According to a 2016 study published by the Entertainment Software Association, there are over 1.8 billion gamers around the world. These billions of tuned-in players are playing games on PC, consoles and mobile devices and they are playing games of various genres too. But, which game genres, in particular, are popular with this tech-loving demographic?
Strategy Games
A wooden chess board with the pieces set up on either side via Pexels
Some of the most popular video games on the market right now are strategy games that offer intense battles in terms of combat and wits. These are games such as the Civilization series, where you must make decisions for your kingdom including the monuments that you build, or XCOM, where you must lead a squadron of soldiers into battle against an enemy, alien force.
Strategy games can be hugely challenging and, according to a study by the Queen Mary University, strategy games are also good for your brain, which is perhaps why gamers enjoy them so much! People love having their strategic skills tested in games that let them use their knowledge of history, troop placement and more to gain the edge over their opponents.
Casino Games
Another hugely popular game genre is casino games, a niche that actually includes several games of different types. Not only are there blackjack games based on your knowledge of cards and roulette games where you pick a number and watch the wheel spin, but there are also online slots with various different themes and potentially major payouts.
Players don’t just appreciate casino games for their variety, however, with international players also liking the smaller localization features that make a game work for their region. For example, with online casino Canada, players are able to find casinos specifically tailored towards Canadian players. This includes casinos that offer payouts in Canadian dollars and offer Canadian-themed titles such as Blueberry’s Timberjack.
Sports Games
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Real-world sports offer huge competition, with longstanding local rivalries and legacies seeing tensions run high. So, it makes sense then that sports-related video games are incredibly popular among gamers too. They love the chance to play as the world’s best athletes or to create their own athletes and forge paths of their own.
Some of the most popular sports games are FIFA, the soccer simulation series which continues to set sales records around the world and NBA 2K, the basketball simulation series which features the NBA’s best players with their likenesses recreated in impressive fashion. These games also let players become champions; for example, you can win the Premiership in FIFA or win your team a ring in NBA 2K.
Video games as we know them have only existed for several decades, meaning that gaming is still a relatively new medium. As the video game industry matures, so too will the tastes of the billions of gamers who enjoy and spend a huge amount of money on these games. As such, we can probably expect new popular video game genres to emerge in the next few years, finding new ways to appeal to gamers and their changing tastes.