The Future Of Videogames According to Forbes
By Shawn on Thursday, February 14th, 2008 at 3:25 PM PST In Game Companies, Game Consoles, Game Platforms, Gamer Life, Games Industry, Microsoft, Microsoft, Nintendo, Nintendo, Sony, Sony
Forbes attempts to foresee the future of video games in an article with some interesting, but not entirely unexpected predictions. The article points out how far off analysts were when they assured us that Sony would continue to dominate the industry while the Wii would turn out to be a niche product marketed solely to children, before diving into new predictions.
Some obvious trends are video games becoming more mainstream, with demographics changing dramatically. Some are more idealistic, but still probable.
Going forward, expect multiplayer online games to merge with each other and with social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn. The result will be a virtual meta-universe where your dragon-slaying, 67th-level Paladin from “World of Warcraft” will be able to seamlessly cross an electronic bridge and end up in a suburban kitchen worrying about the dirty dishes in “The Sims Online.”
Forbes also sees today’s online guilds becoming tomorrow’s offline political forces.
Despite Epic’s Cliff Bleszinski pronouncing that PC gaming is in disarray, Forbes predicts the PC will be the platform of choice for older more educated gamers. Gee, where have I heard that one before.
Catch the full article on Forbes.
