‘Tens of millions’ to enter Web3 in gaming by 2024 – GameFi execs
Crypto market hype and the “commercial release” of several highly anticipated blockchain games in 2018. According to Web3 gaming execs, “tens of millions” of gamers will be on board to Web3 by 2024.
“2024 is a breakthrough year in terms of bringing people to Web3,” said Yat Siu, co-founder of gaming and venture firm Animoka Brands, in an interview with Cointelegraph.
Over the past three months, around 1 million – or more – unique active wallets have played Web3 games every day, Dapradar data shows. However, Siu believes that there may be up to 100 million more next year.
Many of the upcoming game titles were in alpha or beta stages in 2022 and 2023, and now they are all coming to the market in 2024.
The casual Web3 gaming space — including mobile games — is where Siu expects to see the most activity. He estimated that “tens of millions, maybe 100 million players” would come through such less-fortified games.
He also expects Asia to “lead the charge” with greater adoption of GameFi technology and non-correlated tokens (NFTs) than the United States. Siu added that Asia's crypto regulations are “very welcoming and open.”
Johnson Yeh, founder and CEO of Ambros Studios, hopes the Web3 game “can take off big with the help of the bull market and have massive adoption,” which is expected to launch in 2024.
“The biggest potential in the free-to-play space is selling skins,” he says, citing the free-to-play Counter-Strike series as a model, where skins sometimes sell for six mid-figures.
“The skins are on a smart contract, they're guaranteed exclusive, and it allows the streams, it allows e-sports players, it allows celebrities to collaborate and bring skin revenue to the fandom,” Ye said. .
Brief history of the game:
A) If you get blocked by Counter Strike, you will lose all your skins
b) If you get banned in a web 3 game, the idea is that you still have access to your skin and can resell it to a third party marketplace.
Is “A” really the future of gaming you all want? https://t.co/kSB9U7qMbS
— ‘Stache (@CryptoStache) December 5, 2023
Meanwhile, Sandbox founder Sebastien Bourget told Cointelegraph that he expects user-generated content (UGC) to be a big theme in Web3 games next year.
Borget said UGC has grown on traditional gaming platforms like Roblox and Unreal Editor for Fortnite, the latter of which allows anyone to create assets and games within Epic Games' flagship title.
“Decentralized platforms are specifically designed to encourage and reward innovators for their contributions to Web3 technology.”
Expect popularity in Web3, again
While many celebrities and brands were fired up in support of crypto-related projects during the last bull market, Siu says the trend will continue, just not in the US.
“If Americans think crypto is a scam, the English-speaking world thinks it's a scam, so to speak. But when you go to the Middle East or even places like France – Paris soon NFT feels crazy.
Once there is legal clarity in America, he says, celebrities will return in droves.
Those dogs. On the sandbox. My first 10,000 likes hit 2/22/22. Get ready. Check it out @TheSnoopAvatars #twotwotwentytwo pic.twitter.com/zbad8YDrKZ
— Snoop Dogg (@SnoopDogg) February 16, 2022
Yeh of Ambrose's studio agreed, but said that celebrities are very careful with their comments and that many famous stars don't want to take the risk.
“Lots of celebrities were standing behind these NFTs to make quick money,” he added. “In this next bull market, I think the power of celebrity will diminish, but it will still play a very, very prominent role.”
Bourget added that many brands and celebrities are looking for new ways to engage with their audience through UGC-based entertainment.
“Web3 will see that value regardless of market conditions,” he said.
Apple's VR headset is a “game changer.”
Speaking at Metaverse, Ye said Apple Vision Pro — the tech giant's upcoming virtual reality headset — could see significant sales volumes that would help drive down hardware costs, saying it would “probably be a game changer” for virtual worlds.
“The more people there are, the lower the price, which overcomes one of the biggest barriers to entry for consumers in the space,” he said.
@Apple Vision Pro For those who say it won't work because it's $3500: I'm on five research projects that have budgeted to buy nine on day one.
$3500 is nothing for research and the tool set it offers is very attractive. #AVP #VR
— Roy D. Magnuson (@roydmagnuson) December 13, 2023
While Meta is making waves in the VR space this year with the release of its new Quest 3 headset, Yeh thinks the company “doesn't have the same visual brand image as Apple to get people to pay a big premium.”
“Apple is probably one of the players in the entire world that can move the needle enough to keep hardware prices down.”
Apple headphones It says it will ship in early 2024 and has features common to its competitors, including eye and hand tracking. Early demos saw it as a mixed-reality device rather than a pure virtual-reality headset.
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