The Evolution of Multiplayer Gaming: From Couch Co-Op to Online Play

Gaming has become one of the most significant industries in the tech world today. It’s easy to see - just about every major tech company in the world has a gaming component, or at the very least, a subset of their operations that focuses solely on gaming.

The popularity of gaming has also meant that the term itself can be used interchangeably with different industries. For instance, you can easily look at the gambling space to see just how the term “gaming” has expanded. Today, platforms that facilitate sports betting - from the famous Bovada sports betting platform to Las Vegas sportsbooks and more - easily hang on to the “gaming” tag as a badge of legitimacy.

Nevertheless, fans of pure digital gaming can easily remember the days when we all used to gather with our friends to enjoy some of the biggest titles in the industry. Today, most of us who love to game prefer to do so via online channels.

Over the years, it has been interesting to see how the gaming space has quietly evolved. But, for people who might not remember how this evolution happened, it is worth going back in time to chart the course of the market.

A market as large as gaming has definitely come a long way. The video game segment of the global gaming industry alone is expected to hit revenues of $372 billion in 2023, while the market itself is expected to be worth over $500 billion by 2027.

If that alone doesn’t tell you that gaming is one of the industries of the future, then consider this - several of the world’s largest tech firms have already made investments toward improving the gaming landscape. Apple has its Apple Arcade, Sony has PlayStation, and Microsoft has Xbox. Other major firms have their gaming projects as well, showing that this industry is a huge cash cow.

The action of these companies - as well as their consumers - has led to a massive evolution in the market that we see today. But, how did we get from couch co-op games to eSports leagues and online gameplay?

Couch Co-Op: Everyone’s Welcome

The earliest iteration of video games that we all know are couch co-op games. These are the titles that you could play with your friends and family.

Everyone remembers how these games worked; you couldn’t play a couch co-op game on your own, and you’d need someone with you to move from one level to the other. Essentially, it was a case of the more, the merrier.

The benefit of co-op games was that they provided a way for people to enjoy games with their friends. They fostered a sense of community and togetherness that you barely see today. And, for their time, they definitely worked.

Console Gaming

In the late 90s and early 2000s, however, co-op games eventually gave way to consoles.

The vision behind consoles was clear - game developers wanted to create something that relied less on communal gameplay and focused more on the individual. This was the point where the first PlayStations and Xbox games eventually came to light. These games provided ways for players to enjoy their favorite titles, providing both communal play and individual action.

With consoles, you could easily pick up “Call Of Duty” or “Need For Speed” and play the game on your own if you were alone. Or, you could play with your friend if you guys were together thanks to multiplayer technology. So, these games were quite flexible overall.

Portable Games

As if the ability to enjoy games on your own was not great enough, developers came with portable gaming devices.

From the PlayStation Portable to the Nintendo DS and more, these gaming machines primarily functioned as ways for players to enjoy games on the go. Traveling between cities and need to feed your gaming addiction? You have a PSP or a DS to help you out.

These devices weren’t primarily meant to function as major gaming units. However, considering that they also could play music and handle other tasks, their versatility made them especially favorable.

The Online Shift

Before the pandemic hit, the gaming industry had been relatively stuck. More products and titles were being released, but game developers also needed something to truly move the needle.

The needed push eventually came as access to the internet became more democratized. More developers came up with games that could only be played online, moving the industry from a product-based model to a more subscription-based model.

“Fortnite,” “League of Legends,” and other role-playing games changed the narrative for gameplay. They also showed many people in the industry that they didn’t necessarily need consoles to enjoy games. And, their developers made a great deal of money in return.

The pandemic has now brought a new trend - game streaming. People apparently love watching expert gamers play and stream their actions online, and big tech companies are also paying premium money to fund game streaming companies. Now, it’s a case of watching to see what trend might be next.