Gaming has been around for eons. The earliest evidence we have of gaming comes from the ancient civilization of Sumer based in Mesopotamia or what is present day Iraq. Here, archaeologists found sheep knuckle bones that were believed to have been used as archaic dice dating back as far as 5,000 BC. 

As you can imagine, things have changed quite a bit since those days and we are now in the middle of a period of unprecedented growth and innovation in the gaming industry. In fact, there have been more major developments in gaming over the past two decades than there was in the previous two centuries. 

From the dawn of the internet and online gaming to the rise of virtual reality, it’s safe to say that we live in what is quite possibly the most exciting time in history to be a gamer. And things are only going to get better. Here’s how. 

Even more choices 

Back in the 90s we were lucky to have what felt like an endless supply of gaming options. Consoles had impressive catalogs of titles while iGaming options such as online poker and video slots were just starting to take off. 

These days things are even better with cloud-based game streaming platforms such as Apple Arcade giving us access to over 180 games and that’s before we even talk about Steam. In the iGaming sector, we’re equally spoiled for choice with hundreds of options and a steady stream of newly opened online casinos coming thick and fast. Incredibly, this is going to improve further thanks in no small part to one major innovation in the world of technology. 

The Metaverse

Yes, we’re talking about the latest innovation in the world of virtual reality. The metaverse has arrived and by all accounts, it’s here to stay. While virtual reality has always played an integral role in the gaming industry since its launch, what we know about VR now is only a fraction of what the metaverse can offer us. 

This will be a fully immersive experience where gaming possibilities are endless. From virtual casinos to RPG possibilities such as those we find in games like Fortnite, there’s nothing that cannot be explored in the metaverse. 

Apple, Microsoft, Meta (of course), Epic Games, Nvidia, and Roblox are just some of the many major gaming companies that are investing heavily in the metaverse. It will be interesting to see what they come up with. 

Augmented reality 

Love it or hate it, one thing we learned from Pokémon Go is that augmented reality, when done right, works extremely well, and people love it. Despite that, AR is much less hyped than its famous cousin VR and is one of those under-the-radar innovations that we all know about but kind of forget exists. 

However, this could all change in the near future. We’re already seeing developers create a variety of gaming titles that make use of the camera on your smartphone in much the same way as Pokémon Go. This includes a first-person shooter game called World-scale Shooter that is still in the development stage but that actually looks pretty incredible. There’s even a possibility that holograms or holographic effects could be combined with future AR technology to give game elements a truly lifelike appearance. 

While the gaming possibilities for AR as it stands now are somewhat finite, it’s still quite an exciting genre that is sure to throw up a few surprises in the coming years. This is particularly true if those holograms ever come into play. 

Gaming is one of the most exciting and innovative industries in the world right now and it’s amazing to think that even with all that we now have, we’re only doing a fraction of what is possible. As gaming technology develops further and the metaverse inevitably grows, we can only begin to dream of the gaming options that will be available to us in just a few short years.