The gaming industry is one of the few industries that thrive during the ongoing pandemic. Being stuck in their homes has made people turn to online games to pass their time and keep themselves entertained.

With an increasing number of users, the gaming industry remains the clear winner generating higher revenue than the sports and movie industries.

With Xbox Series X and PS5 launched this year, the gaming industry is in for some change. Here are the 7 most important trends that’ll affect the industry moving forward this year.

Gaming Subscription Services

Gaming subscriptions offer a lot of value and incentive to the gamers, a major reason why these services became so popular in the past few years. 2020 also saw a lot of changes in this area with the launch of Amazon Luna and the EA Access and Original Access Basic combining under the banner EA Play.

The major focus in 2021 is going to be how these services prove themselves to be better and more valuable than the existing ones. The features and content will be crucial to determine which service has the best value and interest of its customers.

Cloud Gaming

Cloud-based gaming is a revolutionary technology that allows gamers to play games from the cloud instead of a specific gaming device or hardware.

Cloud gaming offers a fantastic gaming experience to the users. It allows gamers with hardware or device limitations to enjoy the same experience without any latency.

Downloading a game can take up hours and sometimes your device lags. Cloud gaming lets you play your favourite game in real-time.

Diversity and Inclusion

This year is going to be all about making gaming more inclusive and accessible. 2020 witnessed the increase in games that had a more inclusive representation of the characters.

For the most part of gaming existence, it’s been a highly male-dominating landscape as a majority of people who work in this industry and the ones that take part in gameplay are men.

However, as for the past few years, there has been the involvement of women in this industry as both developers and gamers.

Not only the players but the titles of these games are modified so they can resonate with other cultures and genders as well. For instance, The Last of Us Part II includes LGBTQ representation.

These changes are making sure that these games are representative of different communities, cultures and genders.

Gaming Glasses

Seeing the exponential growth of the gaming industry, the eyewear brands decided to take advantage of it. Many eyewear brands are launching gaming glasses that they are also endorsing as gamer glasses.

These glasses have anti-blue light functionality on the lenses that cut off digital eye strain and optimise your intermediate vision for a better gaming experience.

If you play online games for long hours, you need these glasses to avoid eye strain and ensure the best visual performance. However, if you have blue light filters on your prescription or fake reading glasses, you can use them to avoid eye strain and sleep disorders.

Indie Games

Indie gaming is not new. But the platforms such as Steam that allow the indie gaming producers to distribute their games to the users have led to the increase in these indie games.

Indie games such as Stardew Valley and Among Us were among the bestsellers in 2020. Roblox is another platform that offers game creation and distribution via a single platform to indie game developers.

5G Internet

With the expansion of the 5G network, the gaming industry will most likely face some big changes in the near future. The strong and fast connection will enable users to download games faster, see better graphics and will also reduce lags.

Playing cloud-based games on the 5G network will let gamers use the location-specific features better than they did before. This will encourage more mobile users to play multiplayer games and download any game they want at any time.

Next-Gen Consoles

This gaming trends 2021 list won’t be complete if we don’t mention the next generation of consoles that were launched last year: PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.

While it’s hard to say which of these giants will win the war, but it’s safe to say that these two giants will decide a number of gaming industry trends in years to come.

Apart from these trends, you must also watch out for your eye health. If you play games for any length of time, you should not leave your eyes bare to the screen. Use gaming or blue light glasses for eye protection. These are available in different unique styles such as transparent glasses for men and women.

These were the trends that are going to dominate or dictate the gaming industry going further this year. Any change in technology will affect how games are created or played. From the boom of indie games to inclusion in gaming, this industry is always in motion.