According to Web3 gaming executives, crypto market buzz and the “commercial release” of numerous highly anticipated blockchain games would certainly onboard “tens of millions” of gamers in 2024.
“2024 is a growth year in terms of bringing people on to Web3,” Yat Siu, co-founder of gaming and venture business Animoca Brands, told Cointelegraph in an interview.
According to DappRadar statistics, around 1 million — or more — unique active wallets have played Web3 games everyday in the previous three months. Siu, on the other hand, reckons there might be up to 100 million more next year.
“Many of the gaming titles that are about to be released were in alpha or beta stages in 2022 and 2023 and are now all coming out to commercial launch in 2024.”
Siu anticipates the most activity in the casual Web3 gaming area, which includes mobile games. He predicted that “tens of millions, if not 100 million, gamers” will be attracted to these less-demanding games.
He also anticipates that Asia will “lead the charge” because to its better acceptance of GameFi technology and related nonfungible tokens (NFTs) than the US. Asia’s cryptocurrency legislation are also “much more welcoming and open,” according to Siu.
Johnson Yeh, founder and CEO of Ambrus Studio, believes Web3 gaming “can really take off and have massive adoption with the help of the bull market,” which is set to begin in 2024.
“The biggest potential is in the free-to-play space, selling skins,” he added, citing the free-to-play Counter-Strike franchise as an example, where skins can sell for as much as $6,000.
“The skins are on a smart contract, they’re verifiably unique, and then it allows the streamers, it allows the e-sport players, it allows celebrities to co-create and bring the skin revenue together with the fandom,” Yeh explained.
A gaming short story:
A) If you get banned in Counter Strike you loose all your skins
B) If you get banned in a web3 game, the idea is you still have access to your skins and could resell them on a 3rd party marketplace.
Is "A" really the future of gaming you all want? https://t.co/kSB9U7qMbS
— 'Stache (@CryptoStache) December 5, 2023
Meanwhile, Sebastien Borget, co-founder of The Sandbox, told Cointelegraph that he expects user-generated content (UGC) to be a major trend in Web3 gaming next year.
Borget claims that UGC has already expanded on traditional gaming platforms like Roblox and the Unreal Editor for Fortnite, the latter of which allows anybody to build assets and games for Epic Games’ main title.
“Decentralised platforms are especially well placed to empower creators and reward them for their contributions through Web3 technology.”
Expect more celebrities on Web3.
Despite the fact that many celebrities and corporations were burnt for sponsoring crypto-related ventures during the previous bull market, Siu believes the trend will continue, but not in the United States for the time being.
“If Americans believe cryptocurrency is a scam, then the English-speaking Earth believes it is a scam.” But when you travel to the Middle East or even nations like France — Paris, for example, has recently gone NFT wild.”
He believes that if there is legal certainty in the United States, celebrities will return in droves.
Tha Doggies. On Tha Sandbox. My 1st ever 10,000 avatars droppin 2/22/22. Be ready. 👊🏿🔥🔥👊🏿👊🏿💪🏿🎤 checc it @TheSnoopAvatars #twotwotwentytwo pic.twitter.com/zbad8YDrKZ
— Snoop Dogg (@SnoopDogg) February 16, 2022
According to Ambrus Studio’s Yeh, celebrities will be considerably more cautious with their endorsements, and the more high-profile stars will not want to take the risk.
“A lot of celebrities stood behind these NFTs to earn a quick buck,” he went on to say. “I think the power of celebrity will decrease in this next bull market but will still play a very, very prominent role.”
Borget went on to say that many companies and celebrities are seeking for new methods to interact with their audiences through user-generated content (UGC).
“They see that value regardless of Web3 market conditions,” that’s what he stated.
Apple’s virtual reality headgear has the potential to be a “game changer.”
While speaking on the metaverse, Yeh stated that the Apple Vision Pro – the tech giant’s impending virtual reality headset — is “potentially a game changer” for virtual worlds, with high sales volumes helping to bring down hardware costs.
“The more people adopt, the more the cost will come down, which overcomes one of the largest hurdles for consumers to get into the space,” he went on to say.
For people who are claiming @Apple Vision Pro will fail because it is $3500: I am on five research projects who have budgeted to purchase nine on day one.
$3500 is nothing for research and the toolkit it offers is VERY appealing. #AVP #VR
— Roy D. Magnuson (@roydmagnuson) December 13, 2023
While Meta is making headlines in the VR industry this year with the release of its new Quest 3 headset, Yeh believes the business “doesn’t have the same iconic brand image as Apple for people to pay a huge premium.”
“Apple is probably one of the only players in the entire world that can move the needle with enough scale to really make hardware cost come down.”
Apple claims the headgear will be available in early 2024 and will include capabilities common to rivals, such as eye and hand tracking. Early demonstrations have positioned it as a mixed-reality gadget rather than a pure virtual-reality headset.