Some 3% of US adults have already purchased real estate in a metaverse environment, and a further 8% are interested in staking their claim on a digital land plot. That said, more than half of US adults have never heard of virtual real estate, indicating we’re still a ways out from society going meta.

Though video gaming has been around for decades, it was the entertainment of choice for many during the pandemic.

Meta thinks users need stepping stones to the metaverse: Its Crayta announcement suggests many consumers need to be pushed along the “immersion continuum.”

Sony’s future gaming fortunes are in PC titles: The PlayStation maker is betting big on ports of its games on Windows PCs, a market where console rival Microsoft is already a dominant player.

Sony’s service game push could be good for advertisers: The lucrative model could be a platform for its rumored ad program

US smartphone gamers will spend $18.83 billion on virtual goods this year, a massive sum compared with the $0.78 billion they’ll spend on subscriptions. These intangible assets make up a growing industry in the gaming world, especially as more companies—from Nike to Spotify to Chipotle—enter the metaverse via games like Roblox.

Gamers want to see creative ads that are seamlessly integrated into gameplay. Some 41% of US gamers ages 18 to 34 would like rewards for devoting time and attention to in-game ads. Meanwhile, 32% believe ads should never interrupt a hardcore gamer’s flow.

On today's episode, we discuss how Spotify performed in Q1, what's driving its subscriber engine, and whether its expected hi-fi streaming tier can help move the needle. "In Other News," we talk about whether gaming is critical to brand objectives and what to make of Pinterest's mixed signals. Tune in to the discussion with our analyst Daniel Konstantinovic.

Gaming’s labor problem could affect its brand opportunities: The industry is experiencing rapid consolidation, but workers are pushing back.

US mobile gaming ad revenues will reach $6.26 billion in 2022, up 14.0% from $5.49 billion in 2021. Healthy double-digit growth will continue through 2024.

In part two, our analysts Paul Verna and Andrew Lipsman discuss how well-positioned Silicon Valley giants Meta and Google and their Seattle counterparts Amazon and Microsoft are for top-gaining segments of digital advertising—gaming, digital audio, and in-store digital media. They also explore other companies positioning themselves for the post-cookie era of digital ads, and ultimately answer the question: Is Seattle—not Silicon Valley—the future of digital advertising?

Since Facebook rebranded itself as Meta, mobile apps have been scrambling to stake a claim in the metaverse—on paper at least. In November, the month after the rebrand, 29 apps worldwide added “metaverse” to their name or description, more than double the number in October. This trend hasn’t wavered: In the three months since Meta emerged, 86 more apps have featured the buzzword in their name or description.

In 2021, 233 mobile apps crossed the $100 million mark in consumer spending worldwide, and just under 75% of them were games. That’s down from about 82% in 2020, as more nongaming apps passed that milestone than their gaming counterparts. Still, games continue to drive much of the consumer spending in the multibillion-dollar mobile ecosystem.

Sony to buy Bungie for $3.6B in latest gaming mega-deal: Acquisition looks to be a long-term play to secure future exclusives, but consolidation could stifle future innovation.

ES: Pricing, performance, and ease of use dictated who owned the market in the early days of personal computing. Today, VR ecosystems and platforms continue that trend as the metaverse takes shape: Consumers, developers, and content producers will eventually decide the future of the metaverse, but they will be limited by hardware’s capabilities. We look at the state of VR hardware, the key players, and how gaming could serve as a gateway to VR/AR adoption.

Microsoft acquires Activision Blizzard, publisher of Call of Duty and World of Warcraft: The $68.7 billion deal will create a gaming behemoth but could face regulatory roadblocks.

Mobile app gaming has managed to hold on to its pandemic-driven success and then some, reversing our previous predictions that time spent gaming with mobile apps would decline in the US after 2020.

The metaverse will be put to the test in 2022: Some firms may find their metaverse dreams held back by wearable technology, while others attempt to woo brands to their spaces.

Among US gamers, PlayStation Now and Xbox Game Pass are the most popular video game subscription services, used by 21% and 18% of those ages 18 and older, respectively.

Among US gamers, Facebook Gaming is the most popular destination for viewing live gameplay, with 42% watching esports and other gaming livestreams on the platform.