Most businesses suffered significant losses in 2020, there is however one industry according to reports the pandemic had no, or if any then positive effect on.

In the era of lockdowns and curfews, people had to find new ways to center their lives around their homes, and not to get bored while “there’s nothing to do”. Besides artists’ values being realized and appreciated, digital entertainment became more important than ever. Watching films online and lurking on blogs was compelling to many, but interactivity was still missing from the picture, and that is how people turned to games. To escape to another reality, to establish an illusion of control, to have fun together without having to physically be together.

2020 marked the release of both Sony and Xbox next-generation platforms, the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox series XIS. These novelties raised sales for both the providers and available video games. Some of the most prominent releases were The Last of Us 2 and Cyberpunk 2077 (we wrote about it briefly on our Facebook ), and the Final Fantasy 7 Remake also dropped after more than a decade of hype. The emergence of cloud gaming also helped the industry to rise to new heights by standing as a competitor to the traditional market. The number of e-sport players was also steadily on the rise.

What 2021 holds for gaming?

Experts agree that 2021 will bring about some new trends too. According to Mordor Intelligence, the global gaming industry was worth around 162 billion USD in 2020 and is expected to reach almost 300 billion dollars by 2026, so it’s safe to say we can expect a significant rise in participants and revenue. Asia-Pacific is seen to continue to hold the largest market, but Chinese enterprises plan to embrace the opportunities in global digitization too. Virtual Reality will definitely become more available to wider circles of customers and audiences, and thanks to 5G and the improvements in mobile technology, mobile games will re-gain their popularity once again. Some popular franchises like Call of Duty already released a Mobile version, available for most digital distribution platforms like the App store and Google Play.

Some of the games we cannot wait to see this year are:

1.     God of War: Ragnarök

The sequel continues within Norse mythology, with a release date of 2021 September. Though not much has been made public yet, there are some speculations that Freya will return as an enemy of Kratos and his son Atreus, and if the title wants to live up to its name, Odin himself will have to make an appearance. There’s already a teaser online, and we can’t wait to get our hands on it.

2.     Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake

The first Prince of Persia game from Broderbund was released in 1989. Ubisoft released its own version of the game first in 2003, with Sands of time, which was a huge success then. The 2021 version will be a complete do-over, with renewed graphics and scenes, it’s definitely something to look forward to. We can only hope this will give us some remedy to the wounds the disastrous movie caused us.

3.     Hitman 3

The third game of the series launched on January 20^th. You can get into agent 47’s skin on PlayStation, PC and Xbox as well, though the game seems to be slow if you wish to import your previous progress from earlier episodes. Several bugs were reported too, IO’s developers are working hard to correct them as soon as possible. A VR version of the trilogy will also be released, which provides a really exciting opportunity to walk in the shoes of an assassin.

4.     Far Cry 6

A must-play for players who like to destroy dictatorships. You will join the game as a guerilla fighter, working to take revenge on the suppressor family. If this would not be enough to convince you, the whole story takes place in a hidden tropical paradise, and the villain is played by Giancarlo Esposito.

Based on the year behind us, we can all agree that the growth of the industry will continue, and also that the outcomes are going to stretch far beyond our imagination. We’re looking forward to seeing it all!

Will you test any of the games we mentioned? If you want us to publish your gaming reviews and other guest post ideas feel free to contact us via e-mail at hello@iseeq.co