As part of its 2021 interview series, The Verge spoke to EA CEO Andrew Wilson about what video games will look like in five years.
Wilson painted a future where video games would be integrated into the world around you the same way music is now.
“Today… almost every device I own plays me music, and services like Spotify curate and cultivate and personalize that music for me, music permeates almost every aspect of my life,” said Wilson.
“It’s moved from being something I have to make a conscious decision to engage with, to something that really surrounds every aspect of my life.”
Video games will permeate our lives in the same manner as music has, argues Wilson, with the rise of internet-enabled devices allowing your physical activities to be linked directly to your gaming profile.
Effectively, the constant integration of Internet-enabled technology into our daily lives will result in us permanently interacting with gaming, even when performing other activities.
Wilson says gaming will evolve from the genre-based, standalone releases of today into one co-existing video game world overlaid with the physical.
“I think what we start to see is less about [what the game is] — is it a shooter, is it a sports game, is it open world or closed world, is it a linear story or a forked story, is it multiplayer — and more about this one, existing world where we all play a part,” says Wilson.
Technology and VR
The vast, integrated world outlined by Andrew Wilson seems to be an inevitable outcome to the constant improvement of technology.
Gaming is on the cutting-edge of entertainment technology, with virtual reality and constantly-improving hardware allowing us to constantly improve our experiences.
However, Wilson also says that the variety of Internet-enabled devices and differing consumer refresh rates mean that the change to a interlinked, integrated gaming platform needs to happen at a basic level of design.
“What I’ve got to do as a creator is try and keep you together with your friends inside experiences that you love, and the only way we can do that is at a core engine level,” says Wilson.
For further insight, check out The Verge’s full interview with Andrew Wilson.
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