Will The Grid Format Become Dominant In The Slots Market When The Games Hit VR?
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The slots market has evolved massively in the online age, but its progression is by no means finished. With new technology emerging, developers who start trends look set to benefit greatly in the years ahead.
When slots first moved to an internet setting, the five-reel format replaced three reels to become the dominant strain of the game. When the much-loved online casino offering moves into virtual reality, it could bring about another chance on the reels. Indeed, it could be time for the up-and-coming grid format to become the most popular way of playing.
Grid games are growing in popularity
The five-by-three option is still the most dominant variant in the slots market, but there are other ideas emerging that threaten to take over. Grid slots have recently seen a huge increase in playing figures with titles like Wanted Dead or a Wild and Fire in the Hole. These titles use different combinations of reels and rows, but the key aspect is that they make a grid. The former is a five-by-five offering, while the latter has six reels and three rows which expand into a grid when players trigger the collapsing mine feature.
Games like this show how developers are starting to think outside of the box. The shackles have been removed and top studios now feel comfortable moving away from the herd and innovating in fresh ways. The online casino industry has made this possible. Thanks to the sheer mass of players, there’s always going to be an audience for a new format. This means that inventive offerings can trend easily and become globally recognised in no time. Recently, this happened with the revolutionary Megaways engine. Now, the same thing seems to be occurring with grid slots.
Uncertainty around VR evolution
Now is the perfect time for developers to test new ideas and see what players are open to, with the virtual reality revolution on the horizon. There’s a lot of speculation about how slots could evolve when VR becomes a mainstream household item, and it’s hard to predict because nobody knows how VR entertainment will look. Some studios have already toyed with VR slots, with NetEnt creating an option in which players play a giant set of reels within a fantasy world. In the game, Jack’s World, the slot used a grid design. This helped it to fill up the environment in front of the player.
The grid variant of slots could be an excellent option for titles that exist within their own universes. However, this may not be the only way that players take part in slots in VR. The other option could take inspiration from the book Ready Player One, in which old-school virtual game cabinets exist within a wider metaverse. In this scenario, players could walk around virtual casino floors and choose from slot games that resemble the titles of traditional casinos.
With grid slots currently rising in popularity, the game format could be well placed to become the number one way of playing when VR hits the mainstream. However, there’s still so much that is unknown about the new technology, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see a new branch of slots emerging as well.
