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The iGaming industry is experiencing impressive growth, with a global market projections reaching $127 billion by 2027. A driving force behind this trend is web3 games, which offer enhanced gaming experiences through features such as in-game asset ownership, community-driven development, and greater transparency.
Unlike mobile games, which can be expensive and require multiple in-app purchases to unlock a viable gaming experience, web3 allows users to monetize their spending and gain a sense of ownership of the game. However, web3 games are still in their infancy and have some hurdles to overcome before capturing the mainstream imagination.
The growing popularity of web3 games
Between February 2023 and 2024, the web3 gaming sector received a total of more than $162 million distributed between initial and medium financing. Richer gaming experiences, combined with new revenue streams for developers through token sales, nft trading, and in-game assets, create a more sustainable and diversified business model in a decentralized and transparent environment. Web3 games provide innovative and creative opportunities for developers to experiment with new ideas, such as integrating DeFi and virtual reality and augmented reality experiences, and global game studios are taking note.
According to a recent report According to CoinGecko, 29 out of 40 of the world's largest video game companies are investing in web3 games, including Microsoft, Tencent, Sony and Nintendo. It includes investing directly in web3 gaming projects, actively participating in blockchain game development, and hiring for blockchain-related roles. Epic Games, a pioneer of eSports, is also joining the wave of web3 games with plans to nft-titles-for-web3/” target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow”>introduce at least 20 nft games to the Epic Games Store in 2024 alone.
Meet players where they are: Telegram
While opportunities abound in web3 gaming, it remains a niche segment. Game studios and developers must employ creative tactics to capitalize on existing user bases and engage them on a deeper level. Telegram-based games are a prime example of this, with the rapidly growing ecosystem of token-backed mini-apps tapping into the vast social network's 900+ million users and engaging them with innovative games, token rewards, and airdrops of digital assets. Within weeks of its launch during an airdrop for Notcoin (NOT) players in May this year, the NOT token crypto-games-helika” target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow”>reached a market capitalization of more than $2 billion.
Understanding the importance of meeting players where they are to attract a broader audience, Notcoin has partnered with us at Helika to establish an incubator for the next generation of Telegram games. Telegram Gaming Accelerator will help Telegram-based app developers better understand their users, cultivate exciting experiences, and attract newcomers with value-based incentives. As more and more traditional gamers realize the possibilities of web3 gaming, widespread adoption will occur gradually and then suddenly.
Scaling web3 games for the mass market
Despite the undeniable groundswell, web3 games must overcome additional challenges to scale and adopt into the mass market. For non-cryptocurrency users, the barriers to entry remain prohibitively high, with complexities like integrating web3 wallets and learning about self-custody best practices being out of reach for the average player. Many web3 games struggle to gain traction due to the high fees and high latency of the underlying blockchain architecture, and game developers suffer from a lack of quality analytics to gain visibility into their on-chain gaming economies.
As blockchain-based games race to overcome these obstacles, it is essential to abstract the complexities of interacting with blockchain and scale the technology to overcome delays and have reliable data partners. Web3 game developers need to understand which elements of their games work (and which don't) to cultivate a user experience that feels as fluid and compelling as what they're used to, with all the added benefits of Web3. This remains essential to incorporate the masses.
As users look for more immersive gaming experiences, web3 games are the key and global game studios are throwing their hats in the ring. With nearly a billion users worldwide, initiatives like the Telegram Gaming Accelerator mark a giant step toward unleashing mass adoption and igniting the game theory that will bring the next billion onto the ubiquitous web.
