As we delve into 2024, the gaming industry is more advanced than ever before.
To explore what we can expect from the sector this year, we’ve asked experts to weigh in with their predictions. This article explores these insights, offering a glimpse into the innovative trends, technological breakthroughs, and evolving consumer behaviours that are expected to shape gaming in 2024. Let’s dive in…
Our Experts:
- Dr. Dave Ranyard, CEO at Development Studio: Dream Reality Interactive
- Steven Athwal, Founder at The Big Phone Store
- George Osborn, Creator of Video Games Industry Memo
- Dr Leslie Kanthan, CEO and Co-Founder at TurinTech
- Ismail Vali, Founder & CEO at Yield Sec
- Alistair Parrington, CSO – Creative Social at Jellyfish
- Nick Arran, Managing Director of GAME at Frasers Group
- Kate Leaman, Chief Market Analyst at AvaTrade
- Dongjun Choi, CEO at Cocone V
- Graham Hann, Partner at Taylor Wessing
For any questions, comments or features, please contact us directly.
Dr. Dave Ranyard, CEO at Development Studio: Dream Reality Interactive
“Transmedia has been around for a long time, but we saw notable successes in 2023 like The Last of Us (TV), Mario Bros (film), The Witcher (TV), and even Barbie (film) which is not a game, but a significant proof point for IP crossover. This has boosted deals for games in other media and perhaps more interestingly, Hollywood actors are increasingly looking to participate in games – a sea change from a few years ago – so I expect to see higher quality crossovers.
“From a technology standpoint, the anticipated introduction of the Apple Vision Pro into the ecosystem in 2024 should have a positive impact on gaming. There have been some reports of a downturn in growth for this segment but I personally believe the Apple effect will come into full-force and I predict we’ll be seeing a move to mass adoption with a sub $1,000 headset from them in the next 2 years.
“On the business side there’s been a lot of consolidation recently, some due to commercial cooling but likely also because the big players know AI will reduce their staff requirement so they have been downsizing in the guise of lower financials. What happens with AI in terms of IP copyright/strikes/consumer support will be interesting.”
Steven Athwal, Founder at The Big Phone Store
“Physical media will continue to disappear, replaced almost entirely with downloads in 2024. What remains to be seen is what happens to the console market. PC gaming is no longer the niche interest that it once was, and it definitely takes the wind out of the sails of Sony and Microsoft when their latest consoles are already using outdated technology when they first launch.
“Meanwhile, entry-level laptops have reached the point where they can reliably play games from only a few years ago, with gorgeous graphics. Even the iPhone 15 Pro includes a GPU with ray-tracing cores. The real frontier of gaming for 2024 will be virtual and augmented reality, especially as Apple’s Vision Pro makes its way into consumers’ hands.”
George Osborn, Creator of Video Games Industry Memo
“Small and mid-sized games businesses had a tough time in 2023.
“The glut of major game releases across all platforms turned it into a fantastic year for consumers but a difficult one for developers trying to find room to release their game amidst the Triple A cacophony.
“Fortunately, I predict that 2024 will see some much needed relief for growing games businesses from the challenges of last year.
“The release schedule for this year looks noticeably quieter than 2023’s dizzily busy calendar, providing independent developers more launch windows for their games, more room to tell their stories and, ultimately, a better chance to effectively sell their games.
“However, developers need to move quickly to make the most of the opportunity.
“The likely launch of a new Nintendo console later this year and the steady march to Grand Theft Auto 6’s release next year will begin to dominate the industry news cycle from the middle of the year onwards.
“This makes it important for developers to take advantage of the quieter time at the start of 2024 and make the most of the temporary respite.”
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Dr Leslie Kanthan, CEO and Co-Founder at TurinTech
“The future of game development lies in harnessing the power of optimised code to meet the ever-evolving user expectations and bridge the gap between the game and its audience.
“In recent years, the gaming industry has seen immense growth and fierce competition. With the rise of several gaming platforms and an ever-expanding catalogue of titles, the importance of delivering a seamless gaming experience cannot be stressed enough. A pivotal factor that can elevate the gaming experience is the quality of code running behind the scenes, meaning that optimising code will be a big focus.
“Code optimisation extends beyond performance enhancement. Its transformative potential encompasses wider hardware compatibility, extended battery life for mobile users, and efficient network usage. As the gaming industry continues to grow and branch out, code optimisation will remain at the helm, pioneering a more seamless gaming experience.”
Ismail Vali, Founder & CEO at Yield Sec
“In 2024, the betting and gaming landscape is poised for continued evolution and massive growth, with another year of marquee events creating a football punting schedule without pause, across the 2023/24 Seasonal Leagues & Cups, The Euros and The Olympics, before returning to the 2024/5 Seasonal Leagues & Cups in August. This will create further pressure on the current reforms for online gambling and gaming in the UK, presently with Parliament.
“Yield Sec’s monitoring and surveillance exposes detrimental gaps in protecting self-excluded players in the GAMSTOP scheme. These gaps leave vulnerable individuals at risk of being cynically targeted by an increasing number of illegal gaming and betting operators seeking to exploit the most vulnerable in UK society.
“Across popular gaming platforms, like Steam and Roblox, children are increasingly targeted by illegal casinos, skin trading and betting for online games like CS:GO. The rise of ‘mystery boxes’ and ‘loot crates’ will continue to present a more metastasized problem than authorities appear to have previously realized.
“Lastly, we will begin to witness problems from a new wave of gambling products masquerading as “trading” or investment applications – so-called ‘predictor games’. Yield Sec first uncovered these on the now-defunct FTX platform but they are legion across many crypto and fintech platforms and almost entirely without oversight or even attention.
Our monitoring and surveillance at Yield Sec highlights the changing audience, vulnerable community issues and industry duality present in the marketplace for online gambling, with legal operators virtually indistinguishable from illicit and criminal ones, in the eyes of consumers. Where illegal gambling seeks to exploit and leverage the UK audience, regardless of law and regulation, there is an urgent need for industry coordination and co-operation, with enhanced surveillance and law enforcement measures to ensure consumer safety and protection.”
Alistair Parrington, CSO – Creative Social at Jellyfish
“We’re only at the start of the great shift into AI, and 2024 will see it continue to go totally nuts and truly mainstream – expect further integration with browsers, chat platforms, gaming and hardware devices and the still slightly tricky ways for total novices to make images from text, voice or even gesture to become much simpler. By the end of Q4 2024, you’ll be able to tell your phone to send your friend an original game with them as the main character instead of a card.
“AI in Music is going to have a big say in 2024 trends. Not only will you be able to create images and videos with AI, you’ll be able to soundtrack it originally too. This will play into an ongoing upsurge in longer form content which we’re already seeing brands like Disney, Lego and others, get involved in. We’ll also see creators paid to create this longer form content alone, and natively – the Harry Potter Balenciaga was just the start of a huge new trend in solo creators making movie-quality (and almost length) content, including games.
“Vision Pro is going to cause some huge waves from Q1 next year, so get set for social content that is gestural, native to AR and reflective of this game-changer in tech.
“And generally, AR is going to finally come in from the cold, as the ubiquity of Apple devices makes the technology immediate and full of function. The hugely new, updated Google Maps is a precursor of this – a richly-annotated (hopefully not too overwhelming) visual world of content is upon us.”
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Nick Arran, Managing Director of GAME at Frasers Group
“In 2024, we can expect to see the impacts of generative AI in the gaming world. Generative AI has the ability to transform players’ experiences, by creating lifelike interactive characters, and introducing new content depending on the player’s behaviour by employing real-time generative AI during gameplay.
“We will also see the continued growth of retro gaming, which has become a popular trend, and nostalgic game titles will be repurposed for new audiences, such as The Last of Us Part II Remastered. Additionally, games will be brought to new mediums, following in the footsteps of classic GTA launching on Netflix.
“With many new exciting game titles confirmed for release such as Skull and Bones for PS5 and Xbox Series X, Suicide Squad Kill The Justice League for PS5 and Xbox Series X including the GAME Exclusive Deluxe Edition, as well as Mario vs. Donkey Kong for Nintendo Switch, the world of gaming is set to be as exciting as ever this year.”
Kate Leaman, Chief Market Analyst at AvaTrade
“As 2024 begins, the gaming industry is set to evolve considerably. This will be led by cryptocurrency, with a crypto revolution in gaming expected to pave the way for the industry to become a cryptoasset powerhouse. With the help of crypto, in-game digital assets effortlessly merging into open blockchain networks is expected to become a reality this year. Ultimately, this integration will entice new cryptocurrency enthusiasts into the gaming industry.”
Dongjun Choi, CEO at Cocone V
“Over the past year, we have seen an exponential growth in the popularity of user-generated short-form videos and the growth of services based on generative AI technology in the mobile app market. The era of “Neo-Creation: user-generated content”, where users can easily create and generate images, videos and various content based on their own ideas, has arrived. This trend will undoubtedly have a great impact on the gaming industry and could be the next industry game changer.
“The young users we call the “Alpha generation” are tech-savvy and eager to create new entities resembling themselves in virtual worlds. In those virtual spaces, they choose their roles, create their own styles, and find joy in the possibility of distributing the content they’ve created themselves. This is not a growth factor just for 2024, but a powerful trend that will lead the near-future digital content market. We are looking forward to this change in Cocone as it aligns with our goals at Cocone to create a virtual world where individuals can live as different, new beings from the real world through the medium of avatars.”
Graham Hann, Partner at Taylor Wessing
‘There is real excitement around the impact AI will have on gaming in 2024, as Generative AI will allow the further personalisation of gameplay by facilitating more user-generated content.
“In 2024, Developers will be able to focus on creativity and innovation, as the development process can be increasingly simplified through No-code software tools, powered by generative AI reducing the need for complex coding. Because of this, we might also see an increase in job relocation within the industry by companies deploying AI solutions within their own practices. AI allows the rapid generation of art and design assets and voice content with little input from human artists or actors and it will be interesting to see how users will use this new technology to personalise their own user experience.
“With the growth of the technology, debates around copyright issues will continue to rage on. We can, however, expect the courts to play a part in resolving infringement and ownership issues around use of training data, generative AI output, as outcomes of disputes, such as the upcoming Getty Images v Stability AI case may serve as guiding decisions on general principles on what is legal and what is not. It’s all to play for.”
For any questions, comments or features, please contact us directly.
