The development of both the global gaming industry and the Internet of Things (IoT) are inevitably intertwined. In fact, video games have always been a driving force aiding new technologies. The new slim designs of today’s smartphones can be traced back to the portability brought on by the first Game Boy.
Before we all had laptops, computers, and pocket-sized IoT devices, game systems like the Atari were the first actual home computers. And today, just as IoT tech is improving social interaction in gaming, game development is introducing new ways in which the IoT can be applied.
As a study published by the International Journal of Scientific & Technology Research points out, “Rather than technology changing people’s social and psychological reality, people can change their use of technology to facilitate their creation of a desired social and psychological reality.” Nowhere is this more apparent than in the gaming trends that have been leveraging the IoT to facilitate new means of social interaction.
Battle Royales
Daily Game places battle royales at the top of its 5 Video Game Trends to Watch Out for in 2019. Multiplayer, 100-person first-person shooter (FPS) games have increased in popularity over recent years, which can be seen in franchises like Fortnite and PUBG. Much of this is thanks to improvements in streamlined data exchange as facilitated by IoT developments.
Thanks to IoT tech and a number of related advancements, it’s become increasingly cheaper and easier to host, as well as play games, between large numbers of players. In fact, through the advent of games like PUBG Mobile, PCs and consoles are slowly but surely making room for FPS battle royale gaming via smartphones.
Through IoT technology, it’s become easier for gamers around the world to interact – now from the comfort of their own pocket-sized computers.
Live Online Dealers
The recently concluded 2019 ICE Totally Gaming expo has shown how game developers and providers are creating online personas specifically to boost engagement and interaction in games. Popular tabletop casino games are being ported into online versions that players can enjoy from their laptops or smartphones – live dealers included. Evolution Gaming has recently launched Deal or No Deal Live which comes with an actual live human moderator.
The tabletop games on Slingo also feature various live dealers, adding new levels of realism and social interaction to a typically solitary online gaming experience. The increasing trend of live online dealers is currently spreading across the adult gaming industry, powered by the increasing connectivity brought about by IoT technology.
Social Augmented Reality Gaming
Both augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) owe much of their development to IoT tech. Advancements in the IoT and smart devices have been largely responsible for making inter-device connectivity cheaper to produce and more widespread. As a result, many gamers now have access to both AR and VR games via their smartphones. And as games like Pokémon Go have proved in the past, this can be leveraged towards promoting interactions between players in the real world.
This game’s $2 billion net worth and 500 million players are testaments to the fact that gamers are looking for new ways to play as well as interact with one another. And other franchises are following, with 2018 seeing the release of Pokémon Go-derivative AR games such as The Walking Dead: Our World, Ghostbusters World, and Jurassic World Alive.
It would seem that there’s no limit to how IoT tech can change how we interact through gaming. That’s because its development is inherently related to other overarching tech advances like artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, AR, VR, and the much-anticipated global release of the 5G network.
As long as there are problems with connectivity, the IoT and its related technologies will be there to provide solutions.
Note: The content & opinions in this article are the author’s and do not necessarily represent the views of TechPrior.