A Peak at Radical Transformation of Gaming Through the Years
Iboro Otu writes that Cloud Gaming and Virtual Reality have added extensions to gaming that have radically transformed gaming interactions and lifestyles, in a little less than one decade
The Gaming industry will be worth $200 billion by next year according to Phil Rowley of Omnicom Media Group UK. The gaming ecosystem which has other business support components like betting companies hasn’t really taken off in Nigeria like it has in the rest of the world largely because of Internet penetration. I’ll tell you why in a second.
As a gamer, Nintendo Mario was the first game console I bought back in 2005 in Lagos. Between then and now, I have moved from that to all Sony Playstations and have experienced solid gaming experiences from better graphics to real life mimicking interfaces like the first sony AR headset games bringing in the 3-D experience to games. Today, I’m enjoying it on mobile. I’m in my 40s.
In the last five years, gaming has accelerated user experience dramatically as a result of its fluid availability across platforms and devices all aided by technology. Today, one can play the same games on mobile, computers, TV, online and offline. Technological advances have made mobile device processors faster and better enough to accommodate very complex and immersive games while the 5G internet has made cloud gaming possible. As such, it is easier to have access to millions of game options on disk or on a subscription basis across platforms online and offline and this in turn has made monetization of gaming possible in ways that couldn’t have been imagined just a decade ago.
Cloud Gaming and Virtual Reality have added extensions to gaming that have radically transformed gaming interactions and lifestyles.
Lets take for example Axie Infinity, a play-to-earn game. Here, players can buy and sell digital creatures to fight other players using an Axie digital currency called SLP which itself can be traded on the Ethereum blockchain to real money. This is a totally new business ecosystem running on block chain technology and crypto currency, running in an AR meta universe where limitless value is created as far as the eyes of ingenuity see.
It’s a new world of wealth creation. It’s the future!
Another example is Decentraland, another play-to-earn game. Here, players can buy, sell and build on virtual pots of land. Transactions are made using MANA, an in-game crypto currency. Decentraland is built on Ethereum blockchain. In 2021, a piece of virtual land sold for nearly One Million Dollars. Capturing such possibilities and making them reality in a place like Nigeria which has a massive youth population would be an economic goldmine for any investor who can see the future.
Betting companies have taken a stronghold in the Nigerian market because the market is there; the Nigerian sport loving population.
Gaming has a solid market in Nigeria too, the difference here is that the technological infrastructure to support the future of gaming – which is online – isn’t here yet. In Lagos and Abuja, there are growing gaming communities supported by well equipped gaming and entertainment centres, but these are often owned or run by game loving individuals who have the funds to sustain the needed expensive gaming infrastructure like dedicated internet access. Some of these individuals organize local gaming competitions and join global ones, often investing in their teams. But until 5G access is readily available to everyone, uninterrupted and affordable, the future of gaming which is happening online may not take off because the business of it demands exponential growth in home use and mobile access.
Sports, Gaming and Betting share the same ecosystem, often feeding each other through derivatives. With right infrastructural support in affordable 5G broadband penetration in major cities, the gaming industry in Nigeria will see similar upsurge as witnessed by the betting industry today.
