On February 21, 2024, Texas Governor Greg Abbott made an announcement.

It received crickets…

But it’s yet another mega-bullish signal for the XR space.

They announced the “Digital Media Friendly Texas Certified Community” program.

Wordy, yes.

But for our purposes (making money), it’s exciting, too.

Put simply…

This program rolls out the red carpet for digital media production across Texas.

We’re talking animation studios, visual effects companies, video game developers, Extended Reality startups -- the whole sha-bang.

Texas has a total land area of around 268,820 square miles.

There are 195 countries in the world.

Texas is larger than 139 of them. That's over 70% of all countries.

In other words…

It's big.

By certifying cities and towns as “Digital Media Friendly,” Texas aims to attract these industries into local communities, spurring job growth and economic development.

We’re not just talking about Austin here (though obviously Austin is going to dominate).

This is open to small towns and big cities alike. The only prereq? A focus on digital media.

With the rise of XR…

This has serious investment potential.

Texas has already brought in over $2 BILLION in media production over the past decade.

And the global animation market alone is set to grow into a $640 billion industry in the next three years.

So…

If you’re looking for promising investment plays, keep an eye on both the digital media companies that set up shop in newly certified Texas cities…

As well as the real estate and local services that will prosper from this industry influx.

We’ll be tracking this closely here at Altucher Confidential…

And, in fact, James will be in Austin next week, filming at SXSW…

The annual 10-day music, film, and interactive media mega-festival and conference that takes over downtown.

More to come on that soon.