In case you haven’t noticed, there is a lot of progress being made by creators of everything to do with artificial intelligence and virtual reality. These are two technologies are even posing a threat to other forms of entertainment. People were floored when Netflix CEO Reed Hastings told the gathered crowd that he felt that a game known as Fortnite was the biggest threat to Netflix. The audience thought that he was going to mention the launch of various stream media apps such as Disney Plus, but that is not where his mind was.
What Hastings understood was that people had drifted away from choosing from various media options to watch to choosing if they should watch something at all. There are so many entertainment options now that consumers have some tough choices to make. Increasingly, video games are taking up a larger and larger portion of people’s time.
Current estimates show that around one-third of the entire population on Earth will be gamers by next year (2021). The video game industry is expected to generate about $200 billion in revenue in 2021. That number will be a significant increase from the $120 billion that was made in 2019. This means that major companies have to prepare themselves for how much gaming is about to take over. That is what corporations like Amazon, Google, and Apple are already positioning themselves to become video game producers.
Virtual Reality Is A Niche Product, But Gaining Quickly
There is a lot of money splashing around the video game industry, and this leaves a lot of room for a variety of different products to make their place in the industry. One of those products is virtual reality. It is still a specialty product within the video game space, but it is gaining share in the space incredibly quickly.
Other niches like mobile gaming have also gained in popularity with so many people. They have helped make the idea of playing video games in general go more mainstream. What was once considered the hobby of just a particular type of person has now become part of what many of us enjoy on a daily basis.
Artificial Intelligence In Video Games
Discard your ideas that artificial intelligence is something you only see in the movies. That was something that featured in a great number of fictional movies for a long time, but it is now with us in reality. Just think about things like facial recognition and self-driving cars. These are all examples of how artificial intelligence is already touching everyday life, and you can bet that it will continue to influence video games.
For a long time, artificial intelligence has only been a part of non-player characters in video games. Think about the extras in a game like Grand Theft Auto. You as the main character can manipulate them and make them do certain things based on your actions, but there is a pre-set number of things that these individuals can do based on the programming of the game. They are also simply non-player characters and just not as interesting as the main character of the game. Naturally, that is just not as much fun.
Now AI is being used to compete with players and even beat them. For example, AI powered bots are showing up in online casino games and if they’re build well enough they’re beating players. This is why players still like to play live baccarat at Mansion in New Zealand. Having a mix of live play and AI or machine learning driven games give players the option to beat a dealer or a machine.
Breaking Away From Programming
The most important and exciting development for the video game world could be the invention of more and more intelligent characters, including the main character. This can add to the complication of the game and make it all the more challenging. That will create layers to the game that did not exist before.
Hopes are high that main characters will be able to do any number of things within the game that the designers had not anticipated. Their characters would have to react to the choices made by the main character. That would make every single game completely personalized.
Challenges To This Idea
It is so exciting to think about all of those possibilities, but there are a lot of possible challenges to this idea as well. Game developers are worried that if they allow for too broad of a spectrum of possibilities that it could make the game play suffer. The player could find it very hard to get on to the next level of the game, or they could also end up in a game that makes practically no sense.
The trick is that there have to be some constraints to the game while at the same time leaving enough open-ended content to make the experience exciting and different for every player. It is the ultimate challenge that game developers are facing at this time.
Virtual Reality
Who doesn’t want to take a spin living in a virtual world? This is the motivation has created some of the earliest VR games. They are interesting at this point, but they are still in their infancy. Players can visit worlds that they never could in their real life, but there are still many elements that need to be incorporated.
A big hurdle right now is trying to figure out how to get past the bulky headsets and other equipment that is required to make these games happen right now. These are tools of the trade to make virtual reality games currently. This means that they are only accessible to those who have large disposable incomes, and it means that players have to be able to wear those headsets without getting bothered by them.
Many who try VR games right now see them as a fun one-time distraction. However, there is a lot of hope for the future of these games going forward. Companies are working hard to make sure they come up with ideas for more customer-friendly products that will make them more likely to take on these games for their own enjoyment.
What The Future Can Look Like
Despite the many problems with how things are in VR at the moment, there is a lot of room for improvement. Companies are looking at all kinds of possible improvements. They are even eyeing the possibility of including games that players could wager on in the future. That is not currently possible in many jurisdictions, but there are plans for these types of games down the line.
Imagine how different the future of video games is going to look compared to the ways that they existed in the past. They have gone from static things only enjoyed by a core group of people to something where we can leave into a virtual world. It is easy to see why there are so many more people involved with gaming these days compared to the past. It is going to be very exciting to see what comes next in virtual reality, artificial intelligent, and the world of video games.