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With the rapid change in technology and the development of next-generation hardware, gaming trends are constantly evolving and improving. In fact, there are several PC gaming trends that no one from the gaming industry should miss out on. Here is a list of PC gaming trends that have revolutionized the video gaming industry.

Indie Gaming With Roblox

Indie gaming is an abbreviation for independent video games. It is usually created by an individual or a small development team with no financial aid and technical assistance. The term “Indie Gaming” is certainly not new to the gaming abode. 

Prior to the burst in popularity of indie games thanks to the internet, people did not know of many video games that were not developed by big-name corporations. However, indie game developers or producers now have a platform where they can share their games. A few of the most popular indie games of recent times are Among Us and Stardew Valley. Besides, these two games stand on the top of the list of bestsellers in 2021.   

Similarly, Roblox is also trying its best to promote indie gaming. The platform brings game creators and game distributors in a single dais. This will facilitate the system of quick feedback and will enable the developers to improve their games. In the current scenario, there are around 150 million active users in Roblox. Yes, many of them will never in their life develop a game, but some of the enthusiastic creators are certain to make the most of this platform.

Opening A Diverse Community For All Gamers

If we look into the gaming field a decade back then we will find that the majority of the gamers were male. However, with the changing time, the PC gaming trends are also changing. Now, if we look into the recent data then we can see that around 48% of the women in the United States play video games. Besides, around half of the female PC gamers consider themselves to be diehard gamers.

Having said that, the industry is still dominated by males. According to a diversity report by International Game Developers Association, only 22% of the game developers are women. This simply shows the domination of males in the gaming industry. 

Steam: The Largest Gaming Platform

Steam is an online destination where you can play, develop, and even discuss games. Steam hosts hundreds of games and mods. In fact, the gaming destination single-handedly dominated the gaming market for a good amount of time.  It is one of the first platforms to enable the user to buy and review games at the same place. 

Steam Losing Its Market Dominance

To end the dominance of Steam on the gaming market, GOG.com came into play. At first, GOG.com targeted the older games that were not easily available on Steam. And once they gained decent popularity, the digital distributor also made newer games available on their platform. 

Furthermore, all the games present on this platform are DRM (Digital Rights Management) free. This makes the interaction with gaming content free, feasible, and enhances the portability and accessibility of any game. Most of the gamers regard DRM as a minor issue while others consider it to be a big hassle. Not to forget that “DRM-free” is what made GOG.com win over Steam.

The Multiplayer Epic Games

The concept of Epic Games is quite similar to that of Steam and GOG.com. It flaunts a big library of games where you can easily arrange and launch games. Likewise, it also allows you to connect with other gamers in a multiplayer environment. Despite having all these similarities with Steam and GOG.com, there is something peculiar in Epic Games that makes them different.

As the game developer, Epic Games is the solitary provider of the superhit mobile game, Fortnite. Similarly, the company made the famous game the Metro Exodus exclusive for a year as soon as it was released. Activities like these have played a vital role in luring the audience of Steam to Epic Games. 

Cloud Gaming Service Gaining Advantage Over Traditional Gaming

Exploring, buying, and installing games online sounds pretty good on paper but the reality doesn’t agree with it. There are a lot of hassles in buying and installing games online. 

Initially, the process of finding and downloading the game takes ample hours. Secondly, your hardware might just not be enough to carry on with the game. This can lead to several performance issues. Cloud gaming overcomes all these issues. Thus, as it resolves all the major issues with hardware incompatibility, cloud gaming attained a greater height of success.

Here, you don’t have to purchase and download the game. Instead, you can stream it in real-time. This allows the gamers to play the latest versions of their favorite game without any degradation in the performance. 

Apart from the gamers, it is also beneficial for the streaming servers and publishers as they can earn revenue from older games that are not easily available on the market.

Early Access Changing Game Development Process

Early Access is a program that enables game developers to share early builds of their titles for the public to buy. They are unpolished and unfinished and most of the time contains a lot of bugs that are to be resolved. They are not demos but the beta version of games.

According to the reports of Empirical Software Engineering, about 15% of the games on Steam imply “Early Access”. Besides, it is lucrative to both the developers and gamers. Gamers get to play games months before its official release. On the other hand where developers use it as a prototype that helps them correct all the issues. Developers receive feedback and ultimately alter the regulation of the game making it a better product. 

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