When Charles Fey came up with the first-ever slot machine, the Liberty Bell, in 1895, he probably didn't envision how influential his basic gambling machine would be. But it gave birth to the most popular casino game genre of all time, which is now offered as one of the main selling points at online casinos. The games have endured for over a century because they are so adaptable and have incorporated new technology better than any other casino game. Now, the next stage for them is almost certainly virtual reality.
Some of the leading software developers in the online casino industry have been experimenting with VR in recent years, but it is yet to become a common feature of games. The reason for the forays is that the VR industry is expected to boom in the next few years, with some projections saying that VR market volume could reach 98.4 million sales by 2023. One of the first companies to get involved with the technology was Microgaming, who came up with VR Roulette. The game was well-received when it was displayed at ICE 2016, but since then there has been little news about its development.
It appears that NetEnt could be one of the pacesetters for bringing VR to the world of online slots. The Swedish company is one of the biggest slot providers in the world and has a massive influence on the industry as a whole. Up to now, NetEnt has worked on two VR offerings which have both been praised in the online casino community. These are Jack's World VR and Gonzo's Quest VR. In both titles, players find themselves in a virtual world facing a set of giant rolling reels.
Currently, one of the major selling points for online casinos when people are looking to play slots is to offer them free spins to use on the games. Canadian casino players tend to look for these bonuses, but are also swayed by the type of games on offer. At the moment, titles like Tomb Raider, Hitman, and Immortal Romance are big crowd-pleasers. In the coming years, there could be a shift in the way sites try to appeal to players. If VR does go mainstream, there might be a rise in the number of sites advertising that they offer VR games.
Online casinos are unlikely to roll out VR slots until they know that the technology will enjoy widespread use. There is still some uncertainty as to whether it will catch on, seeing as it didn't boom in 2016 when it was previously expected to. Therefore, it's hard to say when VR slots will be available to the general public.
There is no doubt that online slots will evolve again when new technology is released, and it seems fair to assume that VR slots will be the next step. If this doesn't come to pass and VR fails to go mainstream, developers may turn to augmented reality instead. Another stage of the evolution which has been touted in the past is for slots to incorporate elements of skill as well.