ff3 #6: Is gaming the backbone of Web3?
LandVault CEO Sam Huber shares his story on how he got into the Metaverse via gaming
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LandVault CEO Sam Huber is tired of hearing the same response about the Metaverse and Web3—”This isn’t for me, why would I ever use this?”
Avoiding generalisations, this tends to be an age thing. People of an older generation are more cynical about cryptocurrency, they struggle to understand decentralised finance, and they simply cannot see themselves spending time in virtual worlds. Fair enough—his response is simple—”What if this isn’t for you?”
Instead, he points to Generation Alpha, born 2010 onwards, as the “perfect citizens of the Metaverse”. This group has grown up digitally immersed, and over the next decade, they’ll become the largest consumer segment on the market. And the key to understanding this generation is through gaming.
Here, Sam shares some of his thoughts around why gaming is critical to understanding Web3 and the Metaverse, and why for many reasons, it’s something brands can’t ignore. You can read Sam’s full article here on our website.
Intro to Sam & LandVault
Sam Huber became CEO of LandVault in June 2022 after his company, Admix, acquired LandVault and they merged under the latter’s name. LandVault is the biggest land developer in the Metaverse
He founded Admix in 2017, a platform helping brands launch novel in-game advertising experiences
Prior to this, Sam founded & ran a game studio
Alongside his role as LandVault CEO, Sam organises Good Morning Web3 (GMW3), a community educating around Web3
Sam Huber on…
The value of virtual worlds
Having started in the gaming industry, I was certainly ahead of the curve in terms of understanding the scale at which people were playing games. Going back to Generation Alpha, this is a generation who have grown up playing games, more than they’re watching films or listening to music.
While our focus of Admix was always in-game advertising, I could sense that there was a bigger opportunity unfolding in the space adjacent to us, a 3D internet or ‘Metaverse’ as it has come to be known. It was at the time when games like Fortnite and League of Legends were attracting audiences in their millions (bigger than some traditional sports). If you can get one million people into your virtual space to watch an eSports tournament, then that space is hugely valuable.
Why Metaverse monetisation is about more than just advertising
It quickly became evident that monetisation looked very different in the Metaverse than in gaming. Brands kept coming to us, asking how they could tap into the Metaverse and add value to these virtual worlds.
Just as we’d disrupted traditional in-game advertising (down with pop-ups, up with well-integrated engaging brands), I knew there was a new business model for us to help brands monetise these virtual environments.
For one, there simply aren’t enough people using the Metaverse as it stands in order to create anything of value from advertising. Brands had to be more creative and forward thinking, building engaging new virtual experiences that they could possibly monetise in the future.
Why he pivoted his business from gaming into Metaverse
While the Metaverse was a huge opportunity (both in terms of revenue and longevity), we were primarily a technical business, not a creative one. In order to properly pivot our business into this exciting new world, we needed the right creative partner.
LandVault proved to be more than just the perfect partner. Each time I spoke to their founders, they seemed to be doubling in size, hiring new creatives every week to work on the most exciting Metaverse projects. All these businesses who’d made money from NFT launches during the NFT bull market were now paying them to build metaverse activation—and LandVault was the go-to solution.
Acquiring LandVault was a big statement of our commitment to pivoting into Web3, and committing long term to building the Metaverses that we wanted to see.
Why content is the ‘UI’ of the Metaverse
While platforms like Decentraland and The Sandbox have built their infrastructure for the Metaverse, we are building the reasons for people to stay there: content. Content is, in essence, the user interface of the Metaverse.
A lot of this is funded by brands, capitalising on space that they may be able to monetise further down the line. You’ll have seen this from many fashion brands like Balenciaga and Nike, engaging with new younger audiences through this medium. This will prove critical for longevity—I like to say it’s insurance for staying relevant.
It won’t all be branded though. We want to build our own content, engaging experiences that will bring people to these worlds and keep them coming back.
📚 Recommend reads
Love in the time of Replika (Not Boring)
Ways to think about a Metaverse (Benedict Evans)
My 2023 Crypto & Deeptech Thesis (Rand Hindi, Deeptech Deals)
🚀 Web3 projects & opportunities
You might remember us talking about Prism? It’s now launched, and you can join their waitlist. Follow founder Eniola’s progress here ➡️ https://eniola.mirror.xyz/
Nabu—discover the full value of your NFTs. Their API driven valuation engine aims to bring transparency and clarity to the world of NFTs and Web3. Access their dashboard now
That’s all folks - thanks for reading! We’re building an exciting new Web3 community, and we want everyone to be a part. So if you enjoyed reading, please give this post a share.
The convergence of emerging technology that fall into Web3 and the future of user interface is profound! Exciting time to build 🔨