Web3 Games Will Onboard Up To 100 Million Players Over The Next 2 Years, Polygon And Immutable Presidents Predict

About 40% of Web3 games being built will go live in the next 12-18 months, says Immutable co-founder

Two key players in the web3 gaming space are predicting exponential expansion in the next few years.

Robbie Ferguson, co-founder and president of web3 game company Immutable, and Ryan Wyatt, president of layer 2 chain Polygon Labs, told TechCrunch+ that web3 will add the first 10 to 100 million players by a month. year or two.

“We are going to see 40% of web3 games [ever] built over the next 12 to 18 months, which will be a huge amount of trying or shooting to get those 100 million players,” Ferguson added. If this prediction were to come true, it would represent a massive wave of adoption that the decentralized gaming industry didn’t have before.

On Monday, web3 gaming company Immutable partnered with layer 2 blockchain Polygon to help drive scaling and adoption for the sub-industry. The collaboration will aim to make Web3 compatible games faster to create, easier to use and less risky for major game studios and independent developers.

“What we’re seeing now is that these games are designed to go live because games have a two- to four-year lead time,” Ferguson said. “What they need is incredible infrastructure so they can create an incredible customer experience where players can use it.”

“More than $100 billion is spent by gamers on in-game items each year,” Ferguson said, implying the market for Web3 games could be significant. “It’s not the boxed copy of Fortnite or the ability to download a game. It’s literally [money spent on] skins, Candy Crush coins and costumes.

But these assets are not owned by players or, at best, part of a gray market, he added. “The opportunity here is to take a multi-$100 billion asset class and make it truly owned by gamers and ensure the rights and keys remain with them rather than a large third-party company.”

According to Ferguson, the only way Web3 games evolve is through true ownership rights. “What if they have no idea how Web3 works under the hood.”