When looking at the targets of various online casino developers and operators over the next year, it is clear that there is a heavy emphasis on improving live casino. Industry giant NetEnt recently launched the NetEnt Branded Casino, which aims to give a more integrated feel to live casino. Casino operators have clearly been expanding their libraries and the variety of live games that they offer as well. All of these moves suggest a shift towards a more immersive live casino experience in the near future.
Live Casino Has Gone Way Beyond Roulette and Blackjack
In the early days of live casino, developers put most of their focus into recreating the most popular table games for players in their homes. It should come as no surprise that the earliest games to get the live streaming treatment were the classics, roulette and blackjack. The idea was to bring the real-world casino atmosphere to players in their own homes, including interaction with dealers and the sights and sounds of the gambling house floor. This has been extremely popular, and now most of the big online casinos have live offerings.
As live streaming has improved, operators are now offering as much variety as possible with the live games. For example, the live casino on LeoVegas.com has 43 options. These games have gone way beyond the traditional casino titles, and there are now offerings such as Monopoly, Teen Patti, and Dream Catcher. By having such a diverse range, it should help LeoVegas to attract a much wider group of players than before. It is also helping the site gear up for a future which may see live streaming make the switch to virtual reality.
Gearing up for a Switch to Virtual Reality?
Live streaming has always been used as a way to make online casinos more immersive, and technological developments will most certainly be used to enhance that. Many people are speculating that the next logical step for this type of gaming is for it to be presented in virtual reality. This will help bring the player even closer to the action, and make them feel as if they are there at the table themselves.
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Microgaming has already created VR Roulette, and the game has attracted a lot of interest in the iGaming community. VR has not yet gone mainstream, but if it booms in 2023 as predicted by Forbes.com, games like this will be ready to hit the market. The game could pave the way for VR options for other table classics, which could be offered on sites in a library format similar to how the live casino games are presented now. But in the future, it wouldn’t be surprising to see fully integrated online casinos in which players can walk around and explore. This would be the ultimate immersive experience.
If developers somehow manage to merge live streaming with VR, the industry is heading in an incredibly exciting direction. This will be complete immersion for players, and there will be no limit to what online casinos can offer.
