Around the world, gaming has gone mainstream. Long gone are the days of gaming being just for tech fans. People from across professions, ages and of every demographic are getting into gaming. From mobile games, to consoles, PC games and more.
One place where gaming has definitely had a stronghold on the population is Canada. Its popularity has continued to grow in recent years, and it looks like it won’t be stopping any time soon.
Recent studies have shown that 64% of Canadians game on a frequent basis. And the video game industry in the country made over one and a half billion US dollars in 2021 alone. But what are the top gaming trends in Canada and what does the future look like for the gaming industry in Canada?
Read on to find out more.
eSports is on the rise
Like in other countries around the world, eSports has become some of the most popular forms of gaming – with competitions and tournaments happening across Canada. Thousands of people attend in person or tune in online to watch these eSports tournaments, which is now seen as a sport. And like with any sport, more people now are placing bets on places like their favourite uk poker site and other casino websites that are available to Canadians.
Mobile vs Console
Consoles will always have a place in the gaming world. And there’s evidence to show it – the release of the hotly anticipated PS5 led to it being sold out in under an hour around the world, selling 2.1 to 2.5 million units on the day it launched.
For Xbox players, the Xbox Series X has been amped up so that users can enjoy 4K gaming that goes up to 120 frames per second with 8K HDR. And handheld devices like the Nintendo Switch continue to be big sellers in Canada and beyond. But one of the largest trends both in Canada and around the world is the move towards mobile gaming.
In fact a new study from 2022 showed that mobile gaming is outgrowing the gaming industry as a whole, and that 60% of the entire gaming market share is dominated by it. Expected to be a $470 billion gaming industry by 2030, more people than ever in Canada are choosing to play their favourite games, whether that’s on uk poker site or downloaded through apps, on their phones instead of on PCs or consoles.
This is a huge trend that’s only expected to grow as technology of smart devices gets better than it ever has been.
Top trending games
One of the most popular in trending games is Fornite. This free-to-play, cross-platform Battle Royale game released in 2017 continues to have fans from around the world playing, especially in Canada. Played by over 51 million Canadians, the evolution of the game has meant that it’s continued to be hugely popular and is available for a wide range of platforms including Xbox Cloud Gaming, GeForce Now, Nintendo Switch Playstation 4 and many more.
And Canada also ranks top for the highest population of any country that still plays Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft, with 3 million people playing the game from 2004.
Fitness Gaming
Video games have long been associated with lots of time sitting. But these days, fitness gaming is on the rise and is a trend that’s been growing for the past few years and will continue well beyond 2023. In Canada and around the world, top fitness games included Ring Fit Adventure, Beat Saber, Nintendo Switch Sports and Zumba Burn It Up.
There’s also the trend of gamification of fitness apps, which while not games themselves has used gaming psychology to encourage them to stay active by offering challenges and rewards to get people more fit.
Metaverse Gaming
The Metaverse is getting a lot of hype as of late in Canada, especially due to Mark Zuckerberg. It’s also exciting game players and makers, with game studios already beginning working with metaverse technology to make immersive, exciting games like never seen before.
Some estimate that this will be one of the biggest, and profitable, game trends over the next few years, with the Metaverse video game market expected to reach 710.21 billion by 2027.
Of course, we don’t know exactly what it will look like – but we can expect some really innovative work already being done in this space.
