2024 Game Development Trends: Opportunities & Challenges | by Jon Radoff | Building the Metaverse

The game industry is enduring a tumultuous period — but amidst the layoffs, the technological acceleration, the new platforms and shifting business models — there is also enormous opportunity… But only if one invests wisely.

Here is what I cover in my recent substack article:

📈 Revenue is down, while costs are up: this is why layoffs are happening. But what can teams do to navigate the next year?
🎮 “This Game is Fun, Bro” — the divide between the mainstream gaming markets and what vocal groups claim on social media; the importance of a great game.
😎 What spatial computing will and won’t do for gaming
🤖 The disruptive effect of creator-led platforms such as Roblox
🍎 Longer-term impact of Apple’s adversity towards developers
💰 The Web Renaissance — what’s going to happen due to WebGPU, and the relative disadvantage of native mobile marketing, and other technological innovations
🕹 Cracks in the 3D Engine market — developer willingness to switch engines
🎮 Next-gen rendering pipelines (Unreal 5 innovations, Gaussian Splats, etc.) and what they mean for developers in the short-to-medium term
💻 The strength of PC Gaming
👩‍🔧 The growth of UGC within PC games
⚔ The importance of IP, and how it’s shifting towards game-first IP
🤖 Impact of Generative AI on both production and in-game experience
Importance of decentralized AI
💰 The state of open-economy (blockchain and other) games
📈 The growing cost of Live Operations — and how to make it capital-efficient

Please visit the complete article on Metavert Meditations for my complete coverage of these topics.