Blockchain Games in two thousand twenty two and Play to Earn Gamification Interoperability and Major Publishers
Categories: Crypto News
- long with NFTs, games are the blockchain industry’s leading segment in terms of usage.
- "Another factor to consider is the overall trend toward gamification, which will see other blockchain categories reimagined."
- Major game developers are beginning to see the potential of blockchain and crypto for gaming.
Video games have long been regarded as a Trojan horse for new technologies. Whether it be home computers, smartphones, or virtual reality, the pleasure of gaming is usually one of the most effective ways of interesting the public in new tech, and the same is true when it comes to blockchain and cryptoassets.
In fact, Cryptonews.com prophesied that video games will drive blockchain adoption way back in 2018, and this prediction really does seem to be coming true, with 2021 seeing greater interest in blockchain-based games. And according to a range of industry figures, such games will attract even more usage and adoption this year, with play-to-earn (P2E) and GameFi (decentralized applications (dapps) with economic incentives) most likely being the dominant trends.
Play-to-earn driving continued blockchain-gaming growth
Make no mistake: games are big for the crypto sector, as explained to Cryptonews.com by DappRadar’s co-founder and Chief Development Officer (CDO), Dragos Dunica. “Play-to-earn has been a key driver for gaming’s increasing popularity, and it’ll likely remain so. That the top five games -- Alien Worlds, Splinterlands, Farmers World, Axie Infinity, and Upland -- are, all in all, retaining their users is a good indicator of this trend continuing over the next few months,” he added. However, analysts working outside of the crypto sector tend to urge caution in evaluating just how big blockchain-gaming is and will become in the near-future. One of these is Michael Pachter, Managing Director of equity research at Wedbush Securities, who suggests that blockchain-based games aren’t yet big enough to really qualify as a fully fledged category.
Interoperability, hybridization, and gamification
2022 also might see expanding interconnections between blockchain-based games and other parts of the crypto sector, with each sector using others to help them grow. “Interoperability and the use of NFTs in blockchain games are trends that we are seeing in many games, Alien Worlds included,” said Nigel Carlos. “NFTs have proven to have immense potential in conferring utility to users, and will continue to be extremely useful in blockchain games.” Carlos also adds that interoperability will become an important growth strategy for many games, as they strive to attract communities -- and liquidity -- from other chains. Continuing with the theme of a growing overlap between gaming and other areas of crypto, Dragos Dunica suggests that more platforms will seek to gamify themselves in various ways.
Big developers and publishers
Another trend we might see in 2022 will be the growing involvement of major publishers with blockchain and NFT elements in their games. Turning to NFTs and cryptoassets will potentially open up the products of publishers such as EA and Activision (recently acquired by Microsoft) to a new customer base, while it will also allow them to offer their current users new and exciting products. This potential has already been noticed by the market, with Dragos Dunica noting that blockchain gaming is already becoming a big business.“Last year saw [venture capitalists] pour USD 4bn into the space, meaning that traditional gaming is unlikely to miss out on the action,” he said.
In the mean time, the report likewise framed a few dangers for the NFT area, saying that "anybody can mint a NFT for an extremely minimal expense."
This can occur "regardless of whether they reserve no option to the substance, and with licensed innovation encroachments frequently hard to challenge because of the secrecy gave by them," the workmanship market report said.
It added that bad quality workmanship and out and out fakes on the lookout for advanced craftsmanship have made it inclined to "speculative trading," and said this has become more straightforward to take part in because of the a lot higher exchange speeds in the computerized world.
As far as other key discoveries, that's what the report said:
- Most sellers and closeout houses are "by and large certain" about the effect of NFTs on the workmanship market.
- The top-level closeout places of Sotheby's and Christie's sold USD 230m worth of NFTs in 2021, while generally speaking gross incomes for the organizations remained at over USD 14bn.
- Stages (like OpenSea) selling NFTs outside the customary workmanship market have been "eminent and produced significant deals in 2021".
- Deals of both workmanship and collectibles NFTs on web-based stages outside the customary craftsmanship market have developed from USD 4.6m in 2019 to USD 11.1bn in 2021.