When video games first started becoming popular on home devices, their development teams were surprisingly small. Often made by just one or two people, success depended not on how much money a studio had, but rather on the strength of their ideas. As gaming became more popular, this reality began to change.
Suddenly, people became fascinated with the burgeoning 3D graphics of the time, and of expansive worlds made newly popular though large dedicated studios. In recent years, however, this has again begun to change.
We’ve now reached a point where video games have followed a path similar to that which betting games made all those decades and centuries ago. Now people are no longer enamoured with the overly complex. Instead, more of us are turning back to simpler games which draw their appeal from base enjoyment.
So, what exactly does this mean for Ulster, for both players and creators?
Playing for Fun
For those of us just after some fun, we’ve never been so spoiled for choice. Fans of online casino games, like the jackpot slots from https://games.paddypower.com/c/jackpot-slots, have dozens of digital incarnations to choose from. Available to play from anywhere with an internet connection, over almost all mobile devices, these online games increasingly rendering brick-and-mortar establishments obsolete.
Mobile devices have also become a powerful platform in the traditional AAA video game market. Long disregarded by many developers as irrelevant systems, the success of mobile casino games and breakout hits like Fortnite and PUBG have shown that success is there, at least for those who put in the effort.
While there has also been considerable growth within the PC and console gaming market over the last few years, it has been this smartphone market which is poised for the greatest expansion, as reported by Newzoo at https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/.
This new reality is often reflected on the streets of Ulster, as many of our readers would have noticed a slow but continual uptick in people playing on their mobile devices. Further developments in connectivity like 5G coverage look likely to further build this trend over the coming years.
Finding a Career
With indie gaming entering a new golden age, the opportunities for Ulster developers has been bigger than it has been since the 1980s. Small games developed by, in some cases, single people, have found massive success again recently, giving those of us in Ulster a chance to break into the market like never before.
This is aided by courses like game design being offered in places like Ulster University as detailed at https://www.ulster.ac.uk/courses/, giving potential newcomers all the knowledge they need to get started.
On the other hand, the potential for international work from the growing online casino market is more cooperative. The online nature of these organisations means that their calls for any range of disciplines, from programmers to artists, musicians, and developers, can be fulfilled by anyone in Ulster with the commensurate skills, looking for at-home work.
“Programming” (CC BY 2.0) by fwalloe
Both the iGaming and traditional video gaming avenues of entertainment are still very much on the rise. While this makes it impossible to guess a potential maximum level of popularity, it also means that, in terms of enjoyment and employment, opportunities are greater than they’ve ever been before.
No matter where in Ulster you are, and what you want, there is almost guaranteed to be something for you.
