![]() ![]() They’re persistent when a user logs off, they continue to exist. For example, a person may share an identity across different games or across the virtual and real-world environments. They’re immersive, but overlap with the physical world. These virtual worlds have certain characteristics that make them well suited to become platforms for new experiences. Social experiences in game spaces are laying the foundation for other online activities, such as concerts, sporting events, work, and school. Live virtual events, e-sports, and socializing are already part of the mix other media experiences and commerce will follow. Consumers are hungry for more immersive virtual environments, giving technology and media companies an opportunity to hold players’ engagement across various experiences. The gaming experiences that will revolutionize the industry will do so through innovative game-play and monetization models. Successful virtual worlds will need to be fun, social, and well designed. ![]() Impressive graphics won’t be the key differentiator. They’re also becoming a key development platform for other entertainment experiences, and improvements in 3-D graphics may transfer to applications in other industries such as healthcare and construction, potentially opening new revenue streams.Īs these new development tools make it possible for more developers to provide realistic virtual worlds, they level the playing field. One indicator: More Meta Quest 2 headsets have been sold than Xbox Series X and S combined.Īdvancements in game engines (principally Unity and Epic Games’ Unreal) are making it easier to develop higher-fidelity games, inviting more developers into the mix. Virtual and augmented reality are beginning to deliver experiences that live up to the hype and at more competitive prices. Genshin Impact from miHoYo is one of the most recent games to take advantage of this development. Increased processing power and reduced latency, due partly to greater 5G connectivity, enable developers to create larger virtual worlds that run on any device. ![]() New technology isn’t just making games faster and more visually appealing, it’s changing the nature of games. Younger gamers spend more time and money on games than older players do, and that has implications for the industry. Just as we’ve seen with video streaming companies over the past few years, where outsized investment generated a wave of content, this is the moment for game companies to bet big and move to the next level. How should game developers and publishers prepare to make the most of this opportunity? Since 2019, over $240 billion in investment has poured into the industry from venture capital, private equity, merger-and-acquisition (M&A) plays by technology and media giants, and robust investment by traditional gaming companies. However, large, virtual world games, played by fewer but more engaged gamers over multiple platforms, are likely to contribute more to the industry’s profits, given the monetization opportunities through microtransactions within games, and through other media experiences, virtual events, and commerce. The ubiquity of mobile phones means that even free-to-play casual games will draw huge numbers and add significant revenue to the markets. There’s room for success across the spectrum, from high-resolution immersive games (such as Red Dead Redemption 2 and Horizon Forbidden West) to low-cost, indie, and pixel-art games (like Stardew Valley and Among Us).
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