VR, AR, eSports and the Future of Gaming

The gaming industry does not stand still. In fact, time and time again over the years, gaming has pushed the envelope and adopted cutting edge technologies that later became mainstream—technologies like streaming online content, and 1080p and 4K (and beyond) graphics. As one trend ends another is always just around the corner, ready to take the world by store—and right now there’s plenty of things to be excited about. Let’s take a look at what’s in store for the gaming industry, and how things might change going forward.

One of the hottest technologies—at least in terms of industry buzz—is virtual reality (VR). VR is something that was talked about many years before its actual arrival. When it finally hit the street, it didn’t boom as expected. However, there have since been dramatic improvements to both the hardware and software, which has led to the product finally starting to live up to expectations. Virtual reality is poised to have a huge impact on the gaming industry in its many different forms.

It won’t necessarily just be video games that take advantage of VR. It’s long been said that online gaming operators—sites like Party Casino—will find VR technology extremely beneficial. They will be able to create impressive virtual casino experiences for their customers to enjoy. Not only that, but online video slot games can be more immersive too.

Augmented Reality—or AR—is another form of technology that is set to change the gaming landscape. Where virtual reality places you completely into a virtual world experience, augmented reality overlays a virtual digital world on top of the real, physical world in front of you. Thanks to the popularity of games like Pokémon Go, augmented reality has gotten a lot of attention in the past year. The latest flagship smartphones such as the iPhone X, and developer frameworks like Apple’s ARKit are bringing AR technology quickly into the mainstream consciousness.

Augmented Reality has serious potential with seemingly unlimited capabilities. Many people are already of the opinion that it could be much bigger than virtual reality, especially as AR is already proving to be a hit on smartphones. That appears to be the direction the market is heading. More and more people are gaming on their mobile phones and tablets these days, so it makes sense for the future of gaming to be focused on that area of the market.

Another concept that is pushing the envelope and shaping the future of the gaming industry is competitive games—commonly referred to as eSports. The popularity of competitive online gaming is growing at a dramatic rate—for both competitors and viewers. It’s also possible that the concept of eSports could bleed over to skill-based casino gaming as well.

Most of these technologies require a lot of bandwidth to function smoothly. Luckily, 5G connections from mobile devices are just around the corner. It’s estimated that 5G can comfortably reach speeds of around 10Gbps, which would make the mobile gaming experience significantly better.

The future is certainly bright for the gaming industry—and consequently for the rest of the mainstream world of consumer technology as hot new technologies become mainstream. Virtual reality, augmented reality, and eSports are the hot concepts right now, but who knows what sort of mind-blowing technology will drive gaming 5 years from now?