The future of video games, part I: 2024

Video gamers are always looking forward to what’s next. What new games are coming out next month? What new consoles are coming out next year? This week, we’re throwing the dial even further forward, and time-traveling into the (possible) future of video games.

It isn’t difficult to figure out what the biggest change coming to video gaming this decade will be. In fact, most of you have probably been aware of it for years: virtual reality.

After decades of impractical devices and insufficient processing power, we’re finally coming to a turning point in the world of virtual reality. Technology is advanced enough (and cheap enough) that it’s possible to create virtual reality headsets like the Oculus Rift and offer them to the consumer population at a reasonable price. At the same time, graphics technology and computer processing power has advanced to the point that this virtual reality technology can put us into very realistic-looking virtual worlds. Realistic enough, in fact, that reactions to it can be quite visceral:

(Warning: the video below contains some NSFW language)

That’s where we are right now, though. What are things likely to look like in 2024?

VR gets real

Let’s start with the visual side of things: there will likely be multiple VR headsets on the market, and they’ll be both more immersive (better head tracking, lower latency) and lighter than any VR headset we’ve yet seen. They will probably also have solved some of the issues with current VR technology, like how to make it more easily accessible to people who wear glasses. In ten years, it should be very possible for almost anyone to feel like their eyes are inside a realistic-looking virtual world.

Moreover, you probably won’t need an expensive PC to take advantage of this kind of VR technology. Smartphones are already advanced enough that the latest models can display some pretty impressive 3D graphics, and by 2024 it’s likely that VR headsets will be able to wirelessly link to your phone so that you game VR game on the go. (In fact, Samsung just debuted a prototype VR headset for its Note 4 tablet). Of course, the headset and the smartphone themselves won’t be cheap, but owning a virtual reality device will probably be affordable to the middle class throughout most of Asia.

But humans perceive reality using more than just sight, and there are also likely to be advances in the effectiveness and affordability of other devices aimed at making the virtual reality experience even more like reality. The Virtuix Omni and other treadmill-like devices are already aiming at helping gamers feel their presence in game, but in ten years, these devices will likely be even more advanced. They may, for example, track the player’s leg movements precisely so that the game can map you actual footsteps, rather than just interpreting forward motion as a press of the W key.

But that won’t be all. There will likely be gloves and possibly shirts and pants that use haptic feedback to make game worlds feel more real. We’ve already seen the very beginning of this with products like the KOR-FX haptic feedback vest, but in another ten years, there should be even more effective (and less bulky) options readily available.

Moreover, these sorts of products aren’t likely to be wholly separate. Sony is already investing big in virtual reality with Project Morpheus, and in another ten years, several companies will likely be offering comprehensive virtual reality kits that might include a headset, haptic feedback clothing, motion sensing technology, and other peripherals. Right now, you can get that sort of a complete VR experience, but you’re going to need to hack together a bunch of different devices, some of which are still prototypes. In a decade, it should be as easy as connecting each device to your home wifi network (or something like that).

Hopefully it won’t take up quite this much space or cost this much money (thanks to the fact that the screens and guns can be dispensed with), but check out this Battlefield 3 simulator video from a few years ago to get some idea of what this is going to feel like: