How Will the Metaverse Impact Game Development?

 

With the advent of immersive technologies, the game development industry has adapted to the new reality. Today VR gaming is almost as traditional and widely addressed as video games accessed on PCs or smartphones. In light of these alterations, will the metaverse concept subvert the paradigm and influence the way studios to make games?

Following Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement to rebrand Facebook to Meta and launch the first large-scale metaverse project, companies from around the world have accepted the challenge. As more and more multidimensional game development services appear, the metaverse ideology, along with XR technologies, comes into play.

In this article, we’ll uncover the truth about whether there’s some impact of the metaverse on game development. Let’s get right into it!

The Metaverse Essentials

What is a metaverse, after all? In simple terms, it’s a technology built over a blockchain that allows users to enter a 3D world via VR devices replete. With a particular set of activities, social networking opportunities, online stores, and the rest. As one of the harbingers of the Web 3.0 internet iteration. The metaverse spurs development in areas like IoT, blockchain, cryptocurrency, 3D visualization, etc.

Without a doubt, these and other innovations cannot but affect game development. Since immersive experience is becoming a core value for players, studios aim to involve new workflows, approaches, and pipelines that will allow them to reach new heights in attracting the audience. Although the metaverse isn’t always about gaming, it’s expected to evolve in parallel.

What Is Common Between Metaverse and Game Development?

Fundamentally, a 3D video game is already a virtual environment. A so-called small digital universe filled with points of interest for a player. Open-world games are becoming more widespread, following the tradition of such epic titles as The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Elden Ring, and more. Players are becoming used to the feeling of freedom inside a three-dimensional virtual environment.

Therefore, game development studios purport to turn players’ expectations and desires into promising gameplay mechanics. In this relation, metaverses resemble open-world games, especially those whose narratives will take place in VR. The only exception is that Web 3.0 technologies facilitate more freedom, in-build services, as well as the ability to reap the benefits of the play-to-earn model.

Nowadays, a plethora of industry players invests in metaverse development, indicating the surge of interest in this area. According to Statista, almost 83% of companies surveyed in 2022 claimed that a strategic reflection had stimulated their investment in the metaverse. For instance, the Game-Ace game development company has already been involved in working on metaverse projects. The attention to the industry is a significant indicator.

So, what’s common between the development of metaverses and video games?

1. Avatar system. In both games and metaverses, you can take on any role. Hence, software development companies need to elaborate on a functional avatar (character) creation system to let a player/user choose the appearance or other details.
2. Open worlds. In all scenarios, studios have to utilize game engines like Unreal or Unity to build vast 3D worlds, assets, characters, and other visual aspects.
3. GameFi philosophy. When it comes to developing an NFT game, you’ll need to integrate its system with a blockchain and connect it to a crypto wallet. The same goes for metaverse development in order to let users/players make a profit as they spend time inside your product, inasmuch as such 3D virtual worlds are usually built on top of a blockchain.

The Bottom Line

Due to many similarities, developing either a metaverse or a VR game requires a lot of effort and skill. Sometimes, it may prove more cost-efficient to use game development outsourcing services. If any aspect of metaverse or game creation seems too challenging. There’s always an option to rely on professionals who already know the score. Hope you really enjoyed the How Will the Metaverse Impact Game Development post.