The future is vast and unknowable. But humans have been blessed with many gifts, like drive-through Maccas and razor scooters – but perhaps the best gift bestowed upon us by The Almighty Unknowable Force, is the gift of pontification. That’s right kids, though we may not know the future, we can sure as Scyther speculate.
I often like to sit back and imagine what the future will hold, because I’m deeper than you, and more well-read. I sit back with my pipe and ponder a magical alternate reality where we don’t nuke ourselves into oblivion, or melt the planet, or drown from rising sea levels, or become slaves to The Robots.
In this wonderful future, I see myself playing The Last of Us Remastered (Version 14) in my Mars pod. The game is great, they really nailed this much-needed and super necessary remaster and I’m really looking forward to the next one – the only thing that bothers me is that the game pauses every 30 seconds and asks me to pay a microtransaction in order to continue playing, but that’s OK, it could be worse. At least the internet is ultra fast.
But hey, what do I know! Let’s get some real experts on the line.
Jenz, Twitch streamer
What do I think of the future of gaming? The big question. Well, ultimately I think we’ll end up in a Ready Player One situation where we plug into VR sets and escape reality to be whatever you want to be in a virtual world. Maybe. It’s hard to speculate what will be in the future but I think VR will be the big thing – but better than what we know of it now.
There will probably be weird accessories to make gaming in a VR world feel more real. Maybe smell-o-vision can finally be a real thing? That would be cool. It’s great to see companies innovate within the gaming space, like having haptic feedback in our controllers or RGB lights sync up to games to give a more immersive experience. So with how things have been going, immersion will be something that companies in the gaming industry will strive for more and more over the next 50 years.
Ruby Innes, Kotaku writer
When it comes to video games, every day is a new video game day.
Video games are always trying to do the next big thing, like letting you kiss the gun before and after shooting it to wish it a good job, or putting more legs on the playable character to make them scuttle like a crab. If I use my psychic abilities (which I have, it’s true) and look exactly 20 years in the future, here’s what’s in store for video games:
- Mario is real now, but he has arthritis.
- Minecraft is no longer just a game, but a world. You cannot play Minecraft on any platform, you have to take a 14-hour plane trip to Minecraft World (formerly known as ‘Adelaide’) in order to physically exist in the Minecraft world.
- The newest Pokemon game has much, much sexier Pokemon. Unfathomably sexual.
- Microsoft as a company is just one guy now, his name is Gargus Donk and he does every job at Microsoft.
- Skyrim has been remastered for the PlayStation 6.
Nina Nikolic (KidKerrigan), Voice actor & streamer
My hope in the next 10 years is for technology to be in a place where we can enjoy the fun of VR without the physical pain of the headset. I enjoy VR so much, but haven’t been able to experience it as much as I want to because the headset is so heavy.
Also, imagine if 50 years from now we’re able to have VR mods for ALL our favourite games, and develop them in a way where we can overcome the dissonance of our brains going WOAH my body isn’t actually doing that when we’re head-bobbing around in first-person.
I’m not sure how possible that is without actually rewiring our brains with Matrix-level tech, but… CAN YOU IMAGINE?! My elderly butt is going to be having the best time living a full life, even if my physical body is at a stage where it’s hard to keep up.
Matt Hopkins, former Tech & Gaming Editor at Pedestrian.TV
I think in the next 10 years or so graphics are going to become so lifelike that they’re almost uncomfortable. Like shooting someone in a game will look exactly like real life and I’m not sure how people will handle that? It’ll either be a frog in boiling water situation where we just slowly adjust to it, or there’ll be a huge shift away from shooters and violent games to other genres.
Longer term, I think more affordable VR and immersive accessories (haptic feedback suits and whatnot) will shift more people towards VR gaming.
Drawza, Twitch streamer
I think that one thing about the future of gaming that would be a guarantee, is broken controllers, more rage quits and countless insults over voice chat. In terms of the content, amazing immersive open-world stories with many different possibilities, not just tree branch stories that are set as we have now (think Detroit Become Human) but one that is more like a forest of branches, with every gameplay producing different results, even with the same decision, just like real life. Also, in 50 years: Half-life 3.
David Smith, Kotaku Editor
The games industry currently finds itself at the centre of many converging ideas and technologies that will shape the landscape in the decades to come. In ten years, one would hope that VR tech will have finally found a more comfortable space between practicality and affordability. Dedicated consoles will become a thing of the past, replaced by cloud gaming and subscription services. Live service games will continue to dominate the AAA space, while indie projects will only grow in scope and ambition as the democratisation of dev tools expands.
There you have it folks, but before you scuttle off to your various dens and dwellings, why not bring the future to you? Go on, treat yourself to some seriously fast internet with GigaComm‘s low ping (2-4ms average) and speeds up to 1000 Mbps – a proper game changer for gamers. Go on, you’re worth it baby!
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