In 1972 Pong was released. In the 1990’s video games began their transition from 2D to the 3rd Dimension. In 2006 motion capture software was implemented in the Wii. In 2012, the Oculus Rift became the first portable virtual reality headset. In 2020, video game consoles become sentient and take over the world. While this 2020 prediction may not be very accurate, here’s a look at what to expect for the future of the video gaming industry.

Probably the most obvious development to foresee is the massive growth of the video game industry during the coming years. Already the gaming industry is making billions upon billions of dollars of revenue while being a relatively young form of entertainment. Just as movies and TV grew in popularity to become what they are today, it would be a safe bet for the video game industry to do the same.

We may also see video gaming become more popular and accepted in society. Already, around 1.3 billion people globally consider themselves active gamers, among those, the average age is in the early 30’s. What to take from this is that the next generation will likely grow up with parents that encourage. or at least support, gaming. Most of our parents on the older side(don’t tell them that) didn’t grow up with video games so many of us were introduced to gaming through friends or seeing games in stores. Imagine the future when we have out own kids and how they will be growing up with parents that not only embrace video games, but maybe still play them every once in a while.

With the technology today constantly improving, it’s no surprise that advancements in video game technology will take off within the next few years. Virtual reality may become more standard for some video games, a process that’s been in development for a few years. The Oculus Rift is a highly advanced virtual reality headset that’s been in development since 2012 and plans to be released to the general public sometime in 2015. Its technology provides 360 degrees of view and already has a multitude of demos to play. Within the next couple years, you can expect to see this within a few homes, and possibly for other companies to jump on the bandwagon of virtual reality. Honestly, I dont expect virtual reality to be the next great advancement in gaming, but become more of a side show, something new that can be fun but only if done right.

My next prediction for the industry is for the development of motion capture to hit new levels. The  Nintendo Wii was the first major product to focus its games on motion capture technology way back in 2006. With its ability to create unique gameplay, other companies jumped onto the idea of motion capture and created products like the PlayStation Move and XBOX Kinect. Of course this concept can be heavily built on because even the newest releases like the Kinect have plenty of flaws capturing the player’s movements. Anyone that has used the Nintendo Wii has struggled at some point to find their pointer on the screen or gotten annoyed with the Kinetics astounding ability to detect inanimate objects better than people. But of the concept continues to be a serious possibility, we may see systems with accurate detection of our movements and games that are actually fun for more than a few days.

Online gaming is already starting to become the new norm, and is basically the future of gaming today. I see Steam( basically a massive gaming library for almost all PC gaming)  becoming even bigger than it already is with its 130 million or so active users. Already, Steam is planning on moving to console and we in future years we may see it evolving into a concept that envelops the entire video gaming world.

Probably what I want to see the most is for the capability of playing games on the go to increase. Nintendo hit a gold mine with the release of the 3DS; for a portable device to have as much memory as a huge console like the Wii is an impressive feat in anybody’s book. In a few years, I hope to see gaming no longer becoming reliant on bulky, homebound systems. Being able to play games built for consoles not only when we want but where we want would be revolutionary.

Someday we may see people playing the newest releases on devices about the size of a phone but with the power of a laptop computer. Even better, we may get to see power like this built into our phones one day. Today you can download emulators for games from around a decade ago onto your phone, but to see phones with the ability to not only act as a phone, but a video game system would be an amazing development for the coming years. Laptops specially built for gaming have been around for many years, so why haven’t phone companies already jumped on the bandwagon.

The video game industry is still a work in progress, with plenty of odds and ends to fix.. Be sure to check out any recent developments if interested and make your own predictions of what you think will happen.