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In 2019 the gaming industry was worth $150 billion. Due to the coronavirus epidemic, it’s thought that by 2025, the industry could be worth a huge $250 billion. Gaming is popular, and it’s only rising in popularity. There are many businesses who are looking to bite into the industry and make a profit, but how is the industry at the moment and what are the problems which plague it? By looking at the problems, a business can position itself to answer those problems by offering services.
Trouble In Crunch
Crunch occurs towards the end of a game cycle. It’s where the executives want to meet the release date or deadline, so the developers have to work ungodly hours to make sure it happens. There’s been a lot in the news about it recently, and the game developers who use it have gotten a bad reputation. It doesn’t do much for their look either. Stuck in their office behind a gate entry system for hours tapping code into the screen. It also means the margin for error creeps up slightly. The worst aspect of crunch is that a lot of the time, the game release window is pushed back anyway making it unnecessary and a needless burden on those working for certain AAA developers.
Virtual Reality Gets Stronger
VR has been a buzzword for a while. Virtual reality was first entered into in the ’80s and ’90s but didn’t take off due to the lack of technology. However, with current consoles and PC’s VR is completely possible and has been for some years. The Oculus Rift and PSVR are the showrunners, with PSVR 2 slated to come out sometime in the near future. The Rift has been replaced by a standalone VR set that can operate without being plugged into the computer…this is the second iteration, known as the Quest 2. The VR market is tipped to be huge, with many businesses pivoting towards it. Even Facebook has recently changed the business model and called its main holding company Meta, which regards the metaverse which is tipped to be built on virtual reality. Other businesses are starting to realise the potential with VR and are looking to join.
Still A Shortage In The PC Market
Shortages have been rife over the last few years in terms of vital components used in PC manufacturing, such as microchips. However, there’s also a shortage of other items such as graphics cards. The RTX 3 series, which comprises some pretty powerful graphics cards such as the RTX 3070, 3080 and 3090, are well sought after and hard to find. A huge problem in the industry. So much so, certain PC gamers have resigned themselves to not getting their hands on the newest generation of graphics cards and are instead focusing on other elements of the PC build, such as finding the best white motherboards for their tower or looking into superior monitors. The shortage isn’t forecast to end any time soon, but industry experts are hoping next year brings better things in terms of availability.
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