The year 2016 is about to end and now is a good time to make a year-end review about the gaming industry, specifically the game trends that dominated 2016. From going mobile and having mid-life crisis, here is a list of those trends.
Classic Games Turned Mobile
Game developers realized that the mobile industry has a huge market for games. Thus, they decided to bring some of their most popular titles on mobile. The most notable of this is, of course, Niantic's Pokemon GO. Going mobile and the promise of using augmented reality made the game not only a hit but one of the top games in 2016.
One more day, and Super Mario Run will make its debut on the iOS platform. It's a good move by Nintendo to partner with Apple because it seems determined to really make the game a success, perhaps surpassing Pokemon GO in sales.
Equity Crowdfunding Is Taking Center Stage
Equity crowdfunding works the same way as Kickstarter, except that the backers get a monetary return when they back a project. Although it sounds tempting, equity crowdfunding is quite a bit tricky when it comes to legalities. But in case you want to make extra cash and really wants to back up games, equity crowdfunding is a good way to do that.
The Game Industry Is Getting Crowded
With a lot of indie game developers joining in and development cost gets higher, it also gets more and more difficult to get discovered in the market. Even if by chance, the game gets a good foothold, the hits are not that big as before and they came in trickle. It seems like the game industry is becoming like an industry of struggling artists who need that big hit.
The Reality Of VR
The year 2016 showed a lot of VR products coming out as well as games made for the platform. However, game developers are also beginning to realize that developing games for VR is not that profitable yet. Some developers try to develop existing games and make them VR capable but the results are bad.
Game Consoles Are In A Dilemma
Call it some sorts of a mid-life crisis where game consoles have to keep up with the rapid changes in technology. With 4K and HD TV proliferating, game consoles are trying to keep up by developing proprietary hardware. Although this is good, it also became their weakness as the new consoles experience a lot of issues and troubles. Look at what is happening to PS4 and PS4 Pro. This puts game console developers in a dilemma whether they will continue upgrading their consoles or not.
