Gaming Industry 2019 is made up of two words: battle royal. EA, Activision, Valve, and dozens of lesser-known companies tried to catch the trend that Fortnite and PUBG set. We tell you how gaming trends have changed in 2020, what games are popular now and what players are buying.
Nostalgic games
There is such a thing as classic games. These include the first installments of Super Mario Bros, Pokemon, Final Fantasy, Doom, and other games from which entire franchises have grown. Nowadays, “classic games” are considered anything that came out before 2006, when Sony released the PlayStation 3.
Globalwebindex surveyed 4,000 gamers in the US and UK to find out if they play games released before 2006. 25% of those surveyed play old games on PS2 and PC. They are attracted to the familiar gameplay, story and design. They also want to remember the emotions they got during the first playthrough of any game.
Developers take advantage of the feeling of nostalgia and release remaster versions of familiar games with improved graphics and elaborate mechanics. Examples of remasters include Resident Evil 2 and 3, Final Fantasy VII, System Shock, Command and Conquer, Warcraft 3 Reforged, Mafia, Call of Duty, and two dozen more titles. Remakes and reboots of franchises like Prey, Doom Eternal, Rage 2, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, X-Com, God of War are also popular.
Final Fantasy VII: the original game and the remake
Most likely the trend for remasters isn’t going anywhere due to the incompatibility of new hardware and old games. Not every nostalgic gamer wants to customize a DOSBox or buy the first Playstation to play an old game. And if he wants, he will not refuse the pleasure of buying his favorite childhood game with modern graphics.
Trending 2020 games that capitalize on nostalgia:
- Resident Evil 2 Remake is the same Resident Evil 2 from 1998, but with good graphics and easy controls;
- Final Fantasy VII – new graphics, controls, and a reworked story;
- Warcraft 3 Reforged – The developers left the mechanics of the 2002 strategy game, but redrew the textures and character models.
Resident Evil 2: Original and Remake
Indie games
Gaming publications mostly write about big projects and bypass indie games. But players are good at buying indie games despite the fact that they’re barely advertised.
Independent developers experiment with story and game mechanics to provide the player with a unique experience. In Plague Inc. the player controls a virus, in Frostpunk he tries to survive the ice age, in Beholder he spies on his neighbors. Indie projects provide players with something they won’t get in larger projects.
In Frostpunk, you have to manage a settlement to survive an ice age
Indie games cost less than AAA projects, while bringing players more fun. 16% of gamers prefer to buy 5-10 interesting indie games instead of a new FIFA or Call of Duty. Plus, some developers are giving away their games for free. Helltaker, for example, which you can download on Steam.
The third reason why players love indie games is the simplicity and addictiveness of the gameplay. Often these indie projects are built around one or two unique mechanics. As the player progresses through the game, they encounter more difficult challenges, gain a deeper understanding of the game mechanics, and enjoy their own progress.
Examples:
- Untitled Goose Game – The player controls a nasty goose that terrorizes its owners. The point of the game is to perform various tasks like “Steal the farmer’s rake and drown it in the pond”. Sounds simple, but to successfully steal a rake you need to make a whole heist plan;
- The Witness – The player solves puzzles on a huge island. There are 600 different puzzles in the game, with the way you solve them changing in each new playthrough. The developer says the average player will spend 100 hours solving all the available puzzles;
- Dead Cells is a 2D game in which the player explores intricate mazes and fights monsters. The gamer is entertained by a large number of weapons, abilities and enemies. The longer you play – the more you have to think about how to defeat the next enemy.
Untitled Goose Game: The Goose Stole the Radio
Virtual Reality
Two years ago, gaming journalists were prophesying a quick end to virtual reality gaming. There was a reason for that:
- small audience of VR helmet owners due to high cost;
- complexity of game development and optimization for existing VR helmets on the market;
- gamers’ eyes quickly became tired, nauseous and disoriented.
In 2018, the VR gaming market was reminiscent of the days when gyroscopes and accelerometers first appeared in smartphones: app stores were flooded with candle, water glass, and lightsaber simulations. There were no normal games that used the accelerometer as a handy control. There were only technodramas with no gameplay. Then came racing simulators and shooters, sharpened for control with accelerometer or gyroscope.
The first racing game for smartphones with accelerometer
Half-Life: Alyx, the first full-fledged VR exclusive, was released in March 2020. It had a good story and gameplay for a few hours, elaborate mechanics, scenery and environment physics. The game took a shot, with gamers buying nearly a million virtual reality helmets just to play the new Half-Life installment.
VR games are good for developers in that they do have a paying audience. If a person bought a virtual reality helmet and computer hardware to play comfortably, they are very likely to buy some quality games as well. VR games are easy to promote in specialized publications, so even very average projects pay off.
Screenshot from Half-Life: Alyx.
In addition to Half-Life: Alyx, VR games such as:
- Resident Evil 7 is a first-person view horror game that can really scare in virtual reality;
- Beat Saber is a rhythm game in which the player chops multi-colored blocks to the beat of the music;
- Boneworks is a shooter with realistic physics in which the player fights and solves puzzles.
Multiplayer
Multiplayer gives you the opportunity to compete in skill with other players, as well as have fun with friends. Now the trend is cooperative competitive multiplayer, when for the first place fight not single players, and solid teams.
The fashion for cooperative multiplayer was set by the 2008 game Left 4 Dead. In it, a team of survivors fight their way through crowds of zombies to a safe bunker, and they are thwarted by a team of special infected. After the success of Left 4 Dead, cooperative multiplayer appeared in single-player games like Far Cry 5, Assassin’s Creed: Unity, and Saint’s Row The Third.
Left 4 Dead: 4 players and hundreds of zombies.
Then came cooperative competitive multiplayer, where players assemble a team beforehand and battle against similar teams. MOBA games, shooters and slashers like For Honor are leading the genre. While these multiplayer games are most often made by big companies, indie developers have also excelled in this genre of games:
- Insurgency and Insurgency: Sandstorm are realistic tactical shooters for those who want real shooting without a crosshair in the center of the screen;
- Totally Accurate Battlegrounds is a battle royal with original graphics, “jelly” physics and lots of content;
- GTA San Andreas Multiplayer – an independent modification for GTA San Andreas.
Totally Accurate Battlegrounds: it’s about the same in the game
Another multiplayer trend is asymmetric multiplayer. The first games of this genre were strategies: each side of the conflict has its own set of abilities, warriors, and buildings. Players had to study the mechanics of the game for each available side to learn its strengths and weaknesses and use that knowledge to play against other players.
In 2020, asymmetric multiplayer moved into horror games, in which a team of players must escape while a monster player tries to catch them. Examples: Friday the 13th, Dead by Daylight, Predator: Hunting Grounds.
The Dead by Daylight killer caught the player
A fading trend for 2020 is looter shooters. Team players destroy computer-controlled enemies, pump up levels and gain new weapons and armor. The genre was popularized by Borderlands, and finally consolidated by Destiny 2. Such games capitalize on players’ desire to be better than others in their own way. A player who is dealt a very powerful weapon shoots off enemies faster than their partners and makes them want to play on and get the same weapon.
Borderlands 3: a machine gun that runs and shoots
The problem with looter shooters is the pointlessness of the gameplay. Gameplay is almost unchanged, enemies are pumped along with the player’s pumping, new weapons turn into sticks after an hour of play. Because of this, players are leaving Destiny and similar projects.
Casual multiplayer games
These games don’t require quick reactions and the ability to accurately aim at the enemy’s head. Mostly strategy games on smartphones, but this can also include collectible card games, auto-battlers like TeamFight Tactics and DotA Underlords, and multiplayer arcade games.
TeamFight Tactics: assemble a team of champions, fight with other players
The main feature of casual online games is that the player always has 10-15 seconds to think about the next move. For example, in card games it is important to choose the right game deck and combine cards, while in car battlers it is important to assemble a team and give them the right items.
The trend of collectible card games is almost over, as no new game in this genre offers new mechanics, and the chance of winning depends on the value of the game’s deck of cards. But more and more players are playing auto-battlers.
Reasons for the popularity of car battlers:
- all players have equal chances to win – their reaction speed and ability to predict the opponent’s actions do not affect the gameplay;
- element of randomness – the player does not know what heroes and items he will get in the future;
- simple rules – this game can be mastered in half an hour.
Conclusions
Players expect games to be entertaining. Nostalgic gamers want to refresh memories from their childhood, multiplayer fans want to have fun with friends, and VR helmet owners want a new gaming experience.
Besides the genres listed above, there are other popular trends: MOBA games, MOBA shooters, purely competitive shooters and sports games. We didn’t tell you about them because their niches are firmly occupied by big projects. Any attempt to make an Overwatch or League of Legends killer will fail regardless of budget, and it’s not something we recommend pursuing.
But there’s a strong demand among gamers for interesting indie games, multiplayer with asymmetrical gameplay, and thoughtful car-battlers with an element of randomness. If you want to ride the trend and make money – make games in these genres before similar projects from big developers come out.
