For Improbable, the Metaverse is a powerful network of connected worlds, populated with fulfilling and meaningful experiences and enabling a new economy, in an interoperable, smooth and entertaining fashion. Improbable will act as a core provider of the infrastructure and experiences needed in the Metaverse, and expects to benefit from its involvement in this space as early as 2022.
Lincoln Wallen, Improbable’s Chief Technology Officer, said: “We have always believed in the promise of virtual worlds and the Metaverse. We listen to what users want[^2] and we see what is driving our clients’ ask. We aim to be the best technical, production and operational partner helping our clients navigate the major disruption represented by web3; a full-stack service provider for any company seeking to launch, or participate in, a metaverse project.”
This new strategy will be reflected across the Improbable business. IMS, a leading service provider to the games and entertainment industry working with over 60 leading game developers is now open for business for customers, beyond gaming, seeking to engage in the Metaverse. Under the leadership of Lincoln Wallen, CTO at Improbable, it will build and support enhanced metaverse experiences for partners across the culture, music and sports sectors.
In a shift of its gaming content strategy, Improbable’s UK studio will focus entirely on metaversal experiences. Under the leadership of John Wasilczyk, Head of Games Content at Improbable, it will focus on pioneering and creating metaverse experiences for consumers. The company is investing in the underlying technologies enabling the best experiences in the web3 gaming space, notably with the recruitment of teams dedicated to working on web3 and blockchain-enabled games. Separately, Improbable is in discussion with partners to support the first party games developed across its studios.
Herman Narula commented: “We are in advanced discussions with potential partners for the games being developed within the Edmonton and Midwinter studios and it is our belief that they will reach their full potential supported by publishers with leading track records of bringing games to market.”
Improbable’s business at the beginning of 2022 reflects a healthy performance and significant technological breakthroughs, while the company estimates the addressable market for its services and technology to reach over $100bn[^3] across games and the Metaverse by 2025.
Narula concluded: “In addition to commercial success, some technical milestones were achieved in 2021 with the largest virtual experiences ever held in a single space, solving challenges in density, audio and rendering. IMS has doubled its revenues, and the number of its gaming clients, of which half are now AAAs. 2022 looks even more promising. We are targeting IMS to become profitable by the end of the year, and for revenue growth overall to accelerate, driven by opportunities both in games and the Metaverse. We are seeing interest in our unique expertise and technology from ambitious web 3.0 projects and expect to contribute to exciting projects this year.”
Improbable has engaged Galaxy Digital as exclusive financial advisor in exploring strategic initiatives.
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[^1] : Bloomberg Intelligence calculates the global Metaverse revenue opportunity could approach $800 billion in 2024 across gaming, AR, VR and opportunities in social, live events and entertainment. Financial analysts have been even more bullish, with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley having reached consensus on the sizing of the Metaverse market opportunity in the range of $8 trillion (Goldman Sachs remarks were made by analyst Eric Sheridan in a “Exchanges at Goldman Sachs” episode, titled “Understanding the metaverse and web 3.0”, released on Monday 1/24).
[^2] : Recent Improbable research, conducted with developers and gamers in the US and the UK, is telling in showing what is at stake in the development of the Metaverse. 61% of American gamers expect to spend time in the metaverse within five years and more generally American gamers see the gaming industry and traditional “big tech” corporations as equally likely to come out ahead, while in the United Kingdom, 29% of gamers think that the odds clearly favour the gaming industry Across the two geographies, gamers believe the Metaverse will be an opportunity to earn money and will also enable commercial opportunities.
[^3] : Based upon real time multiplayer gaming projections, metaverse software market projections and Improbable’s current market share in those sectors.
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About Improbable
Improbable is a British technology company, creating the critical infrastructure to power the coming of age of virtual worlds and the metaverse. Improbable partners with developers in video games, entertainment, and with defence and academic institutions to enable powerful, virtual worlds of unprecedented size and usefulness.