The digital and social ecosystem is in for a whirlwind year in 2022. Businesses will need to keep an eye on social media channels, as forecasted milestones include Instagram providing more shopping options and Twitter rolling out its subscription service in other countries outside of Australia and Canada. Companies should also watch the gaming landscape, which is projected to do even bigger things for the social ecosystem in 2022.
More Games Inspired By Hollywood
By far, one of the top predictions for the gaming industry next year is that there will be more games based on behemoth television and movie franchises. Games have come a long way since the 1970s, both in terms of offering photorealistic graphics and because there are so many different types and genres, including ones that have seen a spike in interest over the last decade such as MOBAs, battle royals and casino games.
Historically, games that are a tie-in to movies have been a popular way to draw in fans of the film, but these titles could often be rushed and lack a clear connection to an overall strategy. However, games that are part of a wider movie franchise are starting to see a resurgence.
Over the last decade, franchises like Marvel and Star Wars have started a concerted push to expand their franchises onto as many platforms as possible, while also making sure it's all in the same universe. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy are successful examples of recent gaming titles in both those areas. This isn't just limited to video games either as online slots have seen plenty of movie-related slots including The Goonies and Jurassic Park among others.
In 2021, we saw many new franchise pieces and blockbuster hits reach our screens, and each has considerable potential in the gaming world. However, many will struggle to do it as well as Disney, which is reaping the benefits of owning both the Marvel and Star Wars franchises as part of its vast catalog.
Source: Pixabay
Continued Disruption To Traditional Commercial Branding
Similarly, we expect the gaming sector will continue to disrupt commercial branding in 2022. Already we have seen luxury fashion houses like Balenciaga collaborate with video games like Fortnite to create in-game clothes and exclusive physical products. Gaming isn’t just about entertainment anymore; it’s a commercial environment. With the increasing popularity of eSports, it seems likely that there could be more collaborations in the new year with fashion retailers and even sports teams and leagues.
Games are a billion-dollar business, just like the film and retail industry. In 2020, revenue from the worldwide PC gaming market totaled almost $37 billion, and the mobile gaming market saw an income of more than $77 billion. Like gaming, which, as we covered, has seen an increase in mobile usage and a decrease in its console and PC markets, the film and retail sectors have also seen an increase in mobile usage. Such growth has even inspired Netflix to roll out mobile games on its platform, which is the latest example of how gaming and film are interconnected. It’s also the last example of 2021, but we project in the new year, we’re going to see many more cases of this.