Gaming has managed to continue thriving throughout the past turbulent year where many had found difficulties and struggles, and with big new releases that hit over the holiday period from Microsoft and Sony, and the rapid growth of the esports market over this period of time have shown just how big gaming as a whole is getting. Some platforms are certainly bigger than others, however, but which are the most exciting gaming platforms of 2021 and where do the biggest opportunities currently sit?
Mobile continues to top out the list – Whilst mobile has been topping out the list for a long period of time now, it has recently continued to grow with a larger audience than ever exploring many of the exciting genres available. Options in wagering through these slots for example are amongst the most popular as brick-and-mortar alternatives remained closed and led to the huge number of offline players seeking out online alternatives, but as mobile hardware has developed further too it has provided an opportunity for players to experience a very different aspect of mobile gaming with games better developed and much more akin to what could be found in more traditional dedicated platforms.
PC Gaming and esports is on the rise – Esports as a whole has been finding incredible numbers over the past few years since it first started to emerge in its current form with live streaming over a decade ago, with the biggest events capturing hundreds of thousands to millions of individual viewers and starting to either catch up or even surpass many of the traditional sports too. It hasn’t only been esports leading the way either, the likes of VR and AR have also helped a new niche emerge, and with big exclusive AAA titles finding PC release too it provides an opportunity for PC gaming as a whole to continue finding growth.
Console bolstered by the next gen – Although the semiconductor shortage the came about due to the pandemic last year has led to supply issues as demand can’t be met and warnings suggest that demand may struggle until 2022, the next generation of console releases have certainly helped bolster the market too. Sales have hit record numbers for the newer consoles, but the heel at the moment is the lack of big titles to keep players interest, and it won’t be until the big exclusives planned for a little later this year finding their big release. Over the next year as the big releases come, the impact of the new releases and the successes that will be found as they push the hardware options as have been seen in the big releases of the past too.
