Online gaming is more popular today than ever before. Standalone “offline” games are no longer cool, and live action is where it’s at. Even more pronounced is the shifting of the gaming landscape to mobile. In 2017, tablet and mobile gaming grew to $46.1 billion to capture 42% of the gaming market. By 2020 that number is expected to cross 50%. And much of that gaming happens online.
Here are some of the best online gaming platforms of 2018 that are are growing bigger and better each year.
Hosted Live Streaming Platforms
In this category, Raptr has been garnering a lot of attention of late, but as of last year the service underwent a planned shutdown after AMD dropped support. There are also others like Microsoft Beam, now called Mixer, as well as the flag-bearers of the industry: Amazon’s Twitch and Valve’s Steam. Some of these platforms also offer DLC, or downloadable content, but all of them offer video game streaming of the highest quality, pushing the boundaries of screen resolution and performance with advanced cloud data center hardware and blazing fast user experiences.
Online Gambling Platforms
There are tons of online gambling platforms for you to pick from, but we recommend that you carefully review each site for security and privacy policies before you join. Fortunately, there are aggregator sites like BettingTop10.com that curate links to the best online sports betting sites that are secure and have robust privacy policies. You’ll also see reviews for these online gaming platforms so you can pick and choose the right one for you based on other people’s experiences.
Live Mobile Gaming Platforms
Most online gaming platforms offer mobile as an option, usually through an app that you can find on Apple’s App Store or Google Play Store depending on what type of device you have. But there are also live game options that are purely mobile or are best played on a mobile device. You’ll find a ton of games in this genre, such as Pokemon GO. Some of these games use a lot of data, so make sure you have an unlimited connection or are signed into a Wi-Fi hotspot if you’re on a limited plan.
VR and AR Gaming Platforms
This is an emerging genre of online gaming that leverages new technologies in alternate reality hardware and software. Now that virtual reality and augmented reality hardware is becoming more affordable, the body of gaming content is growing alongside it. One of the better-known AR platforms is Google Daydream, but there are also other standalone VR and AR online games that are worth looking into like Minecraft VR.
As you can see, the best online gaming platforms for 2018 have a lot to offer for every kind of user preference. Whether you like to gamble, play massive multiplayer online games or get into some serious virtual and augmented reality, there’s a platform waiting for you.
