The year 2019 is coming to an end. It was an interim year in online gaming, with Fortnite still dominating, but not as strongly as in 2018. While older games like League of Legends or WoW Classic resurfaced, players are waiting for the next hype. What does the future hold?
What was the last gaming hype? Since 2016, battle royale games have dominated online gaming:
- 2016 started with H1Z1 – that was a relatively “broken” game, with a convincing gameplay. Players constantly complained about H1Z1 but kept playing it.
- 2017 was the year of PUBG – PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds conquered Steam, Twitch, and the world, but was only available on PC for a long time and was a paid game. Bugs and cheaters plagued the game from a medium-sized Korean studio. It felt rough.
- In 2018, Epic overran everything with Fortnite: Battle Royale. They hastily assembled it after the success of PUBG. It came to all platforms and was free-to-play. Fortnite was developed at a breakneck speed, constantly introducing new content and suddenly making children and teenagers gamers.
- In 2019, signs are increasing that the “battle royale” hype, as we know it, is slowly fading: A new representative, Apex Legends, came along, but it didn’t elevate the hype to new heights. In the summer of 2019, Fortnite noticeably lost steam. With a PR stunt, Fortnite managed to make an impression again, but it wasn’t sustainable.
Online gaming in 2019 was mixed
What happened in online gaming in 2019? Instead of being dominated by a “hype” game like in 2018, 2019 was generally a quieter year in online gaming, a sort of interim year.
At the beginning of the year, the AAA titles Anthem and The Division 2 were released, but they couldn’t leave a lasting impression. EA also couldn’t turn the surprising launch of Apex Legends into a lasting success.
In the meantime, old games dominated online gaming, like GTA 5 Online or Minecraft – in the summer, there was a lull for months regarding new games. That was the time when players turned to “what was tried and true.”
Starting in August 2019, WoW Classic suddenly became popular – but that only lasted a few months.
League of Legends also showed that it can still reach new heights. Riot Games is currently building League of Legends into a gaming universe. However, it is challenging for newcomers to get into it.
The future of online gaming looks promising
What’s next in 2020? There is a global trend towards mobile gaming, which is even growing into eSports. However, this trend seems to be facing significant resistance in Europe.
The inclination towards “action MMORPGs in isometric view” like Diablo 4, Path of Exile 2.0, Project TL or Lost Ark is likely a year or two away. But even if they come, they will probably remain more of a niche rather than completely exploding.
At the moment, many indications suggest that the next generation of hype games in online gaming will mainly be: bigger.
All innovations in online gaming are currently focused on “scaling.” Developers want to create a large, simulated world with hundreds or thousands of players active at the same time. In all these plans, Twitch plays a significant role.
Regarding Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, a 200-man battle royale mode with a massive map is currently being discussed. Leaks have shown this.
If this comes and is executed well, it has great potential: It could extend the battle royale hype. Currently, CoD: Modern Warfare is said to have great gunplay but poor maps. A battle royale mode would solve this weakness.
The advantage of CoD Modern Warfare is that it has already sold well and runs on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
One of the most exciting new MMOs, New World, comes from Amazon and focuses on size, size, size. Thanks to Amazon’s server technology, there should be virtually no boundaries for the “new world,” a North America during colonial times.
Currently, little is known about New World. The title was supposed to be a survival MMO and become massive. Amazon is said to have enormous capacity – but that was also said about Google, whose “Stadia” made no significant waves upon release.
At the moment, “New World” from Amazon has a countdown running – beta tests or a release could therefore be closer than previously thought. CoD: Modern Warfare could also be approaching.
The problem with all these “scaling issues” is that only PC players would likely benefit from them – then we would again face the same problem as with PUBG: Much hype, but a limited market in the West.
But perhaps it will be like Fortnite, where a game suddenly comes out of nowhere and dominates everything.
The trend will probably go in the direction that we will play with more than 100 people, as was recently the case in Fortnite.
