The impact of blockchain technology in the gaming industry

When blockchain first burst onto the scene, the feeling was that it was a revolutionary technology that could impact the financial industry and change how we conduct transactions with cryptocurrencies. Despite this, many other industries have been affected by blockchain technology.

One such industry is the gaming industry. Gaming is gaining a lot by incorporating blockchain into the ecosystem. And while crypto enthusiasts are embracing the revolution in the blockchain gaming space, the larger traditional gaming community still hasn't caught on to the technology.

Regardless of this objection, we cannot deny that the gaming scene is not a one-size-fits-all experience. The days of limited ownership and centralized control are fast disappearing. Blockchain technology has revolutionized power generation in a way unlike anything ever experienced. From reimagining classic game genres to weaving interactive dystopian narratives, blockchain games are changing how we play, discover and communicate. In this article we will explore the blockchain game, its impact, benefits and future.

What is a blockchain game?

Blockchain gaming is simply playing games that incorporate elements of blockchain technology. In traditional games, you could earn in-game assets for your efforts, and that served as a form of reward that gave you a sense of progress and ownership in the game. But in blockchain games, you get rewards in the form of in-game items that you can trade for fiat or other cryptocurrencies on an open marketplace.

There is a complete sense of ownership in such games as they allow players to own the items they find or unlock while playing. Additionally, blockchain games are more prone to asset loss than traditional games. There have been instances where traditional game servers have experienced lag and stuttering, causing players to lose valuable in-game items. Imagine if such a game used blockchain technology, as those items would act as NFTs, so they would still remain in the player's wallet.

The impact of the blockchain game

In the year By 2022, the global blockchain gaming market size is valued at $4.83 billion. This number will expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 68.3% between 2023 and 2030. Over the last ten years we have seen a huge increase in the popularity of blockchain games. According to Dapradar, by January 2024, the blockchain gaming ecosystem has reached 1.5 billion daily unique active wallets (UAW). This is 28% of January's total industrial activity.

We cannot deny the impact of technology on the industry. In addition to increasing usage, games that use this technology offer players an alternative way to earn money. Axie Infinity was the first major game to incorporate a play-to-find game model. In this game, players can breed and train Axies (NFT creatures) that they can sell whenever they want for cryptocurrency. This game has helped people earn significant side income from rewarding players.

In the year At its peak in 2021, the average Axie Infinity player could earn around 4,500 SLP tokens ($800) per month. Blockchain games offer game developers a way to monetize their efforts. Developers can earn royalties on the second sale of their games' assets.

Blockchain game and NFTs

NFTs are a crucial feature in the blockchain gaming world. They are unique assets that players can find, use in-game, buy, and sell to other players in marketplaces. These NFT assets are generally valuable because they are produced in limited quantities, which encourages their scarcity and ultimately increases their value.

Night of the Living Dead (NTLD), Lussa, Outlanders and QORPO are ideal examples of this. NTLD is an innovation in the Battle Royale game genre where you can choose to either play solo or team up with your friends to survive a landscape surrounded by zombies and earn points while you're at it. Lusa represents an immersive narrative set in a dystopian future.

A choose-your-own-adventure story where the player's decisions influence the game's narrative and determine the fate of humanity. Outlanders is an open-world MMORPG for the masses, using blockchain technology to prioritize user experience with its interface and high-quality graphics.

The game is helping to bridge the gap between traditional and blockchain gaming. QORPO is a blockchain powered developer with a mission to make eSports accessible to everyone. It combines the fast-paced gameplay with the power of eSports for the ultimate competitive action, enhancing the civil conflict of the superhero shooter.

Some NFTs are compatible with different block chains, so they can be transferred by different games. This is a prime example of how interoperability works in blockchain. The ban protects these NFTs, and their authenticity and ownership can be identified and verified.

How blockchain is changing gaming.

There are several unique advantages that blockchain technology offers gamers and developers. In traditional games, game publishers have sole and complete control of the game, all data and servers. Every decision is made by the company that developed the game. Players may decide to close the game outside of that decision-making process.

This is unfair to the players who spend their time, money and effort to play these games. The ban is changing this. Game data and assets are stored on the blockchain, which keeps information and details about the game on an open ledger for everyone to track.

Unlike traditional games where players purchase in-game assets that cannot be used or transferred to another game, blockchain gaming allows players to acquire and own assets that can be used in other game ecosystems. And because the block is decentralized in nature, games built on it encourage community participation. Blockchain games are usually developed by members of a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), rather than a corporation.

This action makes it difficult to loosen or stop them. The ready-to-fight (RTF) ecosystem embraces both DAO and gamified mechanics in its work. RTF is a digital platform where boxing stakeholders can monetize their content, set up Dao's for platform management, Move2Earn, PvP games, decentralized ticketing services, etc.

Due to continuous innovation, game mechanics are also being adapted to other sites such as Watch2Earn. Like Play-to-Earn and Move-to-Monet, users are rewarded for actively participating in these models on blockchain platforms. Web3 users can now be rewarded for viewing content from their favorite creators.

A platform like YouTube with over 2.1 billion active users only rewards creators, but this is changing to be creator-centric. XCAD is at the forefront of the Watch2Earn revolution and viewers are rewarded with $XCAD tokens for engaging with their favorite creators and channels.

The future of the blockchain game

I am confident that the future of the blockchain game will be bright. The blockchain game is still in its early stages of development, beyond its conceptual stage. The fact that we've seen so many exciting projects and developments in the space over the past couple of years just goes to show you the potential here.

Traditional companies like Sony are entering the NFT gaming sphere with a secured patent for the NFT gaming framework. It is not yet known how the company plans to use this patent.

There is a lot of institutional money coming into the blockchain gaming industry. According to data from Dapradar, the third quarter of 2023 saw more than $600 million in investments going into the blockchain gaming space. Total investment in the ecosystem was seen at $2.3 billion that year. This was despite the crypto industry being in a bear market. The influx of significant investments into the blockchain gaming industry points to a future that will see rapid growth in the ecosystem over the next few years.

Conclusion

Blockchain gaming is blurring the line between entertainment and financial opportunities. With an emphasis on player ownership, community y, and new gaming models, blockchain technology hints at a future where gamers are stakeholders, not passive participants, in the activities they love. Despite challenges such as user-friendliness and interoperability, the influx of investment, increasing adoption rates and the sheer creativity of developers shows just how much potential the industry has.