Technology keeps moving like a runaway train. We’ve opened Pandora’s Box, and more innovations seem to be jumping out to meet us all the time – just consider how quickly AI became popular and turned into something everybody could discuss and have an opinion on. The AI explosion has mainly happened in 2023, but it will continue into 2024 and beyond, along with many of the other technological advances we’re exploring below.
New Currencies and Payment Methods
Some of us can remember when it was much harder to move money around, and Chip and PIN technology has only been around for 20 years. This is now considered old-fashioned by many, who are using more advanced modern methods to move money or even different currencies.
The casino industry is one where money is constantly being moved around in the form of deposits and withdrawals and a quick look at the trends in the industry also shows the rapid changes in the payments industry.
Gambling is thought to make up the majority of all cryptocurrency transactions in 2023, showing how Bitcoin and Crypto have intrinsically become linked with the casino industry. A leading gambling platform, Cafe Casino is largely focused on Bitcoin, supplementing other digital coins, such as Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Tether, providing players with a quick and easy way to move money around while playing casino games. Unlike traditional banking, crypto provides fast transactions that are secure and don’t rely on a middleman, which is essential in the gambling world. Transactions can also be anonymous and are generally considered more secure and transparent, making it convenient for users to deposit and withdraw their winnings.
Casinos and gambling sites are the most prominent example but payment for other entertainment forms can be made using Bitcoin, sometimes through partner organizations like Bitpay. Bitpay effectively performs an exchange service meaning that customers can pay in the way they want and organizations can receive the currency they want, entertainment brands include cinemas and even Microsoft’s Xbox store.
Streaming and Cloud Access
Netflix started its business in an era when people were still getting physical DVDs or even tapes to play their favorite films and gradually helped with the total reinvention of the way people watch digital media, people referring to this as Over the Top Media.
Internet connections are now quick enough to support HD or even UHD streaming to devices and people don’t need to download media to their devices to watch it. Netflix now makes a huge number of shows including Telugu releases and shows in many languages.
The music industry has been through the same evolution, with companies allowing customers to listen to almost the entire human history of recordings, Spotify now has more than 500 million users, which goes to show how massive the streaming industry is and how it has replaced a lot of physical methods of listening, though some are still popular.
Hot on the tail of video and music streaming is cloud access to gaming, and Xbox has been a real trailblazer in this field. Xbox Cloud Gaming is still in Beta, but already there are many games playable through the Xbox platform without ever having to download anything to your device or use a physical disc. Even huge games like Fortnite are available on this platform.
VR and AR
VR and AR may have been discussed for decades but in recent years they have become legitimate ways to play with some of the giants of technology making VR headsets.
Beat Saber was a viral VR game that shows some of the capacities of this tech, but it is likely that the tech will grow further as it is embraced by more types of media and some bigger-name releases make it to VR platforms like Oculus.
AR got a boost in profile when Pokemon Go was released, seeing one of the first clever methods of using Augmented Reality to add a different element to a game. The coming years promise exciting VR and AR releases.
AI
The hot topic of the moment in iGaming and beyond is AI, but how is artificial intelligence changing entertainment? Music, television, gaming, and other entertainment industries are all seeing impacts.
One high-profile example was the “new” Beatles release in 2023, which used AI technology to help isolate vocals from an old demo recorded by John Lennon before the surviving members of the band added to the song and turned it into a full release.
AI is already in use behind the scenes at some huge companies, and Netflix, Amazon, and other big names are using the technology to understand their audience better and recommend shows that the algorithms think they will enjoy.
AI also has the potential to change things like NPCs within games, which will become a lot more intelligent and feel more real in the coming years, especially in the biggest gaming releases.
Lots of speculation is out there regarding the future of AI in entertainment, and nobody knows exactly where things will go, but as an editing tool and a way to process large amounts of data, AI can already be handy.
