Game Genres Next Generation Consoles Should Improve

The gaming industry is a work in progress. That means developers and publishers are continuously looking for ways to improve the sector. In the last five years, though, they seem to have found a few favorite genres: Action, sports, and Battle Royale.

What are your top five video games of the last five years? If it’s not a sports simulation game like FIFA20, it’s an action game like Call of Duty or a Battle Royale like Fortnite.

There’s no harm in loving these video games. But when you think about it, there are plenty of untapped genres out there. Below are some of them and the games that prove developers need to do more.

Real-Life Simulation Games

Simulation games have been around for years, yet very few of them have gone mainstream. The Sims series tried to inspire the next generation of simulation games. And to a great extent, they succeeded.

Farming Simulator 17, Euro Truck Simulator 2, and Plague Inc. are several more games with notable levels of success. But many of these games had glitches and flaws that could have been fixed if developers wanted to.

You could argue that making money is the primary driving force of many developers. If a genre doesn’t bring profits, it probably shouldn’t get attention. But that’s the wrong approach. The popularity of the Sims, Cooking Simulator, and Plague Inc. prove people love simulation games. But they want great games.

Online Casino Games

Similar to real-world simulators, online casino games have a place on consoles. But for a long time, developers have always ignored or underdeveloped games in this niche. Surprisingly, the few games with full-fledged casinos are wildly successful.

Think of Grand Theft Auto V online. It has a beautiful casino with slots and card games launched mid-last year. It’s not the biggest highlight of the game, but it’s incredibly popular with players. The same applies to RDR2’s casino mini-games.

Sony and Microsoft don’t have to let people play slots and blackjack for real money. People can use real money casinos for that purpose. After all, there are some pretty diverse offerings in terms of online casino games. From slots and poker to blackjack and roulette, the modern iGaming website is jam-packed with games.

In the console space, however, the objective would be to play these games for fun. GTA’s casino has been immensely successful anyway. But casino players would love to see more games focused on this niche.

Music Games

What’s the best way to learn how to play guitar? For some, it’s playing Guitar Hero. So, you think you can rap? Consider playing 50 Cent’s “Bullet Proof” video game. There are several more games based on pop, country, and rock music.

But there’s one problem. They are extremely limited in variety. In fact, it’s almost impossible to find a good rock music video game on Xbox or PS4. The reason might be that developers don’t make enough money from these games.

And sure enough, it beggars belief to imagine that a game teaches people how to rap could outperform a good action game. However, music is one of the most popular sources of entertainment.

So, if developers were to place more efforts on music-themed video games, there would be a huge market for them. Just imagine a great game that’s entertaining but also teaches you how to play the piano. The world needs more of these games.

Puzzle Games

For some reason, most developers these days create puzzle games for android and iOS devices. It makes sense to solve puzzles on your smartphone. But when you want to play the VR version of Tetris, perhaps there’s no better way to do it than on a giant TV screen.

Virtual Reality immerses you into an entirely different world. With VR Tetris, you can align the game’s blocks as you walk through the streets of New York. Or you could play it with the beaches of the Bahamas as your backdrop.

Of course, puzzle games don’t have to feature VR for you to cherish them. If you like to challenge your mind with these games, you could play them for hours.

Fighting/MMA Games

Sure, there are tons of action games out there. But exclude games that involve guns and weapons, and you almost have no great titles. Even the MMA space lacks a depth of good console games despite being a fast-rising sport.

Precisely, the best four UFC games all came before 2015: Undisputed three, EA Sports UFC and EA Sports MMA. Outside of the MMA, there are a few independently developed fighting games.

But given the popularity of mixed martial arts, Karate and Taekwondo, developers need to invest more in this genre. Boxing has a wide range of successful games. Some of them have sold millions of copies, proving there’s a market for playable fighting console games.

Mobile Console Games

Next Generation video game developers aren’t just focused on the Xbox, Nintendo, and PlayStation. They have their eyes on mobile games. Precisely, they are focused on games that can be played on handheld consoles like the Nintendo 2DS and Nintendo Switch.

In fact, recent studies show that developers are more focused on next-generation console games than streaming. 39% of these developers are vested in mobile games and could be responsible for the next best mobile games.

Presently, mobile consoles have been designed to imitate smartphone-based controls. But in the future, these devices could have more technical features for a better gaming experience.  Of course, time will tell whether handheld consoles will revolutionize the mobile gaming sectors. But hopefully, that will be the case.

To Conclude

If you love action, sports, RPG, and Battel Royale Games, you have unlimited choices when it comes to picking good games. But if you’re more of a simulation fan or love to solve puzzles, there’s a chance you struggle to find great games.

Luckily, developers are heavily invested in the next generation of console games. But if they want to attract more fans, they need to also invest in the genres we’ve outlined above.