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‘Tens of millions’ of people to enter Web3 through games by 2024 — GameFi execs

adminDecember 18, 2023

Crypto market hype and the “commercial launch” of several highly anticipated blockchain games will likely bring “tens of millions” of gamers to Web3 by 2024, according to a Web3 gaming executive.

“2024 is a year of growth in terms of attracting people to Web3,” Yat Siu, co-founder of gaming and venture firm Animoca Brands, told Cointelegraph.

According to DappRadar data, over 1 million unique active wallets have played Web3 games every day over the past three months. But Siu believes there could be up to 100 million more next year.

“Many of the game titles scheduled for release were in alpha or beta stages in 2022 and 2023 and are now all scheduled for commercial release in 2024.”

The casual Web3 gaming space, including mobile games, is where Siu expects the most activity. He speculated that “tens of millions, maybe 100 million gamers” would come out of these less intensive games.

He also expects Asia to “lead the charge” because of its greater acceptance of GameFi technology and related non-fungible tokens (NFTs) than the United States. Siu added that cryptocurrency regulation in Asia is also “much more welcoming and open.”

Johnson Yeh, founder and CEO of gaming company Ambrus Studio, hopes Web3 games can really catch on and see mass adoption with the help of a bull market expected to begin in 2024.

“The biggest potential is in the free-to-play space where we sell skins,” he said, pointing to the free-to-play Counter-Strike series as a model, where skins sometimes sell for mid-$6.

“Skins are unique under smart contracts, allowing streamers, esports players, and celebrities to co-create and collect revenue from skins with their fandom,” Yeh said. .

Meanwhile, Sebastien Borget, co-founder of The Sandbox, told Cointelegraph that he expects user-generated content (UGC) to be an important topic in Web3 games in the coming year.

Borget said UGC has already grown on traditional gaming platforms such as Roblox and the Unreal Editor for Fortnite, the latter of which allows anyone to create assets and games within Epic Games’ flagship title.

“Decentralized platforms are particularly suited to empowering creators and rewarding their contributions through Web3 technology.”

Expect celebrities again on Web3

Despite the fact that many celebrities and brands came under fire for supporting cryptocurrency-related projects during the last bull market, Siu says this trend will continue, but not currently in the United States.

“If Americans think cryptocurrency is a scam, then the English-speaking world, so to speak, thinks it is a scam. But if you go to places like the Middle East or even France, Paris has been crazy about NFTs recently.”

He said celebrities will return in droves once legal clarity is achieved in the United States.

Ambrus Studio’s Yeh agreed, but said celebrities would be much more cautious about their endorsements, and more high-profile stars might not want to take the risk.

“Many celebrities have gotten behind these NFTs to make quick money,” he added. “I think in the next bull market, celebrities will have less influence, but they will still play a very important role.”

Borget added that many brands and celebrities are finding new ways to connect with their audiences through UGC-based entertainment.

“They see value in Web3 regardless of the market conditions,” he said.

Apple’s VR headset is a potential “game changer.”

Speaking about Metaverse, Yeh said the tech giant’s upcoming virtual reality headset, Apple Vision Pro, is “potentially a game changer” for virtual worlds and could see significant sales that could help drive down hardware costs.

“The more people adopt it, the more the cost will come down, which will overcome one of the biggest barriers for consumers to enter the space,” he said.

Meta is also making waves in the VR space this year with the launch of its new Quest 3 headset, but Yeh believes the company “doesn’t have an iconic brand image like Apple for people to pay a huge premium for.”

“Apple is probably one of the only players in the world that can bring about change at a scale sufficient to really bring down hardware costs.”

Apple says the headset will be available in early 2024 and will feature features common to competitors, including eye and hand tracking. Early demos promoted it more as a mixed reality device rather than a pure virtual reality headset.

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