“There’s currently a gold rush with everything Web3.”
COVER STORY
Rina Onur Şirinoğlu is one of the founders of Istanbul-born Spyke Games, which has been in the news for receiving $55 million in an investment round led by venture capital firm Griffin Gaming Partners.
What kind of critical skills do young people achieve through gaming?
Gaming provides the opportunity to foster creativity as well as analytical thinking. It’s a form of escapism, but also an incredible avenue for individualism and self-expression. The anonymity in the gaming environment gives way to creating true communities around interest, competition and collaboration. It teaches the player to be patient, but also persistent. In a world where inequality and lack of justice persist, a well-designed game is incredibly fair and balanced. Hard work always pays off!
How does gaming alter how other sectors work or approach their target customers?
There are quite a few industries that try to use gaming elements or gamification in the way they engage their customers or stakeholders. Education, well-being, efficiency and health are some of the areas that have implemented gaming features to increase retention within their userbase. The inherent presence of competition and collaboration within gaming itself helps create highly engaged communities. Especially with Web3 gaming, the way brands and companies interact with their customers has also changed. The world has become even smaller, where providing an experience to the end user isn’t inhibited by physical boundaries anymore.
What is Turkey’s potential in the gaming sector?
Turkey has become one of the rising stars in mobile gaming globally. Istanbul is considered a gaming hub along with others such as Tel Aviv and Helsinki. Some of the largest technology companies coming out of Turkey are in the gaming sector, and gaming has been the fastest growing subset in being able to attract foreign investment to Turkey. For the first time, the Turkish ecosystem has been able to showcase a repeatable pattern of success on the global arena when it comes to a product-focused tech business.
How do you see Web3 changing your industry?
Our mission is to connect people through play. We provide content on whichever platform or medium the player demands. Gaming has existed for many years and will continue to exist for generations to come. It was first on consoles, then on the web, then on Facebook. More recently it has been on mobile. If the general player demands for the content to be played in a decentralized fashion, it will get there. There’s currently a gold rush with everything Web3; once the dust settles, we’ll see more gaming companies taking solid steps in that direction.
Published July 2022
