What is going to be the next big "Thing" in videogames?

First it was collect-a-thon platformers, then WW2 shooters, then music games, then it was the Modern Military shooter. What is the next big thing that everyone will be doing?

I forgot to mention zombie games in there.

General 'survival'--including but not exclusive to survival-horror--games seem to be picking up in pace lately. I Am Alive, Last of Us, DayZ, ZombiU, that Human Element thing, some of which are big-budget top of the line games. Then there's the myriad of indie survival-horror stuff that's populating the PC market. Hard to say whether it'll undoubtedly be the next ''big thing'', but the frequency of such games has definitely been increasing over the year.

@Yummylee said:

General 'survival'--including but not exclusive to survival-horror--games seem to be picking up in pace lately. I Am Alive, Last of Us, DayZ, ZombiU, that Human Element thing, some of which are big-budget top of the line games. Then there's the myriad of indie survival-horror stuff that's populating the PC market. Hard to say whether it'll undoubtedly be the next ''big thing'', but the frequency of such games has definitely been increasing over the year.

I doubt it, unless they could find a way to make the gameplay super fast paced and twitchy, which is perhaps the one thing that all of the game types the OP mentioned have in common. Survival type games tend to be pretty tedious, and I don't think the kinds of big audiences that bought into those previous fads are into that sort of gameplay.

@Hunter5024: Just look at the 90s and early naughts. Ever since Resident Evil debuted, there were loads of clones and other such games that took inspiration from the mechanics. Besides Resident Evil itself, there was of course Silent Hill, Dino Crisis, Fear Effect, Parasite Eve, Deep Fear, Cold Fear (goes with the territory I guess to have a lot of titles imbued with fear :P) and a few more that I may have forgotten.

As I already said (EDIT: lol, ok no I didn't, but it's what I meant to infer), though, you're right, survival-orientated games probably won't be the next top of the charts sub-genre, but its increase in popularity is very apparent all the same

@Yummylee: Survival games definitely don't have the wide appeal they would need to be the next "big thing". By nature they are slow paced and require a lot of patience. I still really hope they find enough of an audience to exist since I'm really interested in them.

'M'MOFPS

@Yummylee said:

@Hunter5024: Just look at the 90s and early naughts. Ever since Resident Evil debuted, there were loads of clones and other such games that took inspiration from the mechanics. Besides Resident Evil itself, there was of course Silent Hill, Dino Crisis, Fear Effect, Parasite Eve, Deep Fear, Cold Fear (goes with the territory I guess to have a lot of titles imbued with fear :P) and a few more that I may have forgotten.

As I already said (EDIT: lol, ok no I didn't, but it's what I meant to infer), though, you're right, survival-orientated games probably won't be the next top of the charts sub-genre, but its increase in popularity is very apparent all the same

That's true, and I hope that the genre evolves in such a way that I can come to enjoy them a little more myself. As a huge fan of Uncharted I'm scared of how The Last of Us is going to turn out.

Coin-operation consoles. Every week someone from Microsoft or Sony shows up at your home to empty the coin box. Nintendo's will only accept tokens.

@Yummylee said:

General 'survival'--including but not exclusive to survival-horror--games seem to be picking up in pace lately. I Am Alive, Last of Us, DayZ, ZombiU, that Human Element thing, some of which are big-budget top of the line games. Then there's the myriad of indie survival-horror stuff that's populating the PC market. Hard to say whether it'll undoubtedly be the next ''big thing'', but the frequency of such games has definitely been increasing over the year.

so what's the best one?

i play a lot of elder scrolls that way - no quests, no towns etc., and ended up playing dragon's dogma solo as a kind of survival game, so maybe i'd be into this kind of thing.

MOBA, although we're pretty much already there. There's a ton of money being put into MOBAs these days, and we're seeing spin-offs left and right.

How about just well written stories and characters? I'd hope that developers focus on that rather then one specific genre.

I hope 3D-platformers make a comeback some day. There were so many great ones back in the PS2 days.

The Thing. He's big.

co op could be, maybe not the next big thing, but still, with better single player co op stories in games such as Hitman it could give us intresting new takes on how we play these. at the moment its mostly just something separate, or not that well made, ArmyOf2..

also it could be the way for publishers to fight piracy, having a choice to go solo or in co op.

Xbox 360 games not getting patched. :(

I was thinking sandbox action games with strong focus on parkour? The Assassin's Creed franchise is a prime example and really helped to popularize that kind of games. Over the past few years we've got games like inFamous, Prototype, Assassin's Creed, and Batman (it's not really that similar to the overall style but it's out there). All of these games also have sequels which were really strongly promoted by the publishers, meaning it's definitely not a one-time thing.

Oh geez, I don't know. Guess that's why I ain't making vidja games.

If I knew that I wouldn't be here talking to you guys.

F2P model ala TF2 and DotA 2.

fighting games based on popular rpg franchises.

Well if it was WW2 shooters, then Modern shooters, then I guess the next will be Futuristic shooters?

@Village_Guy said:

Well if it was WW2 shooters, then Modern shooters, then I guess the next will be Futuristic shooters?

I wouldn't mind if futuristic shooters become popular, but I'd rather everyone not follow the trend as they did with WW2 and Modern shooters. At that point, they become overused and stale but on the other hand, there are countless possibilities with futuristic/space games.

I'm liking the shift towards genuine vulnerability in games. Titles like Day-Z and The Last Of Us force players to react in ways that are counter-intuitive to traditional game design and it's very refreshing. The popularity of Day-Z seems to confirm that people are into it, too.

Futuristic shooters and LOOOOT in every game.

@Village_Guy said:

Well if it was WW2 shooters, then Modern shooters, then I guess the next will be Futuristic shooters?

CHA-CHING!!

Day-Z is the counter the strike of the 2000's where a mod has more players then some mp retail games which is great I hope mods make a big comeback although they never left it's funny how years ago people where saying PC gaming is dying never will or has. I would like more Devs to release mod tools.Personally I would hope the next big thing is more tactical games,games this gen held your hands to much. I miss challenging games there's not enough of them FPS wise.

The sandbox-y Shooter / action game (like the announced zombie games that were already mentioned in this thread).

Also, it might not be a "big" thing but there's a chance that turn-based strategy games are coming back, similar to adventures in recent years.

In general it seems that a considerable portion of gamers got sick of extremely linear shooters and games becoming more and more "casual" and hand-holdy. Now we'll probably get a few years of counter-development.

i dunno but it probably involves guns fuck i hate this industry

Pelvic Thrust Kinect Command. Uh!

Whatever it is, you can bet ether

1. the community will hate it
2. the press will hate it
3. the industry will hate it

Unreal4 engine powered games, obviously. Many more games that look alike, yay!

@atomic_dumpling said:

Unreal4 engine powered games, obviously. Many more games that look alike, yay!

well, hopefully they fix the shiny skin.

I have no idea what the next big thing in video games would be. If I knew that I would be creating games myself.
For me it's probably gonna be The War Z, survival and all that. But that's just personal taste really and it's probably not gonna catch on because everyone is so far up DayZs butt that they can't get out.

open world-(insert genre) hybrid games from ubisoft where the camera/controls remind you of assassin's creed.

Cougars/Milfs will be the next big thing. Move away from young women characters into 35-55 year older women characters.

The next big thing is going to be massively multiplayer online puzzle games. I can feel it!

@LordAndrew said:

The next big thing is going to be massively multiplayer online puzzle games. I can feel it!

I would play and MMO version of Chu Chu Rocket RIGHT NOW

Girlfriend mode

first person shooter sports games

Toad. Screw Mario, Toad's where it's at

Second person shooters. You play the whole game through the eyes of your enemies. They'll take place in World War 1 and a half.

Quick Time Events + On Rails = Quick time on rail events <- The way gaming is heading.

no offline single player

@Alkaiser said:

Second person shooters. You play the whole game through the eyes of your enemies. They'll take place in World War 1 and a half.

Someone get Molyneux on the line.

The Next Big Thing

I'm not going to try to predict the whims of the greater populace, but for me, the indie game space gets better and more interesting and more exciting every day. That the next big thing for me.

@Sweep said:

The popularity of Day-Z seems to confirm that people are into it, too.

I cannot believe how mainstream that game has become. Never expected such popularity for a game that was originally an Arma II add-on.

Lava and ice levels.