by Contributing Author
The concept of home entertainment is constantly evolving. Back in the 1980s and 90s, spending too much time in the home was considered a bad thing. People were encouraged to get out and socialize—but the introduction of things like VHS and gaming consoles brought Hollywood-caliber entertainment straight into peoples’ living rooms.
Today, home entertainment is all about instant access and, in most cases, streaming content. The advent of social media has also led to a whole new branch of entertainment, which is focused on scrolling through a feed or curating your own. In fact, this touches on one of the key elements of modern home entertainment: the ability to self-determine.
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Today, the average consumer is much more in charge of their own entertainment experience. They don’t wait for songs to play on the radio or for their favorite show to come on. In some cases, they can even travel virtually far from the bounds of their homes—and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Gaming Goes Global
One key characteristic of modern entertainment is gaming. Even those who never played NES in the 90s and couldn’t be bothered with an Xbox in the 2000s now probably has a mobile title downloaded on their phone. Competitive titles like Garena Free Fire are taking off worldwide, while other smaller niches continue to perform well.
For example, casino games remain one of the most popular worldwide. Slots, in particular, are a favorite thanks to their diversity of themes and a shorter, more exciting format than other table games. Today, players can find their favorite titles on a mobile device or from a browser.
But it’s not just mobile devices that are helping gaming go global. Another growing sector is VR games. Though previous headsets were cumbersome, faulty, and pricey, today’s generation of VR headsets is much more accessible and reliable. This means home entertainment just got a lot more realistic.
Already, some people are using VR to travel around the world. Along with Google Arts & Culture’s roll out of virtual museums and landmark tours, projects from Oculus and Sony are bringing virtual tourism straight into living rooms around the world.
Launching a Creative Pursuit
Let’s cover another growing sector within home entertainment: the DIY fans. In the past, DIY covered home improvement projects, repairs, and more. The idea was for people to learn the skills to do it themselves… but that DIY spirit today can be applied to creative feats.
In fact, the availability of hosting platforms today means that just about anybody can start a vlog or stream to engage with others and build a following. Twitch and YouTube are popular for gamers, while Facebook and TikTok are geared more toward the general public.
Regardless of the platform, they allow people to craft and launch their own creative pursuits. For example, even though Twitch mostly focuses on gamers, there’s a growing number of fringe streams. Casino gaming is a growing interest for subscribers and hosts, along with non-gaming themes like knitting or even makeup tutorials.
The Frontiers of Technology
Both themes explored above, gaming and DIY creative projects, highlight the self-driven nature of home entertainment. But there’s another key factor at play: technology. From VR headsets to at-home makeup tutorial empires, the average consumer today relies on cutting-edge technology to do what they love.
In fact, the future of home entertainment will run parallel to technological advances. So, what’s the next big thing that will steer home entertainment? At the moment, some analysts and publications are looking at 6G networks to revolutionize how we entertain ourselves at home. And for some, particularly those covering gaming, that future may look wildly different.
Let’s cover one example called cloud gaming. Cloud gaming would allow a player to ‘stream’ a game straight to their device, just like a movie on Netflix. However, network connectivity simply doesn’t allow such high-level computing—at least, not yet. Going forward, the strength of that connection will direct the growth of at-home entertainment.
