元宇宙时代：投资于交付、基础架构和内容(英)-汇丰-2021.12-74页.pdf.pdf

                    Disruptive Technology ● Equities
December 2021

Video games and digital
content metaverse the new
normal

Digital goods, crypto and
NFT in between “hype mania”
and “real applications”

In the modern age, video games (USD150bn3), online video (USD45bn4) and music streaming
(USD13bn5) are substantial businesses, generating over USD200bn annually and where
gaming is seen as a social activity among the younger generation, to hang out virtually with their
friends. Video games are smaller scale but early versions of what Meta’s metaverse ambitions
could look like. Today we position video and digital streaming content (video and music) in the
“new normal” part of our framework. However, we place cloud gaming a little further along in the
“real applications” phase.
With 63% of gamers saying that they would spend more if virtual goods could have real-world
value, and be traded/sold outside, this suggests the cross-platform digital goods in the
metaverse could be popular and aid the growth of the metaverse economy.6 Today NFTs, a
form of digital good, are typically bought and sold in cryptocurrency. Moreover, as we stated
earlier, the top 10,000 cryptocurrencies currently have a total market cap of USD2.8trn7 – the
ability to use this form of native internet money could be a positive for the metaverse.
Despite the popularity of cryptocurrencies today, there is still the overhang of regulators looking
at whether they can cause financial instability and if decentralised blockchains imply energy
consumption issues.8 Today we place digital goods in the “real applications” phase of our
disruptive technology framework, and crypto/NFTs between the “hype mania”, and “real
applications” portion.

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3 "Video game industry silently taking over entertainment world", Ejinsight, October 2019.
4 Business of Apps 2021
5 IFPI 2021
6 "63% of gamers want virtual goods with real-world value", VentureBeat, December 2020.
7 “Crypto rally: total market cap hits all-time high of USD2.8T”, Financial Express, November 2021.
8 "Bitcoin and Other Cryptocurrencies Need Regulation to Succeed", Bloomberg, October 2021.“, "Bitcoin’s growing energy
problem: ‘It’s a dirty currency’, FT, May 2021.

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