[MANILA, PHILIPPINES – THURSDAY, 21 NOVEMBER 2024] The YGG Play Summit concluded Industry Day on November 20, 2024, with panels, keynotes and fireside chats from top web3 innovators and pioneers from the gaming industry such as Hilmar Veigar Pétursson of CCP Games (creators of EVE Online), esports pioneer Fatal1ty, Giulio Xiloyannis of MON Protocol and Pixelmon, Viktoriya Hying of NPC Labs, and Corey Wilton of Mirai Labs. The conference was an opportunity to discuss how the Philippines has risen as a global hub for web3 gaming and the latest developments poised to shape the direction of the industry in the coming years.
YGG co-founders Gabby Dizon and Beryl Li joined speaker sessions to talk about the big opportunity in web3 that is bringing the rest of the world to the Philippines’ doorstep. With increasing adoption in the country and YGG’s efforts to upskill and share knowledge through its programs, the potential for the Philippines to take an economic leap is high. In line with this, Dizon and Head of Base Jesse Pollak talked about YGG’s Onchain Guilds launching on Base and how the next billion users of web3 will come from emerging economies like the Philippines.
“It warms my heart knowing you flew from all over just to visit Manila, perhaps curious why our nation lies at the heart of web3, and what adoption truly looks like through gaming and play,” said YGG Pilipinas Country Head Mench Dizon during her closing address for Industry Day. “Play remains to be at the center of YGG. Despite the tides that have beset our industry, our community remains strong and steadfast.”
Other fireside chats at Industry Day included Pixels CEO Luke Barwikowski and CMO Heidi Christine, who discussed Pixels’ unique community-driven approach to developing their game. Jeffrey “Jihoz” Zirlin, co-founder of Sky Mavis, spoke on a separate panel about how the Philippines’ early adoption of crypto may put it on a similar path to South Korea following its early investment in semiconductor manufacturing to meet the needs of the growing South Korean gaming market.
Also in attendance was Hilmar Veigar Pétursson, CEO of CCP Games, developer and publisher of the popular space MMORPG EVE Online and its upcoming web3 survival game set in the same universe, EVE Frontier. Pétursson delivered a keynote address on EVE Online’s community-driven growth over the past two decades. Afterward, he joined Sovrun (formerly BreederDAO) co-founder Renz Chong for a Q&A session discussing how EVE Frontier’s web3 features unlock opportunities for players to contribute to their local economies on a larger scale.
“The Philippines has untapped potential. As people have more agency to build in virtual worlds, a lot of countries’ GDP will come from people contributing to autonomous virtual worlds,” said Pétursson during the Q&A. “So as you sit in the Philippines and work in space for EVE Frontier, you are, in a way, creating GDP for your country. The better you do in EVE Frontier, you’re raising the average GDP per capita in the Philippines.”
The Philippines has a population of approximately 119 million, with internet penetration above 70%. The government has been trying to increase digital accessibility in the country through the Digital Cities 2025 program, making more areas enticing for development and investors. Regulation for cryptocurrencies has also been much more open in the country, with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) working with local entities to set guidelines that protect investors.
Alongside Industry Day, the YGG Play Summit held several events on Tuesday and Wednesday, including tournaments for Arena of Faith (AOF), Anichess, and Indus, as well as the red-carpet premiere of “Metaverse Filipino Worker,” a five-part series exploring how Filipinos are embracing web3 as a new frontier for work. More events are scheduled in the coming days, such as the first in-person GAM3 Awards Night, a cosplay competition, Leaders Roundtables, and a Community and Creators Night.
