Gaming in the metaverse!
Gaming metaverses have become more popular than ever. This involves trending concepts like GameFi, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and Web3. Today, there are many first-generation projects, but the lack of realistic and immersive experiences is currently a bottleneck for the general acceptance of games in the metaverse. We will give you an overview of the exciting developments in the space of metaverse gaming — start-up and traditional — and show you where the journey might take us.
Have you ever wanted to be ready-player one yourself?
Metahero — the fascinating metaverse project and start-up aims to change this narrative — as a partner of Wolf Digital World (WDW) and Tenset, it brings to market 3D scanning and modeling technology that generates ultra-realistic 3D avatars and virtual items for in-game, VR, social media, and online fashion use cases.
As we discussed in our last article “Let`s wrap our heads around the metaverse”, the colonization of virtual worlds has just begun. With proper hardware such as VR headsets, AR glasses and haptic gloves, the only thing required is a point of access — a PC or mobile phone. Decentraland makes it possible to create your own avatar that reflects your real-world characteristics. With a few clicks you are able to visit a virtual museum and buy or sell your own NFTs which is stored on a blockchain. Items can be sold and purchased, meetings can be held virtually, and face-to-face, and virtual shows and events even allow for an entirely new level of online marketing.
But who actually uses Decentraland or other metaverse platforms to experience the virtual world, selling their newly minted NFTs in a brand-new virtual gallery, using AR glasses? Will spending time in the metaverse ever become a norm? Seems so far away from “reality”, doesn`t it?
In this article, we are going to explore the bridge between reality and the digital realm via a deep dive into the metaverse start-up Metahero — and round up with an overview of global corporate efforts shaping the infrastructure layer of the metaverse and the future of gaming.
The Metahero journey |Scan anything
The V3 metascanner — developed by Wolf Studio`s and Metahero — is a metaverse-dedicated photogrammetry device which has been trailed and tested commercially since 2017 by CD Projekt Red, Ferrari, Disney, Bit Studios, and various musicians and artists. In simple terms, the V3 metascanner scans your body and your micromovements in a literal “3D chamber”. These 3D chambers of Metahero are spherical-shaped chambers with the outer layer consisting of 20 columns armed with cameras, trigger systems, separate power supply, LED system and PC computers. With its 200 Sony A7RIVA cameras attached, they give a completely new dimension to the details of the resulting 3D model with realistic 16K texture.
Gaming industry| Metascanning
Globally, there are about 2.7B gamers. In 2020 they spent around $159B on games, a number estimated to grow to at least $200B by 2023. The market for virtual game items is estimated at $50B and many items are sold on third-party platforms.
In GameFi, your reward can come in various forms, such as cryptocurrencies or virtual land, weapons, and costumes. Play-to-earn blockchain games need to offer economic incentives to players to be sustainable and scaling. By completing tasks and progressing through many levels of the game, you can typically earn in-game items which are NFTs that can be traded on third-party NFT marketplaces. In other words, the play-to-earn (P2E) model allows players to have full control over their “assets” in the GameFi ecosystem while also offering them an opportunity to make money. In P2E games such as Axie Infinity, gamers can use their NFT pets to earn SLP tokens by completing daily quests and battling other players in the Axie ecosystem. Also, additional AXS rewards can be earned if a certain PvP rank is achieved. Sounds pretty fun and financially rewarding. But how about we upgrade the game to a totally different level in terms of in-game experience?
This is where Metahero and photogrammetry come into play. Have you ever wanted to play yourself in a game? Everyone has their own preferences when it comes to picking and playing an in-game avatar, maybe in a first-shooter game or an open world game such as GTA, No Man`s Sky, or Minecraft. Now imagine you are playing yourself in your favourite game by placing an Ultra HD 3D metascanned avatar of yourself in the metaverse. Your digital image could be used by game producers for certain chapters of a particular game. You could interact with your friends in a game with no physical limitations or risks and reap your rewards by completing a task with them.
In-game character creation for Cyberpunk 2077, various types of music videos, and scanning artwork are some of the major use cases for so-called “metascanning” — and we believe it is the gateway to a hyper-realistic metaverse and gaming experience. Metascanning will become an everyday part of the metaverse and will engage and connect gamers, artists, and entrepreneurs.
Metaverse Gaming | Traditional Companies
Not only new metaverse start-ups are experimenting with gaming features, traditional IT and Gaming companies are doing so as well. For traditional gaming companies, the features of NFTs and new social connectivity are the ones that can bring the customer experience to a new level. Let’s look at examples of how gaming companies are already trying to develop more social and even more interactive games. Microsoft, Meta, Electronic Arts, Epic Games and Ubisoft are some of the established companies rushing to offer digital products, NFTs, blockchain-based games and metaverses.
Metaverse Gaming | Keys to success
Before we look at examples in this area, we should understand what the biggest motivations for companies to engage in metaverse gaming are. Developers and users agree that today’s internet can often feel lonely. A Facebook, Instagram or TikTok feed doesn’t feel like you’re with your friends. In the past, when we talked about the metaverse, we meant the worlds of action-oriented adventure games like Activision Blizzard’s World of Warcraft, the battle royale hit Fortnite, or building games like Minecraft. The idea of games being a place of social community, allowing players to share an adventure with others, is not new, but it is present in the Metaverse on an unprecedented scale. The Metaverse is less about the playing itself and more about who you play with and how connected you are to the people you do it with. People don’t love every kind of adventure, shooting or building game, but they do like to play these games with others. Games are more about getting together with friends and having a good time.
One important question we haven’t asked so far: When will users really demand that their games are built on a Blockchain and have NFT integration? We personally cannot see this demand yet… but maybe it will be the first big NFT-Blockchain based game that will show gamers what they really want… like the iPhone to the internet user.
Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft said in an interview:
“Take what’s happening with the metaverse. What is the metaverse? Metaverse is essentially about creating games, it is about being able to put people, places, things [in] a physics engine and then having all the people, places, things in the physics engine relate to each other. You and I will be sitting on a conference room table soon with either our avatars or our holograms or even 2D surfaces with surround audio. Guess what? The place where we have been doing that forever… is gaming.”
So let us take a look at the past and current developments in the established IT and Gaming industry.
Epic Games
Let’s take Epic Games and how they see its hit Fortnite as more than just a “game”. It’s just more than that, it’s a place to play with your friends, hang out with them or organise a movie night. Fortnite has hosted concerts by musicians, including Travis Scott and Ariana Grande. It’s one of those games that already showed us what is possible and where the journey is going.
Electronic Arts
EA Sports announced last November they will not renew the FIFA brand name for its football franchise also included a mention that EA is looking at NFTs to monetize the game better. In July, EA posted a job listing looking for a Director with NFT and Blockchain knowledge. The statement from EA to NFTs and the metaverse was the following: “It’s still early to figure out how that’s going to work. I think that in the context of the games we create and the live services that we offer, collectible digital content is going to play a meaningful part in our future.” EA is going to jump sooner or later into the blockchain gaming space and, and the Metaverse. It will take maybe a few more years. However, a pure blockchain-based title or a game with NFT integration from EA is only a question of time.
Ubisoft
French video games giant Ubisoft has teamed up with The Sandbox and formed a strategic partnership. Ubisoft received its own land in the metaverse and tries to develop game experiences with NFTs in the virtual world.
Meta
Meta has an impressive track record of innovation within virtual reality. Oculus, for example, is one of the best VR system guides for the future of the metaverse.
Microsoft
Although Microsoft is more a new player within the Metaverse, it still offers a primary application, Mesh for teams. The key experience is making a virtual avatar to act as your digital identity. You’ll then be able to use this avatar to explore virtual areas and spaces in the digital world, an essential aspect of any metaverse.
Outlook
In the eyes of Meta, Microsoft, and many other companies, the Metaverse will be a place to live, work and play. Some people will set up digital offices to connect colleagues on the other side of the world, some will enjoy new game features and others see new places of the world…. We can look forward to that, but how far can we really go? Will our future work experience be no different from our current gaming experience? How much will employers learn from the virtual world creation and task flow structuring features of video games? In a world where most people no longer need to work due to unconditional basic income, automation and robotics companies need to take the employee experience to a whole new level of excitement. Maybe one day we will all work in the Metaverse!
Thank you for reading! Stay tuned.
Your Blockchain Enthusiasts Marcel & Tony
Remarks
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About the Authors
Marcel Grimm is Mentor of the DeFi Talents program, Financial Service Consultant and Portfolio Analyst at Decentralized Capital. His biggest priority is helping companies and family offices understand the benefits of using and investing in exponential technologies like blockchain. He is passionate about engaging with the community and helping non-experts understand and appreciate the value of blockchain technology. You can contact him via LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcel-grimm-843b68201/), Twitter (Marcel Grimm (@MarcelGrimm_98) / Twitter) and E-mail (marcel.grimm@decentralized-capital.com).
Tony Kim is Alumnus/Mentor at DeFi Talents and Blockchain Enthusiast with strong interests for the metaverse and GameFi. He is also Presales Consultant at METACO, the Tier 1 Banking standard for digital asset management and custody. You can contact him via LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonyk99/) or Twitter (https://twitter.com/Tnyk99).
