Metaverse & Web3: Empty Illusions?
Let’s face it; to the outside observer, the whole shooting match about the Metaverse and Web3 games can easily seem like an empty delusion and dystopian futurism that will never come to pass. Is that really surprising?
It must surely be exhausting for an outside viewer to witness such a frenetic experience due to the vast range of emotions bubbling within the investor and crypto enthusiast communities about the Metaverse and Web3 concepts.
Add to that the incredible volatility and unpredictable nature of the crypto market, government interference, and brutal irregularities in the blockchain space, and it becomes obvious how this blockchain chaos can quickly scare off anyone with a faint heart.
Metaverse Chaos Needs Visionary Leaders
However, building something from a seemingly chaotic space requires determined leaders to roll with the punches until we all reach the distant destination of a fully functional Metaverse. The journey toward making this dream a reality will take time, but the wheels have already started turning.
Who Is Developing The Metaverse?
While it might surprise some, Metaverse Web3 Game Engineers mainly come from the traditional video gaming industry where they have been extensively involved in building virtual worlds for 2D and 3D games.
Therefore, it is not without reason that the Gaming Industry is the first to be at the Metaverse Web3 Gaming forefront, continuing its already started mission of building virtual reality worlds.
Gaming Industry Sees Metaverse Opportunity
The advent of blockchain technology has opened the doors for new monetization models, namely Play To Earn (P2E), which has caused a radical shift in how video games are monetized.
Moreover, the traditional video gaming industry is undergoing a significant transformation influenced by Play To Earn blockchain-based games.
Seeing such an opportunity, gaming companies are turning their attention toward building new Metaverse & Web3 horizons.
Video Gaming Industry Size
Video Games Industry is an impressively massive, expansive, and prominent business in which the Marketing segment plays a significant, if not crucial, role that holds together the development structure of the industry and attracts financial resources and mainstream attention.
Many people do not realize that gaming has overtaken the music and movie industry in size. It’s a little-known fact that more than 25% of the world’s population plays video games.
It is undoubtedly one of the reasons why predominately tech companies pour enormous capital into the gaming industry, fueling its growth.
The gaming industry is now worth close to $200 billion, and by 2026, that figure is expected to reach more than $300 billion.
Will Nintendo Make Metaverse Push?
As former Nintendo President Reggie Fils-Aimé points out, the gaming industry steadily integrates metaverse elements into its products.
Because of their experience in building interactive and persistent worlds, Fils-Aimé believes established gaming companies, such as Nintendo, are better positioned to lead the race for the Metaverse than other companies.
Ex-Nintendo COO Reggie Fils-Aimé Says Gaming Companies Will Rule the Metaverse
The gaming industry is considered the leader in the Metaverse arena in short- to mid-term, and some believe it will dominate the space in the future.
Former executive and president of Nintendo of America from 2006 to 2019, Reggie Fils-Aimé believes that Nintendo and Sony are better positioned to lead this metaverse race because of their experience in designing and building immersive experiences for video games.
About metaverse and gaming companies, Fils-Aimé told Yahoo Finance:
“I do believe it’s going to be led by gaming companies and I do believe that — if delivered in a way that’s fun, that’s compelling — it’s an experience that people will want to have.”
According to Fils-Aimé, metaverse elements like interactive digital worlds and avatars are already present in a number of gaming experiences today, so gamers will not experience a major change when they move from traditional to metaverse gaming.
Metaverse Crypto Gaming
It has been estimated that the Metaverse could generate 13 billion dollars in revenues and attract more than five billion users. Therefore, gaming companies are rushing to get into this new market as soon as possible.
Despite the time that’ll take for many to catch up, this new Metaverse Crypto Gaming and Web3 trend could offer the most revolutionized ways of transforming the Video Games Industry.
While there will always be some skeptics, Crypto Gaming, Metaverse and Web3 are getting a lot of attention from frontrunners in the traditional video game sector due to rapid technological advances in Web3 and the burgeoning popularity of Blockchain technology.
Sony Metaverse Mission
Many giant corporations, such as Meta, Microsoft, and Tesla, have taken advantage of the possibilities offered by Virtual Reality and are now competing to gain Digital Dominance in the Metaverse.
Sony has recently also joined the ranks of reputable gaming companies that have had a considerable impact on the digital industry over the past few decades, accelerating the race for the Metaverse.
Sony invested $1 billion in Epic Games
Epic Games, the company behind Fortnite and Unreal Engine 5, received Sony’s $1 billion investment during a recent fundraising round.
Crypto Gaming Market Opportunity
Interestingly, the traditional video gaming industry ended up making around $200 billion in 2021, as opposed to the $3 billion Play to Earn games generated in the same period.
A more modest revenue generated by Play To Earn blockchain Web3 games in 2021 might be one of the reasons to be skeptical of their potential, and the same logic explains why it is so easy to overlook its enormous potential.
Metaverse market value is forecast to surpass $800 billion by 2024, possibly resulting in a massive growth in crypto gaming investment and market growth.
Crypto Gaming Is Growing
As blockchain technology has rapidly grown over the past few years, blockchain gaming has emerged as an innovative and fast-growing aspect of gaming that is set to transform the gaming industry in the near future.
Considering that blockchain gaming has only been around for a few years, it shows a rapid growth rate. By 2026, the industry could be worth over $100 billion based on its exponential adoption.
Yat Siu Metaverse & Crypto Gaming Trend
Who is Yat Siu? Yat Siu is the Founder and CEO of the game company Outblaze and co-founder of Animoca and Animoca Brands.
“It’s about time that there is a little bit of a revolution that happens in games, just like we had with the French Revolution during The Renaissance.”
Hong Kong-based entrepreneur Yat Siu was born in Austria and studied at the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna. Both of his parents were musicians and urged Siu to pursue the same career, although he was more interested in technology and computers.
A stint working for Atari saw him relocate to the United States, but by the mid-90s, he had moved once again, this time to Hong Kong to set up the city-state’s first internet service provider business.
In 1998, he founded Outblaze, offering an early version of what would now be called cloud computing services, such as webmail and file and application hosting. However, following the dot-com bust, Outblaze found itself with some major competition in this field from companies like Google.
In 2011, Outblaze sprouted Animoca, making gaming apps for the emergent smartphone market. Five years later, Siu co-founded the spin-off Animoca Brands, which entered the blockchain gaming market in 2017 by signing an exclusive distribution deal for CryptoKitties in China.
A series of acquisitions and licensing deals has seen Animoca Brands become a major player in the blockchain gaming space, with involvement in games such as The Sandbox and F1 Delta Time.
PUBG & Solana Crypto Gaming
In an attempt to get ahead of the latest trend, quite a few well-known gaming studios are now jumping on the crypto gaming phenomenon.
One of them is Krafton, the South Korean gaming giant founded by billionaire Chang Byung-gyu, is expanding it crypto empire by partnering with blockchain startup Solana Labs to develop play-to-earn crypto games.
The company behind the popular PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) video game announced that it had signed a business agreement with Solana Labs to make blockchain games that allow players to earn NFTs (non-fungible tokens).
Solana Labs is the company that developed the Solana blockchain, which has recently risen to challenge the dominance of Ethereum as more and more developers are adopting it for decentralized finance projects. Its prominent backers include Sam Bankman-Fried, the billionaire founder of crypto exchange FTX.
Conclusion
Metaverse & Crypto Gaming are considered by many to be the black sheep of the crypto industry, and it’ll take some elbow grease to prove them wrong and get into skeptics’ good books. Nevertheless, more and more giant companies are setting their bets on Metaverse, Crypto Gaming, and Web3. The wheels are now set in motion; we’re on the journey to the beautiful unknown.
Disclaimer: The information provided on this page does not constitute investment advice, financial advice, trading advice, or any other sort of advice and it should not be treated as such. This content is the opinion of a third party, and this site does not recommend that any specific cryptocurrency should be bought, sold, or held, or that any crypto investment should be made. The Crypto market is high-risk, with high-risk and unproven projects. Readers should do their own research and consult a professional financial advisor before making any investment decisions.
