If nothing else, major companies in Silicon Valley really want us to embrace a new landscape of existence: the virtual one. At the forefront of trying to drive us towards a digital world are Meta and its plans for creating its own Metaverse. Key to getting here will, of course, be their Quest VR headsets, while several other companies are also developing sci-fi-esque hardware to further the embrace of mixed and augmented reality.
VR, AR, and MR combine to make the extended reality (XR) market, and while these technologies are a bit out there or unnecessary for many, the buzz around these digitally-enhanced realities is driving customer choices. Clearly catching this trend at the right time, iGaming game developers Evolution has adapted its products to create a near-XR experience in the form of its new roulette games.
First-Person Gaming Without the Extra Hardware
Hardware often proves to be the stumbling block for many would-be adopters of extended reality goods, but online roulette at Paddy’s has sought to find the middle ground of both a first-person experience within a virtual space, but without the hardware. First-Person Roulette and the new First-Person Lightning Roulette set you at a virtual table to play the classic and variant table game at your own pace.
During the game, you’ll get to pick where you put your chips down, see the numbers light up as the lightning strikes to trigger huge multipliers in the newer game, and watch the wheel spin. Between each phase, the camera moves around the table so that you remain immersed and watch the parts that matter. It gives the game a much more in-the-moment feel than other RNG online roulette games as it’s all experienced in first-person.
Having an experience through your own point of view in an environment that you can move around – making it feel larger and real – is the driving concept behind the rise of extended reality. In 2021, the MarketsAndMarkets’ extended reality report saw the market is worth $33 billion. By 2026, the same outlet sees it hitting $125 billion in value. The driving force will be experiencing these new realities in the first person.
More to Come From Evolution
Evolution began as a pioneer of live casino gaming, manipulating live streaming technology with other applications to enable people to play at a real studio via the internet in real time. Their quick success with live versions of classic table games allowed the company to invent new games for their client platforms, and even acquire beloved slots development studios NetEnt and Red Tiger. In 2023, Evolution’s plans involve releasing over 100 games.
The instant hits of First-Person Roulette and First-Person Lightning Roulette signal more first-person casino games in the near future, and perhaps even virtual reality compatibility if the hardware is deemed mainstream enough. From a tech point of view, Evolution has detailed that, at ICE London, it’ll be showcasing the new game Funky Time, which is powered by the “state-of-the-art DigiWheel.”
As a live casino game, and the biggest from the company since it released Crazy Time, a lot of work has gone into making Funky Time stand out as its own new experience. So, the DigiWheel has been made to randomly generate multipliers for each round as well as multiply numbers, letters, and bonus game wins. Like with its First-Person series, Funky Time has the makings of another boundary-pushing release for online casinos.
Catching onto the trend of extended reality offerings, First-Person games at the online casino look like the ideal bridge between regular and totally immersive reality play. The success of these games bodes well for the future adoption of XR tech, especially in iGaming.
