Google’s Moledina talks about Google Play’s future trends

At the GamesBeat Summit in California this week, Google’s Jamil Moledina spent some time talking about how the content available in Google’s Play Store may change by the year 2020. The changes will come about as Google examines historical data from the Play Store as part of their neverending quest for the next “blue ocean” for market expansion.

One of the big drivers of change that Moledina sees is what he calls “simplified play” where games and gameplay is more and more oriented toward mobile functionality. Although games will become more oriented toward use on smartphones and tablets, a big component will be the ability to play on smart TVs as well. Moledina sees smart TVs as a major contributor to shaping game ecosystems as they are used either for playing directly or as a second screen for gameplay.

As far as titles, Moledina says Google is also finding there is a surprising level of interest in translating older titles over to new platforms. He gives a couple examples like Goat Simulator and Limbo that have demonstrated the success developers can have with this strategy. He also pointed to classic games like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and NBA Jam that will be coming out soon. Strategy Analytics has projected there will be 2 billion devices capable of running games available through the Play Store by 2018, so attracting even a small portion of users can payoff financially for developers.

Another area where Moledina expects to see more growth and expansion over the next five years will be with curated collections and brand support for multiple titles instead of individual games. On the store-front, users can expect to see more collections like the recent May the 4th Star Wars selections.

Moledina briefly touched on virtual reality and how that might impact the market of the future. Google has seen over 500,000 Google Cardboard deployments since December, so interest is definitely present for the more immersive experience virtual reality can offer.

source: VentureBeat

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