Metaverse and Gaming: Beneficial Business Relationship

Many analysts believe that metaverse gaming will revolutionize the game design, economics, and content of video games. As a result, games services that are familiar today will turn into platform games designed to socialize users and integrate brands into them. Today, we will look at all of the benefits and opportunities the metaverse can offer gamers and what metaverse games can offer to both users and the companies that created them. 

Why is the Metaverse so Important to the Gaming Industry?

The development of the metaverse signals a shift from Games-as-a-service to Games-as-a-platform. Over the past decade, gaming has evolved into a complex experience that includes playing, watching content, and interacting with other users. In this context, the metaverse is the next step towards creating a new non-gaming experience.

Games evolve into platforms where different users and individual companies can create and benefit from content outside the core product. That is why publishers today host virtual concerts and fashion shows in their projects, integrate third-party IPs into them, and enter into partnerships with other brands. At the same time, players use platform games as a place to express themselves. They create their own projects, interact with other users and organize joint events.

At the heart of any metaverse is the game itself. However, in this case, it turns into a cross-media project, overgrown with additional elements:

• Service games (seasons, battle passes, DLC, subscriptions);
• Competitive gaming (e-sports, online events, tournaments);
• Community games (streams, bloggers, forum users, mod creators, etc.);
• Franchise games (films, TV series, merchandise, and other products for the main game);
• Platform games (non-gaming experience, social platforms, UGC games).

A metaverse development company can help you take advantage of everything the metaverse offers and provide your users with unforgettable experiences. 

How Will the Metaverse Change Future Games?

The metaverse will change the future of gaming in many different ways: 

• Game design – In addition to the familiar single-player and online modes, a metaverse game will offer users opportunities for creative and social interaction outside of core gameplay.
• Content – The community plays an essential role in the development of the metaverse. Therefore, in such projects, more and more elements tied to artificial intelligence will simplify the creation of UGC content within games.
• Business models – The gaming metaverse will open up new economic opportunities for businesses and users. These include virtual events, NFTs, and concepts such as play-to-earn and play-to-collect.
• Marketing – The metaverse will drive the growth of native ad integrations in games. Companies will be able to integrate their brands into them, attract influencers and promote their own IPs using platform games.

What are Some of the Best Metaverse Games?

Epic games and the metaverse have become synonymous with each other. Right now, they are working on building connected social experiences in Fortnite, Rocket League, and Fall Guys with some of the leading gaming technologies. In addition to the metaverse Epic games, there are also the Metaverse Roblox games. They have interesting games such as Jailbreak, Murder Mystery 2, and Adopt Me! 

If you are looking to play a game that mimics real life, we recommend trying out Decentraland. This is a new metaverse game that is owned completely by its owners, who can buy and sell digital real estate, build, rent, and advertise on it, and do much more, just like in the real world. If you are looking to connect with friends through a metaverse system game, consider looking at something like Yield Guild Games (YGG). This game makes it possible for a group of players to participate in blockchain games remotely. The benefit is not being required to be at the same place like in the old days. They can compete for prizes, cash/tokens, and in-game assets.

You can think of YGG as the Steam (from Valve) of blockchain gaming, where you can play different games like The Sandbox, Axie Infinity, and more.

What Can the Metaverse Offer Game Creators? 

First of all, we need to understand that gaming and the metaverse go hand-in-hand. Gamers are happy to invest in virtual events, skins, avatars, and so on. In the second quarter of 2021, virtual currency purchases in Roblox rose 161% to $652.3 million. People are starting to develop a deeper connection with the digital world via things like cryptocurrencies, NFTs, avatars, and immersive gaming experiences. As people further develop their digital identity, they will be looking for platforms that will provide a home for the community. 

The metaverse can provide gamers with unique experiences, allowing companies to stand out from their competitors. If we look at what some of the leaders in metaverse gaming are doing, they are allowing the users to log into one game, and in it, you can get many different experiences, for which they would have had to use many other games before. Variety is good, but when you have one big title that includes a lot of games, it simplifies a lot of things. There are developed social opportunities, a single interface, the ability to play with friends in different modes. There is no binding to specific hardware. In theory, it is cross-platform between games.

What are the Challenges in Creating Metaverse Games? 

When we compare metaverse vs video games, we see several factors involved in creating the metaverse that did not exist in traditional video games. For example, you need to make the backbone infrastructure and tools required, spanning connectivity, computing, and the user interface and virtual environment. The 3D environment and geospatial mapping form the Extended Reality fabric, representing the combination of mixed, augmented, and virtual reality. Most of the required technologies to create this ecosystem exist, while others are still work-in-progress. On top of these, many services will evolve to build out the content (the creator economy), market it (commerce), and make it discoverable (search).

As the technological foundations are still evolving, no agreed standards for inter-operability across the multiple metaverses have been set. This is, in our view, a critical point, as consumers expect to seamlessly move and share virtual assets and experiences across various platforms. Developers expect to choose the relevant cross-platform tools freely. Looking ahead, we anticipate that many large-scale platforms will need to adjust their business models to operate within an inter-operable metaverse. Privacy and data security will also be crucial, given the large quantity of potentially sensitive personal information involved. Other concerns revolve around mental health if virtual worlds lead users to shy away from real-world responsibilities and interactions.

You also have to factor in things like data security. Even though companies and organizations keep revolutionizing their IT security systems, data privacy and security has been a long-running concern for users of any online environment. Submerging into the Metaverse will require evolving security methods to a completely new level, being on par with the ever so expanding space of the Metaverse. This will require building new methods of personal data and privacy protection that will be able to ensure the safety of one’s identity and possessions in the virtual world. With that being said, personal verification might come to the point where users will have to provide more personal data than what is expected today to identify themselves and ensure the security system works efficiently, keeping personal data safe.

Is Your Gaming Company Ready for the Metaverse? 

While the metaverse concept is still in its early stages, it’s a good idea to get starters on your plans to develop games for the metaverse. If you need any assistance, the best thing to do would be to consult with a metaverse development company, like Skywell Software. We have extensive experience developing AR and VR products for some of the world’s leading brands and can make the most imaginative ideas come to life. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you.