Casino games
Online casino games are widely popular. These include traditional games such as blackjack, poker, roulette, and slots. Modern technology has allowed for live dealer games, where an online player interacts with a live dealer streamed from a studio. This combines the convenience of online gaming with the immersive experience of a casino.
Virtual reality (VR) casino games are also possible, offering a new level of engagement and realism. As VR and augmented reality (AR) advance, possibilities for games will expand.
VR in gaming is a wider trend, and these games are beginning to include a wide variety of genres, including adventure, puzzle and social games.
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Platformers
Platformers are enduringly popular games. Since the golden age of platformers in the 1990s with games like Super Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog and Donkey Kong, platformers have developed with modern twists.
Beloved Mario games like Super Mario World (1990 on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, or SNES) have spawned an array of sequels and imitations. Super Mario 3D World was released on Wii U in 2013, and based on Metacritic’s collected critic ratings, it scored a 93/100 (which meets their “Universal Acclaim” score). The nostalgia and redevelopment continued, and in 2024 Nintendo released a remake of the 2004 game, Mario vs Donkey Kong.
While part of the appeal of platformers is 30- and 40-somethings enjoying nostalgic gaming, more contemporary games have incorporated new mechanics like gravity manipulations. The widely acclaimed Super Mario Galaxy, a 3D platformer, was lauded for its “innovative understanding of gravity”.
Platformers also offer the possibility for young software developers to start learning to program. It’s possible to create a fun game with basic mechanics (such as jumping, moving left and right, and collision detection) and clear objectives (get from point A to point B, for example). Most platformers are 2D which makes it easier for programmers to get to grips with how game objects interact and develop their understanding of game physics.
That basic starting point offers a good base to scale up from. Developers can go on to add more complex items like enemies and other hazards, and power-ups and equipment upgrades.
The rise of TikTok and viral videos have also influenced the popularity of platformers. Speed running videos, where gamers complete video games or certain levels as quickly as possible, are extremely popular. One Sonic The Hedgehog speed run has 3 million views on YouTube. A Mario Kart 8 Deluxe video from earlier in 2024, where a gamer completes every track at 200cc, is already approaching 1 million views.
Platformers have always offered a pick-up-and-play option amid a sea of intricate, deeply involved RPGs, simulation, and strategy games. Part of their appeal is their ultra-accessibility, particularly in games like endless runners on mobile. Start the game; press jump; press jump again; press jump until it’s not quite as much fun (which can take a while). You don’t have to learn complicated controls and game mechanics. You just press your screen.
Despite their comparatively limited worlds compared to open-world 3D games, platformers often offer immersive environments as well as rich gameplay. Recent games like Animal Well have received rave reviews, with Eurogamer’s reviewer “astonished” by that particular game’s ideas, “the joy these ideas bring, and the sheer range of magical stuff it includes”.
Less strategy, less planning
IGN recently reported that “Video games with deep levels of strategy are becoming increasingly unappealing, according to a new study.”
The study was completed by Quantic Foundry, who collected data over 9 years. They conducted a survey and used data from 1.57 million gamers.
The survey was entitled “The Gamer Motivation Profile” which gave gamers a personalized report of gamers’ motivations and found that gamers are less interested in strategy in the last 9 years.
“Strategy is defined as the appeal of long-term thinking, planning, and careful decision-making. Gamers who score high on Strategy prefer longer time horizons for planning and complex decision-making,” say Quantic.
Of the 12 motivations measured, strategy had changed the most, and they concluded, “The appeal of Strategy has substantially declined over the past 9 years.” They found this decline was identical for men and women.
Author Nick Yee theorised that the decline of strategy games fits with wider media consumption habits. He pointed to the fact that shorter YouTube videos have grown more popular, the average length of shots in movies (between each cut) has reduced, and computer users switch between app windows around three times quicker than they did in 2016.
“In this light,” Yee wrote, “the decline in Strategy is likely not an idiosyncratic phenomenon among digital gamers, but parallels the general reduction in attention spans observed by researchers in different fields.”
He offered another hypothesis, saying that “the increasing negativity, polarization, intrusiveness, and emotional manipulation in social media has created a persistent cognitive overload on the finite cognitive resources we have.”
Which may partly explain the popularity of endless runner games. More to come in 2024, then!
Also Read: Trends in Casino App Development and the Innovations Shaping the Future
