SoftBank and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)-backed metaverse startup Improbable has sold its gaming services division, MPG, to Irish video game developer Keywords Studios for an approximate sum of $100 million.
According to its annual statement released today, Improbable sold MPG to Keywords for £76.5 million ($96.8 million), which represents a considerable return on investment for the company it purchased for £30 million ($38 million) in 2019. With 360 employees across 34 countries, MPG serves clients such as Epic, Bethesda, and Activision Blizzard.
The sale is a component of Improbable’s divestiture of non-core operations and marks the venture arm of the company’s first exit. From web2-based projects working with sports franchises to web3 community initiatives with BoredElon, Forgotten Runes, and Yuga Labs’ much-anticipated Otherside metaverse platform, the company will now concentrate on ramping up its metaverse goals.
Trends in the metaverse and predictions for 2024
Improbable introduced M2 Network, an ecosystem of interoperable metaverses, and MML Stack, a distributed computing platform, in June. In May, the business established The Metaverse Society, a dedicated think tank whose purpose is to investigate the social and financial ramifications of the metaverse.
Looking ahead, Improbable anticipates that the web2 and web3 worlds will continue to see metaverse development as boundaries between them become more hazy and consolidation takes place, with capital availability being more restricted. According to the business, as VR headsets become more and more popular, gaming companies will continue to include new experiences and web3 games will acquire momentum in their portfolios, driving additional growth in spatial computing.
According to Improbable founder and CEO Herman Narula, “the metaverse is poised for growth in 2024, fueled by the convergence of gaming, VR/XR, and web3 technologies.” The popularity of Meta Quest 3 and headsets like Apple’s Vision Pro are expected to drive demand for immersive metaverse experiences. Metaversal aspects will be included by gaming firms into their products, opening up new avenues for marketing activation.
“A stronger, more inventive, and more resilient startup ecosystem will result from consolidation in the gaming and web3 sectors, with businesses combining resources and know-how to create metaverse applications,” Narula continued.
