Video games represent a highly active and exciting field of research and development. From infinite procedural environment generation and artificial intelligence to virtual reality and blockchain usage, the goal of video game R&D is always to enhance immersion, realism, fun, and complexity. This is crucial to impress a continuously demanding community that does not hesitate to criticize poor results. So, what is the future of video games? Let’s explore three promising technologies and see how R&D is essential for their implementation.
Video Games: How Generative AI isEnhancing Gameplay and Reducing Game Development Efforts
Generative AI, the artificial intelligence that creates content in response to various prompts, has been used since the 1950s to facilitate interactions between players and game worlds. However, its recent exponential development has opened new exciting opportunities in video games: endless generated environments, intelligent and customizable content, and autonomous, realistic non-playable characters (NPCs). It is also an effective way to reduce development costs and time.
Generative AI incorporates user interactions, feedback, and preferences, or generates content based on complex sets of rules. For example, No Man’s Sky features 18 quintillion different procedurally generated planets, which would take up to 585 billion years to fully explore.
AI also improves game development efficiency by generating diverse content such as dialogues, voices, terrain, personalities, and quests, thus accelerating the development process and reducing costs. Additionally, AI shows great promise in video game testing by creating multiple simulated players to test games, find bugs, and predict potential issues. For instance, EA Games announced a 5% workforce reduction in February 2024, partially due to increased efficiency from AI technologies.
Virtual Reality for Video Games: Current State and Future Prospects
Virtual reality, which allows users to immerse themselves in a dynamic 3D environment using a headset, has made significant progress and continues to evolve. First-person shooters (FPS), adventure games, horror experiences, and driving simulators are particularly exciting areas where VR is effective due to the added immersion provided by the technology. As VR has already become a major player in the video games industry, efforts are now focused on developing hyperrealistic environments that offer the highest sense of immersion by overcoming graphics challenges and advancing haptic feedback.
With VR firmly established in the video games industry, both hardware and software research and development remain active in this field, promising many new features for the future, especially when combined with other cutting-edge technologies. VR also remains promising for transversal applications in healthcare, education, real estate, and construction.
Blockchain and Video Games: A Revolutionary Mix?
Blockchainis a decentralized, distributed digital ledger that allows secure transactions and maintains clear records. As blockchain has developed over the last few years, the video games industry is developing new features to increase security by reducing hacking probabilities, better controlling gaming programs by leveraging the immutable aspects of blockchain technology, and enhancing the possession of in-game assets by bringing greater transparency and allowing users to trade in-game items. Increasing security and confidence in in-game assets directly helps the video game industry by making players more willing to pay real money for secure digital assets. In 2022, blockchain usage increased by 2000% compared to 2021, indicating that blockchain will become more common in the field.
Research and development are quite active in the video games industry and will remain so for the coming years. The Canadian video game industry, recognized worldwide and a true pillar of the economy, will surely stay at the forefront. If you’re involved in R&D in the video games field, Leyton could help leverage funds, for example, by claiming SR&ED credits. Feel free to reach out to us!
