Yes, it’s been booming while almost others are suffering!
Since late 2019, COVID-19 has been taking a heavy toll on almost all global economic sectors and almost all industries. However, one notable exception to the pattern bears attention ─ The Gaming Industry!
It’s one of the few industries that has survived the pandemic and is increasingly thriving since the onset of the global plague. The reason is clear. During the lockdown, everyone had to find a way out and so they turned to game for entertainment.
The result has so far been great for the industry. From Console to Tablet, Smartphone, Downloaded/Box PC, and Browser PC, all games are being played more than any time before.
With this rising trend, the international gaming market, which was valued at about US$ 162 billion in 2020, is anticipated to hit a value of around US$ 296 billion by 2026.
However, we still have to ask an important question: What are the gaming industry trends in 2021?
Gaming Industry Trends in 2021
In 2021, new game industry trends will be developing and coming into view. Let’s dive deeper and look at some of them.
1-Five Generation Net
Since gamers all over the world always complain that games are slowly downloaded, the currently expanding 5G networks represent a fantastic opportunity for game lovers to download probably 10 times faster. Therefore, both game developers and gamers are right now pinning their hopes on the global rollout of 5G networks.
2-Cloud-based Games
Like all sectors of the entertainment industry, the gaming industry trends are also going with the flow! With lockdowns likely to carry over into the second year of the pandemic, such trends as cloud-based gaming are quickly gathering steam. This looks logical if we just keep in mind that Netflix, for example, acquired at the start of 2020 almost the same number of subscribers they had achieved in the entire 12 months of 2019!
3-Gender Diversity
No more masculine! Thanks to lockdowns in addition to other several demographic reasons, females are increasingly playing games ─ and developing them! The previously male-dominated industry is set to drastically get impacted by the new waves of feminine consumers.
4-Revenue Generation
And money matters! Revenues from game sales have been substantially growing in 2020, and the rising trend is expected to continue even after COVID-19 becomes a history, probably thanks to the recent release of PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X consoles.
Yet, regardless of all the new gaming industry trends, we still need to ask whether it’s acceptable for game developers to offer a single game version to different audiences in different countries who speak different languages ─ and have different cultures?!
Video Game Localization ─ What and Why?
Let’s ask it outright: Will avid gamers in France, Brazil, South Africa, Japan, China, Australia, Russia, or Egypt receive your game product in the same way?
The answer, simply, is an unequivocal “NO” coupled with an assertion that it’s a must for any smart game developer to partner with an equally smart game localization provider ─ who will adapt their video game for global markets.
So why game localization in the first place? These are the reasons why a smart game development business should localize their game products.
1- Video game localization gets you closer to your customers. It also makes them feel important!
2- Therefore, game localization increases your sales.
3- Video game localization increases game downloads.
4- Game localization helps you to be more competitive in the gaming market
5- Video Game localization raises your ranking in the App Store.
Last but not least, we might need to ask what a professional video game localization service provider can do for you.
Why Contentech?
For the past 27 years, we’ve been professionally empowering small, medium, and big game development businesses across Europe, the USA, and the world to thrive in their respective markets by delivering amazing localized versions of their game products in almost all world languages ─ including Russian, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, German, Polish, and Portuguese.
So, what is the secret to our success?
According to all of our clients, every user of the games we localize feels like it was designed for them and relates to their own cultures.
The result?
Almost any game developer we’ve worked with, since 1994, always strongly recommends us to other game developers.
Contact us today for a free quote!