Gaming’s Hottest New Trends

Massive changes are currently afoot in the video game business, challenging our concept of how today’s leading PC and console titles operate, let alone the very definition of the term “interactive entertainment.” As a consequence, several exciting new frontiers are rapidly being pioneered across a myriad of devices from PCs to TVs, consoles, smartphones and tablet computers, making it one of the most exciting times ever to be an enthusiast.

Been following the field since it’s inception? Then you may agree with our humble assessment that gaming isn’t on the decline as some critics have alleged, but rather about to undergo a major renaissance. Among the hottest new gaming trends that we feel are driving this charge, and will be most important to the continued growth and well-being of the industry going forward, in no particular order:

1. Casual Games
2. Digital Distribution
3. Social Network Games
4. Free-to-Play Games
5. Motion Controls
6. Smartphone Apps
7. Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) Games
8. Cloud Computing
9. Indie Games
10. 3D TV and Game Technology
11. Microtransactions
12. Virtual Worlds
13. Downloadable Content (DLC)
14. User-Generated Content
15. Real-Time Iteration

All of these add up to what we suspect will be a brighter future for the field than even its progenitors could ever have imagined. For a deeper encapsulation of what’s happening to gaming as a whole at present, and which areas are showing the most promise, you might also consider browsing the following article, to which we contributed some insight:

Videogames: 12 Coolest Products at E3 Expo – The Daily Beast

About Scott Steinberg
Scott Steinberg is CEO of strategic consulting and product testing firm TechSavvy Global, and a noted keynote speaker and business expert. Hailed as a top tech expert and parenting guru by critics from USA Today to NPR, he’s also an on-air analyst for ABC, CBS and CNN.