The trend still goes towards HDR, since it’s not just an effect in games. Nearly any modern TV can decode HDR metadata and most streaming services support HDR. Of course, entry level TVs and monitors cannot take advantage of HDR as much but as better TVs get cheaper that’ll spread even more. My TV isn’t particularly amazing but the difference between HDR content and SDR content is clear. If I have a choice, I never watch the SDR version.
HDR isn’t just an effect like bloom. It’s a way of using the capabilities of modern TVs in a way SDR can’t. HDR is made for taking advantage of OLED, quantum dots, high contrast, local dimming, higher colour gamuts and/or the high brightness consumer screens reach nowadays.
So if you wanna bet, I‘d personally bet on HDR being more like the standard in 10 years because screen tech usually only gets better and HDR is the software/firmware implementation to take advantage of those hardware improvements.
Exactly. Even though there'll absolutely still be displays that won't really do HDR, they'll soon enough be able to handle that as input signal and then just map it down to their gamuts. Just like 6bit displays still take 8bit input etc. "HDR" will just become the standard colour format and displays will map it with varying degrees of accuracy. (Many already do this.)
Well considering pretty much every modern game engine supports HDR and HDR has been a standard feature in AAA games for at least a decade I seriously doubt they're going to drop it 10 years from now. The only way it gets removed is if something better comes along and makes HDR obsolete.
When I first saw HDR on an OLED monitor, it wasn’t everything I thought people were making it out to be but over time it really grew on me. DOOM Eternal, Horizon: Zero Dawn, and Cyberpunk 2077 have so much color, and the way the light pops makes it all just pure eye candy.