Experts: “Metaverse” is blowing up the traditional electronic games industry

Al Mal followed the opinions of a number of experts in the electronic games sector on the future of the industry, in light of the emergence of “Metaverse” technology, which has a strong presence on the scene and its competition with the big electronic game publishers in the short term. period.

Experts agreed that the new technology has contributed to greater interaction between players, with the emergence of hybrid technologies between augmented and virtual reality, and that the new technology will end the usual form of electronic games in a period of 5 to 10 years. years.

Experts unanimously agreed that the electronic games industry in the Arab region still lacks “motivating factors” – they said – including the necessary government support and school programs, along with the absence of game publishing companies in the Middle East and North Africa. , with the fact that the technology will not be limited to players. It will also expand to brands and buying land in virtual reality.

Majid Farraj, an expert in information technology and electronic games, said that it is still too early to talk about the impact of metaverse technology on the electronic game industry, as it will take 5 to 10 years to implement, according to his estimation. that on the ground, given that the spread of confusion about new technology during the Past period is just a marketing campaign – according to his description.

He believed that one of the technologies that is really present is related to virtual reality, in addition to augmented reality, and that all attempts by Mita to invest billions of dollars in producing glasses similar to those produced by the previous two companies contributed to the losses. to which Mita shares are exposed on The American Stock Exchange, except that they do not achieve the desired goals.

He indicated that the electronic games industry in the Egyptian market is immune to global developments, especially since it lacks government support and the Egyptian market lacks the presence of companies working in the field of publishing.

He added that the lack of specialization in the publishing and development of electronic games in Egyptian universities until recently affected the industry, noting that the Information Technology Institute (ITI) of the Ministry of Communications is the only entity that currently allows the study of electronic games after the university level of education.

He pointed out that the volume of spending by Egyptian consumers on the electronic games and software market in 2020 reached $250 million, according to a marketing study, noting that this value does not include spending on hardware devices such as PlayStation and Xbox devices.

In a related context, Mahmoud Abdel-Gawad, founder of the Cluster platform for electronic games, said that the world is currently making strong progress towards the integration of augmented and virtual reality technologies in the E-GAMES industry with the aim of giving players more interaction, noting that the Oculus glasses developed by the company Meta is working on this technology through their product “Oculus Pro”, which provides applications based on “mixed reality”.

Abdel-Gawad added that Metaverse technology is not limited to electronic gamers, but has turned into an independent brand used to create shops on the application of virtual reality, pointing out that virtual reality technology will become an alternative to traditional daily life within 10 years.

He pointed out that virtual reality is a natural development of electronic games and comes after many developments, including multiplayer, along with chat techniques during the game, which began to spread since the release of the game Call of duty, adding that an era is coming that will represent the presence of players personally inside virtual reality, which is what the “Target” is looking for to submit during the next period.

He explained that emerging technologies are undermining claims by some that users who have a passion for electronic games are becoming lazy due to prolonged use of electronic games, noting that virtual reality keeps players on the go all the time.

In this regard, Mohamed Amin, CEO of Virtual Quest, said that the market of electronic games in the traditional sense will differ during the coming period, especially if the number of virtual reality games increases, which contributes to the expansion of holding competitions and sports. tournaments for the “metaverse”, in addition to tournaments.current traditional games.

Amin pointed out that the main condition for holding competitions in virtual worlds is designing games that combine competitiveness, teamwork and augmented and virtual reality technologies, which would attract as many players as possible, in addition to entering this category in order to compete as a brand on the global market. . the market of games of chance.

He pointed out that the final features of Metaverse technology are not clear, but it is still subject to experimentation and continuous development, noting that investments in the field of traditional electronic games will not stop and will continue to have their luster.

He felt that the expansion of the “Metaverse” depends on the understanding of the vast majority of consumers of the technology and its mechanisms, similar to how it deals with games on different platforms such as PC and Playstation, as a result of which the new technology will have long-time fans.

dr. Ziyad Abdel-Tawab, vice president of the Electronic Games Federation, said that metaverse technology will contribute to the development of electronic games, especially since there are a number of games that currently use technologies similar to those used in the metaverse world, such as virtual reality glasses.

Abdel-Tawab added that the expansion of the metaverse will lead to the disappearance of electronic games in their usual form among many players, and they will turn into “three-dimensional” games, which indicates that the development of games in virtual reality depends on the development of the “metaverse” system on the first place.

He added that Metaverse electronic games are expected to develop faster in America and Canada, in light of the implementation of technological development experiments in the two countries for the Middle East and North Africa region, which indicates that the development in the Arab region of the region can happen at most in a year. or two.

He pointed out that the technology developed by Meta will make it difficult to produce and develop electronic games in the Arab region, especially since there are no games in the Arab world that are as widespread as those developed in America and Europe, adding that the industry in the Arab region still needs more support and spreading awareness. In addition to giving more incentives to local development companies, with advanced training to qualify young staff on techniques for developing and publishing electronic games.

It is interesting that the total revenues of the electronic games industry of all types and devices worldwide during the last year amounted to 180.3 billion dollars, according to the report of the international organization “Newsoo”, specialized in the statistics of electronic games.