Many game developers at China Digital Entertainment Expo and Conference (ChinaJoy 2011) in Shanghai agree future games will head towards casual games.

"Retail game in Europe is dead," said Ivan Fernandez Lobo, director of Gamelab Conference, a Spanish games association based in Madrid, "People don’t want to buy DVDs any more."

According to Lobo, European companies are investing a lot of money in transitioning to online. With business models like free2play, games have become services.

"The gaming industry is going through a revolution," said Pan Enlin, chief executive with Hangzhou-based Bianfeng.com.

On one hand, traditional games such as consle games like Wii and massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) will still play an important role. But as the consumption habits of users change, more and more developers are focusing on casual games that can finish within five minutes on such platforms as mobile phones and handheld gadgets as iPad. Such popular casual games like Fruit Ninja and Angry Birds are perfect for people traveling on the subway or waiting for a bus.

According to a marketing representative with San Francisco-based Unity, another development is for creating games and interactive 3D for training simulations and medical and architectural visualizations on the web, iOS, Android, consoles and beyond.

"The competition of future games in essence is the competition of technology and how much fun a user can get from the game," said Pan.