By Khalid Wani
What is common among many popular game titles? Of course, they are popular games, and looking at their size, they need massive storage space. Games have become more immersive and richer in recent years and, while this enhances the experience of a gamer, it means they will need more space to store, better speed to play, and advanced connectivity to ensure their gaming experience remains enhanced.
Moreover, with the maturing gaming ecosystem and software and hardware improvements, virtual reality (VR) has started to make a gain in the gaming industry. The global VR gaming in the gaming market is projected to grow from $7.92 billion in 2021 to $53.44 billion in 2028. We have begun to see AAA games specially designed for VR. Such developments will play a substantial role in creating a demand for VR headsets as well as bringing down their costs. Because, as the market for VR gaming gains traction more companies will invest in making VR hardware and software, which will spur further innovation and make these headsets more affordable. Consequently, it will help bolster the VR gaming market. Another enabler for VR gaming is connectivity. It needs high-speed data and computation. 5G is expected to unlock the full potential of VR and provide a further boost to VR gaming in the country. In short, in the innovation-driven world, technology is advancing at a much faster pace than ever before. This is impacting almost everything around us and gaming is seeing a similar trend.
Tech advancements in the gaming industry have completely changed the landscape and gamers’ experiences from how we knew gaming just a few years back. This is because every link in the overall gaming ecosystem continues to innovate for the future.
Let’s take an example of storage. It cannot be an afterthought today because high performance storage directly impacts gameplay. A gamer can have the fastest CPU and the best GPU but if the storage is still working at 100mbp/s speed, their overall experience will be ruined and the gamer will suffer from lag out, stuttering to a completely frozen screen. This can result in losing the game and even losing audiences, which can be a great setback for gaming streamers. What’s more, gamers must know if the storage is able to offer sustained top-end performance for more consistent gameplay.
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Now, if they don’t have enough storage in their system, they will be plagued with problems, such as having to delete favorite titles to make room for new ones. Whether a gamer’s device is a PC, a console, or a mobile phone, they need storage that is specially designed for gaming. A mix of hard drives (HDD), solidstate drives (SSDs), and microSD cards can help alleviate gamers’ concerns. High-capacity HDDs can be used to back up and grow game library, NVMe powered ultrafast SSDs can help crush load times and slash throttling, lagging, and texture pop-ins for a smooth, fast experience that lets a gamer compete at their absolute peak.
The future of the gaming industry looks promising. Games will continue to offer a more immersive experience, where more and more gamers will, instead of simply playing a game on their devices, feel as though they’ve entered the world of a game and become a part of it. However, for this to become a reality for the masses it is important the industry continues to focus on innovation and help remove the barriers that exist today. Moreover, hardware must continue to evolve to accelerate this transformation and make it a smooth one.
(The author is Senior Director, Sales, India, Western Digital. Views expressed are personal.)
