularity as representation in online streaming grows too. The target will be for the big, dedicated platforms however, but what are the big trends already emerging?

Remakes and remasters to continue - A trend to see out the end of the teens and the start of this decade has been within the big delivery of remastered titles and the growing interest in reboots and remakes too, it is something already being seen in the past few months with the remake of Pokémon Snap on the Switch which according to the NPD is one of the most sold titles across all platforms this year already. Given the success already seen, this will certainly be a space that continues to see success as those looking to capture some old nostalgia benefit from new tech and new games.

Indie games still on the rise - There has been an enormous amount of success for indie games over the past decade too, games like Valheim saw an enormous release as perhaps the latest big indie release to see widespread success, but other titles like Among Us and Fall Guys took the summer of 2020 by storm and show that there’s a clear path ahead for the success of big indie titles and will be a way to continue delivering exciting games away from the big AAA approach.

Early access is the new beta test - Perhaps the biggest change that many are still trying to become accustomed to is that newer titles that release a little earlier under the early access banner are essential a paid beta test – it has become par for the course that if you buy an early access title you’ll have to sit through experiencing bugs and less than perfect gameplay and is unlikely something that will change over time.

It’s certainly an exciting time for gaming, and with the next generation of consoles having arrived too there’s an opportunity for newer titles to find growing success, and for other trends particularly in the likes of virtual reality for example to start emerging at the same time too.