Top 5 Gaming Trends to Prepare for in 2026

The video game market continues to expand with eSport competitions, mobile games, social interactive gaming, the NFT phenomenon, virtual and augmented reality, the gaming metaverse, and more.

This provides publishers with a vast array of choices:

• What kind of game to release (e.g., additions to an existing gaming metaverse like Minecraft or Roblox, or a new production like iGaming casinos or third-person shooter)
• How to monetize (e.g., in-app purchases or rewards from in-game video ads)
• Release unique NFTs on special trading blockchain platforms (e.g., OpenSea);
• Utilize different methods in the gaming metaverse to boost revenue

HotPlay, a gaming marketing solutions provider, noted that the gaming market would reach $218.7 billion in revenue by 2024. Gaming solutions are in high demand due to the fast-growing number of players. This is dramatically presented by the EarthWeb analytics platform showing that there are 2.9 billion active players worldwide as of September 2026.

In an article that combines insight into digital media and gaming, Forbes predicts that we will see this same fusion of games and overall digital entertainment reflected in the 2023 trends. According to Forbes, we are entering an era where entire industries steer away from labels that define them as just this one thing, and, on the opposite, are trying to diversify themselves. On this wave of expansion and inclusion, we will likely see Metaverse entering the mainstream, and witness a shift in eSports – from competition, to something more content- and product-oriented.

The eSport sector experiences 31.4 million monthly viewers and gaming participants, which is up 6.0% from 2022 according to InsiderIntelligence estimations.

“The rise in eSports will affect the whole gaming industry influencing the types of games issued by the manufacturers. They will release more eSport compatible games like MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena)”

McBroom, producer of the McGamers on YouTube

According to BBC, the market for eSports will only grow, arriving at $1.9bn (£1.4bn) by 2025. However, in the same article Dominic Sacco of Esports News UK foresees this growth happening together with important changes at the top of the industry. We will likely see governments of several countries attempting to turn eSports into huge international events, on par with offline sports championships in terms of investment and media coverage. This will push eSports to become a broader experience, driving more revenue and content.

Video game-specific streaming platforms like Twitch and YouTube Gaming give fans a direct connection to the players and teams, while more mainstream socials have allowed those connections to flourish. Certain eSports organizations, like FaZe Clan, are also moving aggressively into areas like merchandise, lending their brands more notoriety than if they’d stuck to eSports alone. These businesses are boosting the popularity of eSports as well.

Figures given by Statista show the growth of the eSports audience as rising from 435.7 million in 2020 to 532 million in 2022 and forecasted to be 640.8 in 2025.

Whether you are starting a betting website or an eSports app, you will need to oversee:

• Engineering the back office to manage agents’ activity and odds calculations
• Dealing with the data efficiently to track odds statistics in real-time
• The design of betting software
• Enhancing users’ experience with tech-edge art pieces and a smooth betting experience
• Racing video integration and providing third-party sports videos on your platform to capture and retain the existing bettors

These key factors will help you develop high-quality products able to increase revenue via successful betting and odds management. And Innovecs Games can help you with this.

Metaverse has been a talked-about, yet distant topic ever since its initial launch in 2021. Now, we are entering a year when it may finally become reachable for the masses and gain real commercial traction. Apple has even thrown its hat in the ring with plans for their own 3D World and new video service for the VR headset, hinting at a chance of powerful rivalry.

The potential for Metaverse gaming is endless. The combination of Virtual Reality together with the open-world setting is a setup for fully immersive worlds for players to explore. And an authentic setting is bound to come with opportunities for monetization. Collaborations with leading brands, as well as the emergence of new labels catering specifically to Metaverse, are on the horizon, and blockchain will likely become the financial language of it all. According to Hackernoon, blockchain technology will allow players to purchase virtual properties, assets, clothing, and characters. Such opportunities for customization will make the vast online reality feel more familiar and personal for those who enter it.

As 5G internet becomes the norm for many countries across the globe, the need to download the game to get a smooth uninterrupted experience out of it, plummets. In its place come the cloud-based games, the availability of which relies on stable connection. We saw this trend gain traction in 2022, and now, looking into the nearest future of cloud gaming, This Day offers the following predictions:

• the global consumer spending in this field field may reach $6.3 billion by 2024 
• cloud gaming market size will reach $13 thousand million by 2028 
• in the next five years, it will be expanding at a compound annual growth rate of about 42.5% 

Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Tencent, Sony Group and Nvidia are only some of the gaming industry giants that recognize the potential of cloud gaming. Skeptics are still concerned about the latency of cloud multiplayers and the practicality of internet-reliance in terms of player satisfaction. However, the hyper-realistic games of the latest generation tend to eat up lots of space, and the freedom of owning them without downloading is an undeniable plu. It may have just enough pull for the gamers to invest in cloud instead of purchasing extra storage.  

Blockchain contributes not only to safe and convenient payments in gaming, but it’s truly beneficial for gaming as a whole.

The benefits of cryptocurrency using blockchain are obvious:

• Payments are safe, anonymous, and smoother than payments associated with the player’s banking account.
• Winning, and receiving those payments, is not as risky (sometimes, if the player deposits from a personal banking account, it can be blocked), so more users are attracted.
• Cryptocurrency payment methods come across legislative local restrictions less than banking payouts and deposits.

It seems that blockchain-based games and NFTs are moving out of the “hit or miss” phase as companies are finally gathering enough data to figure out what resonates with the audience. Could this be the year when a big gaming company incorporates crypto elements into its product’s top IP? Dr. Serkan Toto of Kantan Games is sure of it and anticipates a surge of new large-scale blockchain games like Axie Infinity for either 2023 or 2024.

The industry of hyper-casual mobile gaming is booming. Runners, IO games and Idle arcades were the most popular genres of the last year, with hits like Tall Man Run, Bridge Race and My Mini Mart topping the charts. Now, let’s take a look at what’s likely to happen in 2023:

• Engineers will develop a taste for Open AI tools. We will see the normalization of AI assistance to complete programming tasks and speed up game development.
• Monetization will lean towards player ownership. There will be more opportunities for users to make in-game purchases for things that can follow them across multiple apps or offline, and facilitate exchange with other players.
• Hyper-casual games will establish new sub-genres. The industry can now afford to specialize and branch out, so we will notice hyper-casual gamedev studios starting to play to their strengths and really define themselves each as a particular type of hyper-casual hub.

There are always new trends and ideas, but it’s worth considering one impressive figure to understand that outsourcing gaming mobile app development can bring in high revenues. Statista calculated user penetration in mobile gaming to be 25.1% in 2023 and forecasted to be 29.2% by 2027. That is a vivid benchmark to measure the popularity of the trend.

The metaverse of mobile gaming is built for total player engagement. Catchy mobile gameplay prompts in-game activities lasting for hours. This presents an opportunity for the players to have fun and for marketers to increase revenue.

Gaming is a huge mass market. For example, 400 million people are playing Fortnite (Epic Games) worldwide. The social phenomenon of “being trapped in the gaming metaverse” leads to huge game monetization.

Moreover, the growing trend of cross-platform game development assists in reaching a wider target audience. Hence, the revenues of released gaming pieces have a chance to increase due to widened gaming audience.

The gaming market is growing, and a variety of options exist to focus on, including:

• eSports catching governments’ attention and potentially turning into giant cross-cultural events, driving content creation and building community to a degree we have never seen before
• Metaverse stepping into the spotlight of public attention: brand collaborations, blockchain-based purchases, VR and AR as the new norm for the current era of gaming
• Cloud-based gaming as the natural continuation of widespread internet connection
• Normalization of crypto elements in titles from big gaming companies as the concept of player ownership transcends the in-game localization of items
• Hyper-casual games solidifying their sub-genres as developers streamline their code with assistance from AI

No matter which avenue you pursue, it’s worth considering the following trends in the gaming market: increased diversity in gameplay, art design, and game features to capture users’ attention—as well as using blockchain technology to introduce safe payments, anonymous deposits with less risk for finances to be held by the bank.

These options will ease scaling the games you develop, quicken your ROI, and increase revenue. When you’re ready to develop, contact a company that has awareness of modern gaming trends and a portfolio depicting how they implement new tech issues into featured game design.