The online gaming sector has been one of the lucky industries in 2020 despite a pandemic. As people stayed at home because of lockdowns and quarantine, many discovered how fun, entertaining, and social online gaming could be.
Reports have shown how the pandemic positively impacted the gaming industry as it did boost its revenues. The global gaming market was forecasted to be worth over 159 billion dollars last year. The Asia Pacific has the largest gaming market as it accounts for 50 percent of the global market value and North America accounts for 25 percent.
The world is still dealing with a pandemic and before 2020 ended, lockdowns were once again implemented in countries like Australia. 2021 is looking like a better year because of the vaccines but it doesn’t mean that the gaming industry will see this as a problem. It is still set to grow this year and in the next few years.
Trends That Gamers Will See More This Year
As the gaming market grows, we can only expect that this sector will only get better this year. Here are some of the gaming trends that we may see more of this year.
1. Real Money Games
2020 has also been a great year for online gambling operators. The lockdowns and quarantine protocols in many casino hotspots like Atlantic City and Las Vegas forced land casinos and bookies to temporarily shut their doors. Because of this, people started to turn to The best USA Online Casino Sites to still be able to play their favorite games.
What also plays an important role in the rise of casino gaming is mobile technology. Thanks to mobile devices, gamblers can enjoy playing any real money games anywhere they are as long as they are connected to the internet.
Mobile betting has been steadily growing even before the pandemic. Currently, it now accounts for almost half of the global gambling revenue. When it comes to sports betting in New Jersey, the state reported that around 80 to 90 percent of its betting handle is from the mobile sector.
More and more states are also now considering regulating online and mobile gambling. The state of New York is a great example of this. Currently, only in-person betting is regulated in the state. However, New York needs more revenues and it is now considering also legalize mobile betting within its territory.
2. Use of Cryptocurrency
It has been a few years already since the value of Bitcoin peaked. In 2017, Bitcoin became more known to many people and businesses as its value peaked at around 20,000 US dollars. However, 2020 proved to be a better year for digital currencies as it surpassed the 20,000 US dollar mark. Today, Bitcoin is valued at over 35,000 US dollars.
What this means is that more people and businesses will now show interest in this currency. Based on reports, millennials are particularly more interested in Bitcoin and these are the people who are gamers and who would play on an Online Casino USA.
As more people start to use cryptocurrencies, more industries will embrace their use. Today, there are now plenty of games that accept cryptocurrency transactions including the gambling sector. Many predict that this is the future of online transactions and gaming could particularly benefit from this.
After all, people are now more willing to spend money on their games. Games like Fortnite and Call of Duty have in-game purchases and it’s not impossible that these games would allow their players to use cryptos to buy skins and weapons shortly.
3. Rise of Esports
Esports has been slowly growing over the last few years, but the pandemic somehow boosted its growth last year. There was a point in 2020 when there was a lack of professional sports events. The major sports leagues like the NBA, EPL, and IPL had to be postponed last year and there was a time when bookies just didn’t have plenty to offer to their customers.
However, since esports tournaments mainly happen online, plenty of these events were still able to push through last year. Because of that, people who crave live matches have given esports a try.
Now, even if professional sports is back, it doesn’t mean that it will be bad for the esports sector. People are now taking esports tournaments seriously because of how lucrative it could be. Professional players could win millions of dollars in tournaments nowadays. Some of the most popular games played in tournaments are DOTA 2, League of Legends, Counter-Strike: GO and Call of Duty.
Laila Azzahra is a professional writer and blogger that loves to write about technology, business, entertainment, science, and health.