The march of technology: How live streaming and online games are evolving

If technology improves and advances, other sectors reap the rewards as a result, and one of the industries most reliant on tech evolving is gaming. Gaming covers a wide range of activities and is very much the umbrella term, but recently live streaming and content, in particular, are on the up.

Starting with streaming, if a gamer isn’t playing games themselves, they will more than likely be watching someone else play on streaming platforms such as Twitch. The experience for broadcasters and viewers is now better than ever thanks to PCs and laptops increasing in power and capacity, with better chips and more RAM playing a significant role, alongside much faster and more reliable Internet connections.

Streaming of a sort is also infiltrating another industry: online board games now regularly make interactive content that happens in real-time available for players to enjoy, with Hasbro’s co-launch of Monopoly Live Casino Game with Evolution Gaming a prime example. Again, all the above, such as blazing-fast Internet speeds and graphical improvements, play a part.

More people than ever before are now using their smartphones to access content online, and this wouldn’t be possible without devices making use of the latest tech. Some mobiles are now able to rival games consoles and some computers in terms of performance, which shows how far they have come. 5G has also come into the picture, which means online gaming on the go can be a more enjoyable experience.

Console gaming is more than worth a mention where new technology is concerned because both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X have proven themselves to be on another level from anything seen previously. Of course, a lot of this is to do with Sony and Microsoft going all-out when designing and manufacturing their respective consoles. The PS5, for example, it is a games console capable of producing 3D audio and 8K video output, whereas its predecessor, the PS4, can only manage 1080pm HD video. Owners of the newer model will also see their frame rate double from 60fps to 120fps, which of course comes down to the latest graphics cards being in use.

Even how users enjoy games visually has come a long way, with the latest monitors now supporting HDMI 2.1, which is something that the PlayStation 5, for example, can work with. And, the peripherals that have been around for a few years, such as VR headsets, have received significant upgrades. As a result, the gaming experience is more immersive, with higher refresh rates and more extensive content libraries.

Gaming continues to be on the up in all facets, be it streaming, hardware, software or peripherals. And none of this would be happening if technology wasn’t consistently evolving and improving year on year.

The editorial unit