Since its explosion into the mainstream culture at the tail end of the last century, gaming has come to be synonymous with technological advancement and evolution. Look back at some of the biggest tech innovations in recent years and you’ll see that they originated within the gaming industry. Virtual reality, for example, offers efficient applications across a variety of sectors and industries, but it’s the gaming industry that achieved the most significant milestones throughout the development of the technology.
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Within gaming itself, technology has developed at breakneck speed. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at the tech that underpins some of the industry’s most popular segments.
Designing Video Games
To remain in keeping with the times and ‘speak’ to an increasingly tech-savvy gaming audience, today’s video games need to offer high levels of immersion via true-to-life graphics, absorbing soundscapes, and, of course, captivating storylines. A huge amount of effort and resources are poured into even the most simple of hypercasual games to achieve the desired result. This means that video game designers need to be skilled in utilizing a number of software tools such as:
- Game Engines – which dictate how elements of the game move and interact with each other
- Animation tools – to bring 3D digital models to life
- Modelling tools – that are used to design everything from in-game world terrain to lead characters
- Video tools – needed to add in those crucial cutscenes that tell the story of the game
- Sound tools – for creating each and every sound effect within the game
How RNG Tech Keeps iGaming Fair
iGaming is a phenomenally popular segment of the global gaming industry, which is well on its way to being worth over $125 billion by 2027 (according to Grand View Research). Covering real money games including online slots, roulette, and poker, as well as sports betting and lotteries and competitions, there’s a real need within the segment to keep games provably fair while offering premium quality experiences. This can be achieved by using RNG (random number generator) technology. It’s thanks to RNG technology that leading operators such as PokerStars Casino are able to maintain the integrity of their all-star titles. RNGs are essential software algorithms that produce a randomized sequence of events that cannot be predicted. When integrated into iGaming platforms, they ensure that every action from the spins of online slots reels to the hands dealt in video poker is totally randomized and unique. Random number generators are such important elements of an online gaming platform or mobile gaming app that they need to be independently tested regularly to ensure that an operator can retain its gaming license.
Reaching New Levels with Artificial Intelligence
One advanced technology that has certainly upped the ante for gaming is Artificial Intelligence. AI pervades our lives as modern humans, from the facial recognition functions on our smartphones right the way through to devices connected to the Internet of Things, so its impact on video games has changed the landscape forever. Incredibly, AI has been a part of gaming since its early days – albeit in slightly different formats – the 1970s arcade game Pong utilized a very basic form of the technology. In 2022, however, AI has become so sophisticated that, when integrated into a game, it’s like playing with another human gamer. AI tech is widespread, cropping up in games as diverse as Civilisation and Alien: Isolation. The truly exciting thing is that we’ve only really begun to touch on what we can achieve with the technology, meaning that the future of gaming will be one containing all manner of exciting possibilities.
Gaming in the Cloud Delivers Seamless Play
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Another example of advanced technology that is truly shaping the future of the gaming industry can be seen in cloud gaming. Cloud technology has been around since the year 2000, but it took a while for internet speeds to become optimized in order for it to be fully implemented. In recent years, we’ve seen business processes moved to the cloud and content streaming become a reality, so it was only a matter of time before cloud gaming launched into full swing. This powerful technology essentially democratizes the process of acquiring and purchasing video games. Instead of needing the latest console with masses of storage space and a budget big enough to purchase game after game, players can instead purchase a cloud gaming subscription and stream games onto any connected device.
Admittedly, cloud gaming is still very much in its early days, having only been part of mainstream gaming since the late 2010s. It is, however, an emerging market that centers on the needs of gamers – making it one with a very bright future ahead.