The structure of the Egaming landscape already allows users to immerse themselves in new, digital worlds, but what is the next step for the Egaming industry?
As technology advances, you can expect Egaming to become even more immersive with completely encompassed fantasy worlds that users can control with their mind and body. Furthermore, thanks to its popularity and these further industry innovations, Esports is set to become the next dominant professional sport by the end of the decade – outperforming traditional sports such as Hockey or Baseball.
Therefore, moving forward, Egaming companies will need to recognize the importance of acquisitions to reach new core audiences, particularly Gen Z players, as they are one of the main demographics for the Egaming industry. So, today, let’s break down the future of Egaming and how industry innovation and Gen Z gamers are working in tandem to ultimately champion change.
The Advent of VR Gaming
Several VR gaming platforms, such as Oculus Quest 2 and soon-to-be Apple VR, are on the cusp of producing realistic, real-world visual experiences as gameplay. This technology would essentially allow users to physically play within the game rather than as a character.
For example, recently released games like NFL Pro Era allow you to lace up your virtual cleats as the starting quarterback of your favorite team and take command of the field. As the first-ever officially licensed NFL football game in VR, it was developed to replicate a quarterback’s perspective on and off the field while putting the fan in the driver’s seat of authentic gameplay action.
Previously, no games could achieve this level of immersion and engagement between the real world and the gaming world, which opens up possibilities that have never existed in the Egaming industry before.
The Rise of Esports
For the past 100 years or so, depending on where you live, you’ve probably been following the same core sports; in North America, this is roughly Football, Basketball, Hockey, and Baseball. Now, for the first time, kids are investing their time, efforts, and even futures in the Esports industry.
For example, millions of users watch competitive gaming on Twitch, with the 2018 League of Legends championships having a greater viewing audience than the Super Bowl that year. Furthermore, teenagers across the globe have set their sights on training to become competitive gamers, and many aspire to one day be on a professional Esport gaming team.
As a result, industry revenues for Esports will push past industry revenues for such sports as football and Baseball by the end of the decade, solidifying its position as the dominant professional sport.
The Importance of Acquisitions
Something any Egaming company should consider is the importance of acquisitions. The gaming space is a fragmented market with new companies popping up all the time that feature the latest technologies, updated user experiences, and large dedicated communities. However, aggregating assets across different gaming verticals give advertisers much greater depth to reach your core Gen Z audience.
For example, I was once involved with a company called Fun Technologies, and we rolled up eight companies that created an aggregated registered gamer audience of over 30 million users, making the company an attractive acquisition to Liberty Media. Similarly, with X1, we have already made four acquisitions in Esports, creator economy, and Rocket League media – as we see all these assets working together to become much larger than they would have been individually.
Having several targeted acquisitions will help your company not only reach your core Gen Z audience but help you grow and thrive within the Egaming industry itself.
The Role of Gen Z Gamers
We’ve spoken a lot about the role of Gen Z gamers in the Egaming industry, but why are they so important? For starters, Gen Z gamers are finding ways to socialize and game collaboratively with others who share their interests on a global scale. But even more interestingly, there is a growing emphasis on user-generated content.
For example, Gen Z gamers can learn from experts in online communities like YouTube or Twitch, where they can subscribe to channels that teach them about the latest game or tips and tricks on beating a level or boss. These are very popular platforms for gamers, with Twitch accounting for 76% of streamed gaming content in Q1 2022.
Gen Z users are also increasingly looking at the social media influencers they follow to recommend products and services they feel would appeal to them. This is a fundamental shift from large corporately controlled brand marketing via advertising to the younger generation to now where the brand is the social media influencer with a direct relationship to the Gen Z market.
All these factors have resulted in the greatest ever user growth boon for the Egaming world, with the industry growing in revenue from $120B in 2019 to over $180B in 2021 due to this creator economy and user-generated content that is tailor-made for Egaming.
Final Thoughts
Moving forward, the industry innovations driven by factors such as Gen Z gamers will create new, immersive worlds, open up the limitless possibilities of Egaming, and provide agency to players like never before. Egaming is expected to surpass traditional professional sports like Basketball or Football by the end of the decade, as eGaming companies continue to diversify and strengthen their assets through targeted acquisitions.
Finally, an emphasis on user-generated content within the creator economy to capture Gen Z gamers will continue to be a driving force behind championing change in the Egaming industry. Ultimately, it’s anticipated that the Egaming industry will not only continue to gain momentum and popularity over the coming years but firmly position itself as an industry-leading authority in the gaming world.
