The gaming industry goes through its trends and phases, whether its genres, gameplay mechanics, or art styles. In 2020, we’re going to witness some game design and development trends that really focuses on the incredible technology available, and so here are 5 of those design and development trends you can expect to see a lot of throughout 2020.
IP crossovers to mobile
A lot of PC/console titles and characters have been finding their way to mobile devices, thanks to the always-improving hardware of smartphones that can now run games with graphics comparable to last-gen consoles. Games like Call of Duty, PUBG, GTA: San Andreas, Fortnite, and even Half-Life 2 has received a port to mobile devices.
Expect this trend to continue in 2020 as game companies think of ways to bring existing IPs onto mobile devices, especially games with large competitive communities that could be mobile esports contenders, like the League of Legends port being developed for Android and iOS.
Online casinos are also trying to develop better smartphone apps, that don’t feel like smartphone versions of their browser websites. There are some great developers of Casino games in Norway and the rest of Europe, and Southeast Asian countries like the Philippines have been getting into the online casino market as well, so there’s definitely a future for mobile casino gaming.
Optional monthly subscriptions for game perks
We’ve been seeing this trend a lot lately in free-to-play games, as developers are trying to stay away from loot boxes and pay-to-win mechanics. Some of the most popular mobile esport games like Mobile Legends, World of Tanks, and PUBG offer monthly subscriptions that provide membership perks like discounted cosmetics and faster experience gain.
As there’s been a lot of backlash from gamers against pay-to-win and loot box mechanics over the years, developers of free-to-play games are moving towards this monthly subscription model, while still offering regular IAPs.
VR as a serious contender
It was easy to brush off VR as an overhyped, niche product several years ago, but the technology has rapidly advanced to amazing capabilities. Not only have nearly life-like graphics and physics simulation been achieved (have you seen Lone Echo?), but accessories like haptic feedback gloves that allow users to “feel” objects they pick up in VR.
While VR still hasn’t necessarily broken out into major mainstream usage, that could be due to change in 2020.
Gaming through the cloud
PC gamers were the first to enjoy digital downloads through platforms like Steam, while the console industry continued to primarily sell games through retail outlets. But as consoles continue offering digital downloads, and GameStop continues bleeding out of business, everyone is talking about the future of game delivery methods. That future is on the cloud.
Nobody has really quite figured it out yet, as Google Stadia has thus far been a total flop, and the handful of cloud gaming services that currently exist are rather limited in their game libraries, but make no mistake – there’s going to be significant progress made for cloud gaming in 2020.
As 5G mobile data continues rolling out across nations, also expect the possibility of cloud gaming to hit mobile devices. It would be the perfect opportunity for developers to create AAA-level titles for mobile devices that are limited in hardware and storage space.
Enhanced AI in immersive games
AI has always been a part of the game industry, as it instructs NPCs what to do, but it’s always been fairly limited to specific actions that the developers specify. With modern advanced machine learning, expect NPCs to be even smarter, and go through less scripted routines, as their advanced AI will create believable reactions to in-game events.
We’ve seen glimpses of this in open-world games like Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption, where pedestrians go through their day in a realistic manner, but you’re really watching them go through random lists of scripted events. Throughout 2020, expect a shift towards smarter, more dynamic AI, with more believable routines and actions.
AI is also being used to assist with game development, as large open-world games can require development teams of hundreds of people. AI will be leveraged to assist with game world generation and more.
