Australia has quickly established itself at the frontier of games development, often striding out ahead of the curve when it comes to innovation, always eager to explore new opportunities to expand its reach on the global market.
There’s also good reason behind this forward-thinking attitude, which is favourable to the development and enhancement of new digital technologies. Firstly, the Australia Plays report published in 2023 indicates that more than 81% of the populace regularly plays video games. That’s four out of five people, gaming on PCs, consoles, and mobile devices.
Secondly, recent studies have indicated that when it comes to the adoption of cryptocurrencies, Australia ranks highest in the world. This has been buoyed by favourable pro-crypto legislation across the country, plus increased education and understanding of blockchain technologies, and increased usage among the population for everyday transactions.
What makes these two data points all the more interesting, Australia is now at the forefront of Web3 games development. And if you’re not sure what that means, it’s essentially the intersection of blockchain technology, decentralised systems, and online gaming. Web3 itself refers to what is generally considered to be the third era of the internet.
One of the biggest and earliest adopters of Web3 gaming development is Immutable, an Australian company that was already valued at $3.5 billion in 2022, boasting the ambitious aims of making Web3 gaming both global and mainstream. Towards that end, the company has already partnered with Amazon Web Services (AWS), and several major international games publishers.
The concept behind Web3 gaming is based on democratising the industry, bringing true ownership of in-game assets for players, whether those are tradable game items or tokens and NFTs. Already, the Web3 gaming market size is projected to be worth almost $24 billion in 2023, and that could surpass more than $133 billion by 2023 according to market analysts.
Such projections for successful growth in the Web3 sector of gaming are hardly surprising. Considering the fact that online casinos with real money games have been popular in Australia for at least two decades, the advent of Web3 games involving digital assets isn’t entirely a new concept. Essentially, both are transactional forms of gaming entertainment.
Likewise, and for numerous years, many of the most reputable Aussie casino sites have based their operations around blockchain technology. This includes increasingly accepting cryptocurrencies for deposits and withdrawals, alongside using smart contracts for transactions, plus the benefits of encryption and security that blockchain provides.
Another factor that gives Australia an edge, the country is conveniently positioned as a development bridge between Asian and Western gaming markets. And this applies geographically, technologically, culturally, and economically. All favourable conditions when striving to become the key gateway to enhancing the mainstream appeal of Web3 gaming.
Thus far, Web3 gaming has gained a stronger foothold in the Asian gaming market, where Australian software and platform developers have enjoyed some of their earliest successes. But using their own adoption of blockchain and crypto as an excellent example, they are also showing that Western markets can both survive and thrive, should they go all-in with this new gaming technology.
Web3 is certainly the future for gaming and the internet, as more segments of entertainment and industry discover the benefits of blockchain technologies, putting them to great use for practical and economic benefits. As we head into this bright new era for online gaming, Australia seems to be leading the way, although it will be interesting to see how quickly other Western cultures follow suit.