Modern online slots players probably look back at the original hand-operated machines of old and put them in the same bracket as grandfather clocks and VHS. They barely resemble the titles that exist today, and don’t look much fun compared to what’s on offer online.
The funny thing is, however, that when Charles Fey first released the Liberty Bell back in the early 20th Century, it was seen as a revolutionary piece of equipment. Back then, this was a state-of-the-art product that took the USA by storm. That suggests that today’s state-of-the-art games may one day be viewed in the same way by future players.
Modern Slots Are More Advanced Than Anyone Could Have Envisioned
If an early slot player from a dusty USA saloon stepped into a time machine and was transported to 2023, they wouldn’t recognize the evolved version of the game they’d previously been playing. Today’s slot games for real money are completely digitalized and have countless themes and features. Titles like Shrine of Anubis Gold Hit and Black Gold 2 Megaways come with special mechanics that have only recently been invented. The only similarities between these titles and the old games is that they involve spinning reels and players win when they match symbols.
When you look back at the history of slot games, it’s possible to pinpoint the groundbreaking moments that led to the games that exist today. One of them was when the games went electric in the 1960s. Another moment was when the lever was replaced by the button in the 1970s. The biggest revelation for reel spinners was the internet, which led to exponential progression. With new technology on the horizon, there could soon be more massive changes coming to slot games.
Future Tech Will Offer Entertainment Experiences People Can’t Yet Imagine
In the same way that Fey wouldn’t have been able to envisage how his slot games would turn out a century later, today’s developers have no idea about the market of 2123. However, it is possible to speculate about what could happen to slot games over the next few years and then imagine how they could progress from there.
Most experts in the tech industry believe that virtual reality will become the world’s leading technology by 2030. This is why many of the biggest companies on the planet including Meta and Apple are investing heavily in it. Mark Zuckerberg believes that more than one billion people will be in the metaverse by the end of the decade, and at this point, there will be a rise in VR entertainment experiences.
The online casino industry always adapts to technological changes, and it will most certainly change when Web3 becomes mainstream. However, it’s hard to know how slot games will be represented in this situation. The games of today are generally played on smartphones, but these devices may not exist within VR worlds. Instead, slot games could become fantasy metaverses themselves, and there may be an influx of fresh ways to enjoy the games.
Just as the slot machines that started it all are now viewed as items that should be in museums, today’s games will one day be seen as antiques. If history has taught us everything, it’s that slots always move with the times. When new tech emerges, developers will innovate and align with what’s hot in the mainstream.
