Gaming has been around for a long time, and it’s always been a big part of people’s lifestyles. If you’re old enough to remember the launch of the PlayStation 2, you’ll recall all-out pandemonium, with people queuing for up to 36 hours to get their hands on Sony’s then-flagship console.
While things might not be quite as deliriously excitable as back then, it’s unquestionable that modern life offers a superior experience for gamers. In fact, by comparison, you may even call the current experience luxurious, given the sheer level of convenience on offer. It’s not acknowledged as often as it could or should be, but there have been plenty of significant developments in recent years that have helped to create an incomparably rich gaming landscape. Let’s take a look at just some of the modern touches that have made modern gaming life what it is.
There Are Thousands of New Games Each Year
Want to have as many gaming options as possible? Then you’ll be happy to be a gamer in 2024 when there are significantly more games released per year than in the past. If we look at the number of releases on Steam, for instance, we can see that there’s basically no comparison between the number of games of yesteryear and today. In 2004, there were just 72 games released on Steam; in 2023, there were more than twelve thousand.
There’s a game for everyone. In fact, there are probably about one hundred games for everyone.
Old Games Have Been Given a New Lease of Life
The modern gaming climate hasn’t just allowed for the release of thousands of new games each year. It’s also allowed for old games to be given a new lease of life. While the gaming industry seems to be marked by a forward-focused mindset, it remains unusually reverent to the classic games of yesteryear. In recent years, some of the most popular games have been slot and arcade games, both of which began their life in the non-home-gaming era. In fact, in the case of slot games, you could argue that they’re even more popular now than they were in the pre-digital era, with hundreds of new titles being released each year.
Competition Means Better Deals for Consumers
In the early days of gaming, the industry was dominated by a few big players, and that meant that deals were not really a thing. If you wanted to play a game, you’d have to pay full price. But things are different today. Because there’s so much competition for players, it’s possible to find deals on games that would historically never have offers attached; you can’t imagine a Las Vegas casino offering deals on slot games, yet an online casino will do it all the time. Not only are these and other types of games more readily accessible, but they also offer greater bang for your buck.
- Photo by Garrett Morrow: https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-photo-of-white-game-controller-3593983/
There’s a Rich Community
There’s always been a sense of community among gamers. That’s why gaming magazines were so popular back in the day. But in the olden days, the help you could receive was generally pretty limited. You’d have to hope that someone had written about your specific issue in the magazine you were reading. Today, you can quickly go online, find help for whatever problem you’re having, and be on your way to progress in no way. Plus, game developers take a proactive approach to any feedback they receive, and will usually patch up any problems as quickly as they can, which is something that wouldn’t have been possible in the past.
You Can Play Anywhere
Finally, today you can play pretty much any game, anywhere, any time. With cross-platform support becoming more common, a gamer could start playing on their console before moving to their smartphone when they have to make the commute to work, with virtually no interruption to their gameplay. Talk about a luxury touch.