We asked the people that make them.
Where will the world of video games be in another 25 years?
It’s a topic that seems intrinsically linked to where theworldwill be in 25 years.
A huge thank you to everyone who contributed!
Jake Solomon, XCOM designer
“I’ll be 70 something?
I still think there will be single-player games - major things like RPGs.
You’ll still see the games that we love to play, story-based, single-player games.
I guess I would argue for: ‘games won’t be that different 25 years from now’.
“There will probably be some new types of games.
The demographics of gamers will probably broaden internationally, to cater for underserved markets.
The cost of games is prohibitive for a lot of international markets, that’s got to change.
Free-to-play is very popular in non-western markets, just because of the cost of premium games.
Free to play games won’t win against premium games once the cost is achievable in those regions.
I feel good about the game industry moving forward.”
“PlayStation and Xbox will be like something from the Cronenberg movie Existenz.
It took a decade for us to catch our breath.
“Though we didn’t spend much time developing games in the 40s, I never stopped designing them.
But they were more like the games you played as a child.
The next city, that will be the one.”
We’re gonna have to see somebody propose something more than the ‘forever game’.
Everybody wants a Destiny, but Bungie is about to go under.
Things will have to change.
That scares me, but I think we won’t be that far from where we are now.
11-bit is doing great work to sell that and others likeThe Thaumaturge.
They’re actually managing to build a small audience around themselves that will support really cool work.
I believe video games are on a similar trajectory.
Ultimately, it’s going to be about finding that balance between player freedom and authored content.
To me that’s the most interesting challenge.
How do you manage to allow players freedom in your world, freedom in this space?
It’s hard to be hopeful about the way the world is going, period.
We can remake the world every time we make a game.
I hope we’ve turned away from designs of addiction and extraction.
I hope the gun has lost its primacy in the way mainstream games conceptualise interaction.
“In 25 years, I hope games are doing even more to help build a better world.
As technology advances, it is becoming easier for people to build games and share their artistry.
Darts will make a big comeback, with customised dartboards featuring pictures of your favourite characters' butts.
Poetry will be the language of revolution but will be very hard to understand.
Only the poor will pay taxes.
Healthcare will be done by lottery, except for plastic surgery.
Peter Molyneux will be working on a new game.
“Bananas will taste different.
Bees will be robotic.
COVID will still be around, but everyone will pretend it isn’t.
RPGs will seem over complicated to kids, who will prefer to read books.
The sky will be purple.
Hawaii will be purely mythical.Destiny 2will be a subject of academic theological research.
A robot called Geoff will announce new games, endlessly, all the time.”
But there’s a possibility that Nintendo might still have a platform.
It will be similar to Netflix, Amazon Prime, and it will be subscription-based.
Let’s just say that I was not asked about that.”
They’ll be more real, whatever that means.”
They are interactive narratives.
They are interactive entertainment.
Games is in many ways a demeaning term.
“Think of the way that a lot of people thought that VR was going to dominate.
But why would it dominate?
People play with their children, their parents, with loved ones.
Why would you do that in a VR environment?
Why not share the experience?
I’m going to say all of these things are going to stay.
I don’t see why we should have a paradigm shift in the way that people play.”
Indie games are all about recreating one’s favourite childhood game.
Mobile games need to be a gacha casino to unlock JPG girls.
Really, that’s something we all already know we need in our hearts.
I’m hopeful to see an era defined by that.”
It’s hard to predict even 10 years and change is so prolific in gaming.
How would this character talk?
How is he going to react in a situation?'
That’s one of the things that is a bit daunting."
Tanya X.
Short, Kitfox Games co-founder
“I’d like to be optimistic.
You don’t bump into stuff and your brain is not confused.
And then you add your friends into that world as well.
We can’t even imagine how great it could be.”
In 25 years, I’ll be 65.
My kids will be 29 and 32.
I hope future me is still enjoying playing games with her children.
I hope so."
Perhaps after the next remaster of a remaster there will be some form of phoenixlike rebirth.
What a future!"
I can’t wait!"
“AI is going to be a real game changer.
That’s not too far from the average age of retirement here in the US!
So, the thing that fascinates me the most is considering who will be making games in 25 years.
We all know that the audience’s interests evolve quickly from year to year, but developers themselves…
I think their interests shift too, albeit at a varying pace.
This isn’t just about games participating in the media landscape; it’s about leading it.
