Throughout the past year, online entertainment options have been able to show just how successful they can be given the right circumstances as many of the bigger options have moved from strength to strength – online music streaming through platforms like Spotify have hit record numbers and with the acquisition of big podcasting names, subscription numbers have only increased Big Changes. Video on demand services have went the same way and with Netflix set to release seventy new titles in 2021 alone, it has shown how the demand has changed in recent months. And online gaming continues to be as present as ever with the rise of esports and the success across platforms in mobile gaming too – but the latter is still set to experience big changes, as despite the success of gaming as a whole there is still one big bug bear for many to move by. This has been seen across endless areas around the world with Ladbrokes Australia on the rise, amongst many others.
The big bug bear has been within the gaming market, the past few years have seen the widespread introduction of microtransactions and paid features that replicate methods of gambling and have had a lot of attention paid to them in a bid to both slow the growth of the problem or to see the features removed entirely. This has only doubled down throughout the pandemic period as player numbers have only increased with spending habits increasing alongside them. Some changes have already been made as efforts to make these systems more transparent and less appealing to certain demographics has taken place, albeit somewhat unsuccessfully on Big Changes.
Online gambling is at an all time high, both through direct online gaming platforms such as online and betting sites, through to these microtransactions that have become more relevant, and will be the next big space to see regulation change. The biggest example recently to come from this came as Dutch courts ruled that EA, the studio behind big games like FIFA, would have to pay a fine until their own loot boxes, or player packs in this case, were removed from the game, and whilst only a small portion of the market it does signal that there is restlessness and frustration growing. Others such as the UK had asked players to submit evidence that these same mechanics were a cause for concern and could lead to change here in time too.
The change will be hard fought for though, this market is big and growing year on year faster than many other spaces, and so there’s a lot to lose for those invested in the space – change will be slower than many had hoped, but it does appear that change here is inevitable, but the question may be to what degree change will come, whether a complete overhaul or the small adjustments that have been seen in over the recent year or two.
