Since Facebook turned into Meta and Mark Zuckerberg made a big deal out of the company’s plans to essentially own and dominate the next reality of human existence in their Metaverse, a lot has been made about the future of business and entertainment. While the promo videos have been far-fetched and some $36 billion has reportedly been put into just Zuckerberg’s project so far, the idea of this virtual land has captured imaginations.
As a result and, perhaps, with the help of some exaggerations as to the appeal of the Metaverse, expanded reality tech ? particularly in entertainment ? has been on the rise. Across the EU, several start-ups are getting funding, and existing businesses are pivoting to appeal to this new fascination, with Irish iGaming business Paddy Power being a prime example of demonstrating the sudden appeal of immersive products.
Taking the online experience to the next level of immersion
Anyone who wants to play blackjack online at Paddy’s is met with many choices. There are the classic RNG versions of blackjack akin to the free version with the Microsoft OS but with real-money betting and better graphics, as well as the new-age live games. The likes of Live Lightning Blackjack and Live Blackjack Lobby would stand out as the most tech-forward and immersive products for their real-time play against human croupiers.
However, the real modern success story that’s spawned from this immersive tech trend is First Person Blackjack. Here, instead of playing a game of online blackjack with a fixed camera ? be it live or RNG ? you enter a virtual studio through the platform. You don’t need specialised glasses or a headset, but you get to walk through the virtual hall, get to your blackjack table, look around the table, and interact with the game while playing.
It’s a level of immersion without specialised hardware that’s unmatched in iGaming and clearly showcases the shift towards more interactive products in the industry. Immersive tech is certainly picking up steam in Ireland. As reported by Tech.EU’s funding report, start-up programme Enterprise Ireland is serving as a cornerstone investor to SVV3, which is taking shareholdings in Irish start-ups that specialise in immersive tech and other such high-tech companies.
Europe scaling up for the future of immersive entertainment and technologies
Globally, the extended reality market ? which encompasses virtual, mixed, and augmented reality ? is heading to a $357 billion value by the end of the decade, marking an incredible CAGR of 31.8 percent. In 2021, the market was valued at around $31 billion. Europe looks set to be a major contributor to this rapid growth. By 2026, the VR and AR services market in the EU is expected to climb to a value of ?43 billion, according to CBI’s market outlook article.
A particular focus looks to be on the sector of virtual reality. As the most immersive of the extended reality sectors, it makes sense that VR would be popular and a driver of investment. Crunchbase’s funding rounds records show that a total of $1.2 billion in funding has gone out across 592 rounds to EU companies. The latest, at the time of writing, was The Netherlands’ Spheroid Universe, which landed $25 million for its platform that helps to launch and develop extended reality projects.
Even if the Metaverse doesn’t turn out to be our new primary realm of existence, there’s now a lot of momentum behind extended reality tech, with First Person Blackjack in Ireland proving that there’s an appetite for much more immersive entertainment.
