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If you’re thinking to yourself that the title of this article should be “How Gaming Will Drive Global Web3 Adoption”, as though that’s somehow in the future, I’m here to tell you: gaming is driving the adoption of web3 tech, right now. But what exactly does that mean? Are gamers speculative-trading tokens on centralized exchanges? Yes, some are.

More likely though, gamers are using in-game digital collectibles and trading these on secondary markets, earning in-game currency that is actually an ERC-20 token, and holding all their assets in a self-custody wallet.

People might argue about what will onboard the next billion users into crypto, onto a blockchain, and away from traditional centralized institutions. Based on the numbers so far, I’m betting a major pillar of global adoption will be gaming.

We can talk about the AAA game studios that raise hundreds of millions of dollars, partner with prominent streamers, and develop high-quality titles — and we will, soon.

But the true leader of web3 gaming will be mobile gaming studios that create seamless onboarding experiences, giving players wallets and assets without them even realizing it.

When we look at the top 40 mobile game studios, each one has brought in over $1 billion in revenue. In Q1 of 2022, mobile gaming brought in more than $21 billion (and that was a decline). Collectively, around 2 billion users are playing these mobile games. Studios like:

Tencent Gaming: 200 million monthly active users (MAU)

Niantic: 140 million MAU

Mixi: 14 million MAU

Supercell: 100 million MAU

King Studios: 345 million MAU

GungHo Entertainment: 20 million MAU

What’s more, mobile-based games attract a highly diverse group of players.

49% of gamers are women

65% of women ages 10–65 play mobile games

According to Statista there are around 3.4 billion gamers globally.

According to New Zoo, more than 55% of gamers worldwide are mobile gamers.

Those massive studios I mentioned above are already pivoting to web3. Niantic is exploring NFTs with a web3 specialist, and members of Activision/Blizzard’s executive staff are no strangers to web3 communities like Wolves DAO or Real Third Web.

These games, after transitioning to web3, are poised to onboard diverse demographics of users onto blockchain technology: young and old, cypherpunks and traditionals.

The truth is, gamers care little about the technology behind the games they play.

Is it good? Is it fun? Can I play with my friends? Then let’s go. NF-what? ‘The hell does ‘self-custodial’ mean? I don’t even know what the Polygon blockchain is.

Recently, a popular AAA game with player-owned assets dropped to the public, Deadrop, and a web3 streamer — Jonah Blake — took it upon himself to interview the players he ran into. He wanted to know if only web3 gamers were playing, or whether trad gamers had taken an interest.

Gamers don’t care if there are NFTs. They care if the game is fun. They don’t care about interoperability. They care if the game offers hours of playtime. If you build it, gamers will come.

Trad gamers are already jumping into web3 games, and they’re experiencing the autonomy, independence, and control that comes with them.

Illuvium has onboarded thousands of players, raised millions of dollars, and looks as crisp and cutting-edge as any AAA trad game.

Shatterpoint is a seamless onboarding experience, and it’s available in the App Store and Google Play Store for free.

Deadrop, thanks to their figurehead, Dr. Disrespect, exploded onto the scene with a real-world event that had 500 people attend and tens of thousands watch from home.

Gala Games is poised to bridge web2 and web3 worlds with icons such as The Walking Dead and Battlestar Galactica.

If this trend continues, gaming may be the first community that drops the web3 and just refers to new, innovative, blockchain games as … well … games. Gamers used to separate mobile gaming from regular gaming; they separated online gaming from regular gaming; they separated multiplayer gaming from regular gaming.

Now all of those genres are considered regular gaming.

In time, no one will call it web3 gaming. It’ll just be gaming.

There are a lot of gamers out there. From the casual player to the hardcore professional, there are billions of gamers the world over.

Many web2 studios are eyeing web3 tech, and web3 games already bring in audiences that compete with popular trad titles.

This article was published in collaboration with the BanklessDAO Writers Cohort.

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