AUTHOR: JAKE SCHOFIELD
Social Media Coordinator
Now we have established the basics of NFTs, it’s time to dig into how NFTs and gaming are colliding to create a vibrant new gaming ecosystem. Blockchain gaming just entered the chat…
A Major Shift
It’s easy to get muddled amongst the blockchain hype. You may have been put off by the deafening online noise that NFTS and blockchain regularly make online. However, this tech is worth taking notice of – it’s here to stay.
Games existing on blockchain technology will revolutionise aspects of the ordinary video games we have become accustomed to, creating entirely new economies within gaming.
Digital currency expert Brock Pierce has projected that gaming is set to be one of the driving forces in the popularity of blockchain tech: “I think there’s a very good chance that gaming in all its forms will be one of the major drivers of the success of the ecosystem.”
As the prominence of blockchain grows in the financial sector, and people are trading in their leather purses for crypto wallets, blockchain gaming seems to be creeping up close behind. Axie Infinity became the first NFT game to hit 1 billion in sales last August and last month it was announced that NFT games generated $2.32b in Q3.
Gamers will have ownership
Players have always taken pride in the appearance of their avatars. Skins on titles such as ‘Counter Strike’ routinely sell on the Steam marketplace for thousands of dollars. The drawback is that if players are locked out of their account for any reason, their hard-earned assets are lost too. Players are unable to sell their assets outside of the gaming ecosystem without running the risk of being scammed.
With a decentralised blockchain game, assets can be tokenised in the form of NFTs, meaning they can be securely sold on an NFT marketplace or transferred to another gaming title.
Blockchain transactions are not alien to gamers: 44% of gamers have either purchased or traded game items using blockchain tech. We’d wager on that figure surging in the coming years.
Which in-game assets will gamers own?
Any in-game item could become an NFT. Gamers could be granted full ownership of any collectable such as a skin, weapon, card or any other in-game playable character or avatar. This is the basis of the highly popular NFT game CryptoKitties, which permits users to breed and trade digital kittens using the cryptocurrency Ethereum.
This is an attractive proposition for gamers, as 62% of gamers have stated they would be more likely to purchase digital assets if they were transferrable between games.
A welcome change?
We have become so accustomed to gaming as it currently exists, that the prospect of an overhaul may be startling to some. However, when you compare gaming to other industries, it becomes apparent that this is a welcome change.
To put things into perspective, imagine that you need permission from the car manufacturer to change the colour of your car, revamp your stereo system or sell it on after buying a new one. This is comparable to the state of digital gaming before the arrival of blockchain.
Financial incentives
Current gaming is not ownership but rental. Licenses may be revoked, accounts may be banned and servers may crash – not accounting for the money and effort gamers may have put into acquiring skins may be wasted.
Accounts containing a treasure trove of in-game items are regularly sold for thousands online. Blockchain gaming will bring these periphery markets to the foreground.
If the correct balance is struck, blockchain games will have the lure of financial investment while giving gamers the same thrill and entertainment of a traditional title.
Higher security
Games existing on blockchain servers will provide more security for the assets earned or bought in-game. Due to the decentralised, public-run nature of blockchain, gamers can rely on their assets being secure and unhackable.
This has not gone unnoticed: a quarter of gaming executives cite security as the most significant impact that blockchain has on gaming.
Perhaps blockchain could put an end to the hackers and cheaters regularly wreaking havoc in titles such as Warzone and Rainbow Six Siege.
Let the blockchain revolution commence.