COVID-19 and Gaming News in 2021: What Awaits Us?
Gamers are people of habits and don’t want to change them unless there is a worldwide disaster. Unfortunately, that was exactly what happened in 2020: the COVID-19 pandemic changed the habits of all of us, not just gamers. The term new normal has become a part of our daily life and has affected just about everything. Development times for new games and promotional events were also part of this. We continued to play games in 2020, but without leaving our home.
Almost every gaming event with a long history was canceled. The games that are supposed to be released in 2020 have been postponed due to everyone working from their homes. In other words, 2020 was not a good year for players. So, what will the situation be like in 2021? What awaits the gaming industry in the new year? Below, we have tried to answer these questions for you. Whether you like PC games or casino games, you can be sure that 2021 is full of surprises.
Online Gaming Will Continue to Grow
2020 was not a good year for gamers, but for the industry, the situation was the opposite. Online gaming (and online casino games) broke a record in 2020. During the pandemic period, more games were played than ever before, especially those games, which are available at vulkan bet casino This situation, also recommended by WHO against the psychological effects of the pandemic, caused the industry to grow.
This seems like a good thing at first glance, but unfortunately, it’s not that positive in the long run. First of all, gaming events being canceled has been an issue for indie developers. These events allowed indie developers to establish a network and find publishers. The disappearance of this opportunity caused many indie games to be delayed or even canceled. Secondly, although we played a lot of games, we didn’t actually play new games. Major developers switched from home to work, and the inherent difficulties of this system prevented efficient development.
For the same reason, almost every AAA game has been delayed. Far Cry 6 is a good example of this. This game, which should normally be released in February 2021, now has a “TBA” (to be announced) date: It is expected to be released in 2021, but Ubisoft cannot give an exact date. Games, such as AC Valhalla and Immortals Fenyx Rising, were also released after a 3-4-month delay.
The studios are still working from home, and we can say that this will continue until the summer of 2021 at least. In other words, many more games will be postponed and perhaps canceled. Below, you can see a list of games that turned into “TBA” due to COVID-19, which should have been released in 2020 and 2021:
- Far Cry 6
- Gran Turismo 7
- Outriders
- Star Wars Episode I: Racer
- Kerbal Space Program 2
- Deathloop
- Digimon Survive
- Halo: Infinite
VR Games Are on the Rise
The delay of new games encouraged players to try new things. This is one of the main reasons for the rise of VR (virtual reality) games. Truth be told, VR games were almost always a niche option, and when compared to other game genres, the player base was very low. There were many reasons for this. The equipment required for VR games was quite expensive and impractical. The number of VR games was also very few. You could finish all the games on the market in a short time.
In 2020, this situation changed, and we can expect the same in 2021. VR games are played much more now. A recently published study estimates that the annual growth rate in this industry will be 32.75%. By 2025, there will be approximately 220 million VR players, and more than half of the games on the market will support this technology.
There are many reasons for this change, but we can list the main factors under two items:
- During the pandemic era, players wanted to try new things and looked positively at anything that offered a different experience. VR games provide a truly unrivaled immersive experience. You can’t find it in traditional PC or console games. Gamers who enjoyed this experience continued to play VR games; it is as simple as that. In other words, the inability of the gaming industry to offer anything new encouraged players to try something new.
- The prices of VR devices dropped, and the number of games increased. More VR games have begun to be developed, especially for mobile platforms. All you need to play these games is a mobile phone: you can even make the glasses out of cardboard. The decline in prices and the increase in options have led to the proliferation of VR games.
We can easily say that this situation will continue in 2021 and beyond. So more VR games will be released, and we will begin to see that major developers support this technology too. Valve took the first step by developing a game set in the Half Life universe for VR headsets, and we are sure that other companies will follow.
Unfortunately, we don’t have very good news in terms of events. Some organizers announced that the events planned for 2021 were also canceled. ESL Pro League games will continue to be played online. This is also the case for the official leagues of games, such as Overwatch, League of Legends, and Fortnite. If there is no miracle, we will not see global gaming events in early and mid-2021. For example, the status of E3 2021 is still unclear. No decision was made at the time of writing this article on whether to do it online or face to face. Maybe this situation may change towards the winter of 2021, but we suggest you not be too hopeful for the near future.
Unfortunately, COVID-19 will continue to affect our lives in 2021 and still force us to change our habits. Maybe a global vaccination program will be completed by 2022, and we can give much better news for the next year. But for 2021, apart from the growth in the VR games industry, we, unfortunately, don’t have much positive gaming news.
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