Micro-transactions voted most anticipated development - survey
Industry professionals also name the iPhone as the platform with the most potential
Micro-transactions and smartphones have been named as the top two most impactful areas of the games industry by professionals, according to a survey conducted by VentureBeat.
Approximately 160 members of the games industry took part in the survey, with 66 per cent of respondents voting micro-transactions as potentially having the most impact, while 61 per cent voted for smartphones.
User-generated content came in at 43 per cent, while advertising revenues and voice recognition came in at 21 per cent and 18 per cent respectively.
"The trends match closely to what is currently being funded by the venture capital community," commented Dean Takahashi, lead writer of digital media for VentureBeat.
The survey took place as part of VentureBeat's GamesBeat event, with the conference set to be staged tomorrow in San Francisco.
"The content of GamesBeat was designed to stimulate discussion and understanding of the current and future market trends and attendees will find each of the top trends on the agenda and under discussion both on stage and in the hallways," added Takahashi.
The survey also named the iPhone as the platform with the most potential, with 74 per cent casting their votes for Apple's device. Social networks were voted by 65 per cent, casual web-based platforms by 62 per cent and home consoles by 57 per cent.