As the game trends of 2012 show, this past year was the year of geek chic. Commonly perceived as basement lurkers and the socially awkward, members of the modern gaming community took nerdom to new places, avenging their geekier predecessors by making gaming cooler than ever.
Though there is a lot to be said for new games released in 2012, the most interesting fad found in gaming last year was the development of real-life gaming-inspired products. Everything from furniture, such as the retro game controller cushions modeled after the original Nintendo console, to fashion, like the Skyrim-inspired 'Dragonborn' photo series, showed a dash of geeky pride.
Rest assured, the more practical areas of gaming, such as video game technology, still showed promise in 2012. The Sensic 'SmartGoggles' left the crowd salivating at the possibility of fully immersible gaming at CES 2012, giving a hint at what the future of gaming could look like.
To find out what these microtrends mean for your company and general consumer behavior, check out our Games Trend Report.
- Gen Alpha
- Gen Z (primary audience)
- Millennial (primary audience)
- Gen X (primary audience)
