2020 was a big year for gaming. Expos had to go virtual, and players had to stay home. But the gaming world helped connect many people with their friends and family, from playing casual party games to getting into some serious triple-A multiplayer action and enjoying stunning new worlds in single-player games.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpQdaytZJPI&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=BravadoGaming
2021 should be an interesting year for the scene – and it’s already full of surprises! So, to help cut through the noise, we asked members of Bravado – South Africa’s leading esports group, sponsored by Alienware, Intel and Dell Gaming – to give their predictions for some of the year’s trends.
THE ESPORTS SCENE
Professional gaming gained a more prominent profile over 2020, especially as traditional sports had to shut down and fans looked to the virtual world for some competitive entertainment. This momentum could deliver big things for the scene in 2021. While much of the action will take place online, many look forward to the re-emergence of Local Area Networks (LANs) and physical tournaments. But online tournaments might continue to dominate. There is also palpable excitement over more cross-play, enabling console and PC gamers to play with (and against) each other.
“I am very excited to see how 2021 develops for competitive and casual gaming,” said Barry “TheCaramelGamer” Forrester-Smith. “I think this period we have gone through has created a flame for esports. Once LANs are allowed to proceed again, it will be interesting to see how things develop, as the majority of events were played from the comfort of our homes, which could change the way we see esports tournaments.”
GAME STREAMING
The big, big winner among gaming last year was, without a doubt, streaming. Using services such as Twitch and YouTube, millions could tune into people playing games live. The trend even started including more traditional types of games – for example, chess has become a big draw on Twitch, pulling in audience numbers the sport had never seen before. But what will be the big streaming games of the year? That is harder to predict, though Bravado’s players note we can expect a lot from the likes of Call of Duty and Apex Legends. More interesting, though, is what we could see more story-driven and sports games.
“I think a lot more story-driven games will be streamed, now that the new generation consoles are out with many story-driven exclusives,” said Jessica “MissLadyJay” Maij. “Since people cannot go out to sporting events, I think sports games will also be quite big in the streaming world.”
2021’S BIG GAMES
Every gamer has a few titles they are waiting for, and 2021 will be no exception. There are numerous excellent games set to be released this year, including Far Cry 6, Horizon Forbidden West, Dying Light 2 and Gotham Knights. One of 2021’s potential trendsetters, the Call of Duty: Cold War & Warzone crossover, was released at the end of last year. It will, no doubt, have a big impact on the competitive scene. But a particular title stands out for Bravado’s Kyle “Pacman10154” Swart:
“One game that’s been standing out is called Ashes of Creation. It’s a massive multiplayer online game that changes based on the progress of people on the server. The world evolves with the decisions people make. You can become a king and gain perks that no one else on the server has, but you need to be voted into the spot. The game is like a combination of World of Warcraft and Black Desert Online. It really takes the MMO genre to a new level. Also, Half-life 3 would be nice…”
HARDWARE
We can’t predict the future of gaming, especially PC gaming, and not talk about hardware. 2020 had some big reveals for gamers. Raytracing (RTX), a stunning new way to render crisp game visuals, gained a lot of momentum last year, leading to the release of the GeForce RTX 30 Series GPUs at the end of 2020. They sold out immediately and will likely be the must-have card of 2021. Gamers will also flock to a new generation of Intel processors, says Swart:
“I’m waiting for the launch of the new Intel Rocket Lake processors, that will have up to 8 cores and 16 threads. It said to have up to 50% higher performance than gen 9 processors. The RTX 30 series has been so successful with performance to price ratios. I look forward to seeing how the upcoming Nvidia Geforce RTX 3080 TI edition compares to the rest.”