16 trends that will define the future of video games

From the rise of gamer parents to transparent game design, a step-by-step prediction of how games will be made over the next five years

Hundreds of game developers, publishers and analysts recently descended on Brighton for the annual Develop conference. There were controversial keynotes, there were talks about how to make money in a rapidly fragmenting marketplace, but there were also some interesting forward-looking sessions, concerned with where the games industry as a whole is heading - not so much in terms of game design (that's the domain of events like the Game Developers Conference and SXSW), more in the way the sector will operate as a business. Some of it is pretty weird.

Here, then, are the major trends that we picked up on, all of which could completely change the way games are made - and played - in the near future.