I have been actively investing in the blockchain industry for over 7 years now and in that time I don’t think I have met anyone who knew that the industry would have seen such enormous growth as it does today . In 2009, Bitcoin was introduced to the world and, although its potential was clear, no one thought it would become a strong alternative currency within a decade. But today we have seen that cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies like non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have affected major industries around the world. These industries are now discovering new ways to share, store and identify data.
One such industry is the gaming industry. Like traditional games where players have the ability to customize their in-game activities, character skins, and/or other in-game elements, players can do so in blockchain games. A snowball effect has been the rise of player economies in games, as they can earn these items and trade them with other players in exchange for in-game currency. This currency is easily exchanged for world currencies real via open virtual markets.
The blockchain technology vehicle, building on core principles such as decentralization and transparency, has led to industry-changing investments across several sectors. Because the advent of blockchain is accompanied by that of Bitcoin (which has proven to be an effective alternative to traditional currencies), it is often considered a financial technology. This hasn’t stopped the technology from affecting other sectors, as it has proven valuable in those industries. The gaming industry is one industry in which the influence of blockchain technology is visible.
The gaming industry had an estimated market of $245.9 billion in 2022. This figure is expected to grow. reach $682 billion by 2030 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.6% over this period. These numbers highlight the size of the industry, and it looks like it will grow as game studios explore ways to create world-class games running on blockchain principles.
In this article, I will highlight two of these pioneering projects. These projects illustrate the future of gaming through the innovative use of blockchain and NFTs.
Blockchain in games
Blockchain games are games built on the blockchain. These games use NFTs to represent in-game assets with players able to trade them. The popularity of blockchain games has increased significantly over the past decade. According to a DappRadar report from August 2024, blockchain games reached a new milestone that month. A record 4.2 million daily active users were recorded, representing a 5% increase in daily unique active wallets (dUAW), setting records across multiple platforms.
One of the main reasons for this is that games using blockchain technology offer players a viable way to earn a living. This is a powerful motivation to play blockchain games, as simple as it may seem – additional motivation to have fun playing them also helps a lot.
Axie Infinity is a good example of a blockchain game that, at its peak, was hugely successful. The game had around 2.7 million daily active users as of August 2022. report by Coindesk showed that players earned around 4,500 SLP per month, or around $800, during this period. This technology has also provided game developers with a new way to make money. These developers can now generate a market through scarcity for their in-game assets. This is in addition to the royalties these developers can earn on secondary sales of their game assets.
Unlike traditional games, blockchain games allow players to take full ownership of the items they earn while playing. These items are also less likely to be hacked and lost. A good example is November 2022, when Call of Duty Warzone servers constantly lagged and then crashed. Players lost their in-game achievements, including earned assets. These lost items would have been NFTs if this game had been built on the blockchain. These NFTs would have ensured that they still existed in players’ wallets.
Owning in-game assets and trading them is a way for players to participate in a game’s economy. One gaming platform that exemplifies this is Sidus Heroes. A futuristic MMORPG game, Sidus Heroes is a good example of a P2E game powered by NFT technology. The platform benefits from a holistic, player-driven gaming economy, where players can own in-game content, opening the door to in-game trading.
Earning these NFTs depends on a certain level of competitiveness. This is a constant feature of blockchain. QORPO is revolutionizing eSports by making the sector accessible to everyone on the blockchain. The company’s flagship project, Citizen Conflict, a hero shooter, is fast-paced gameplay built with the robust infrastructure of eSports and powered by blockchain for the ultimate competitive gaming experience. A game like this allows players to compete at professional standards and earn rewards.
Building games on the blockchain also improves player security. These games can store the account information of millions of players using encrypted ledgers. This makes them safer than traditional video games which are susceptible to hacking, with a high chance of exposing players’ personal information.
The Future of Blockchain Gaming
I was surprised to see how much the blockchain gaming industry has grown since 2021. Trends such as Play-to-Earn (P2E), Move-to-Earn (M2E), Telegram mini games , etc. have had their time in the sun. Powered by the TON blockchain, mini-games are the trend currently being explored. These apps are built on Telegram, with powerful P2E mechanisms. New trends will continue to emerge regularly in an industry like this. Some key features to watch out for in the future of blockchain gaming include:
- Interoperability: Soon, players will be able to seamlessly transfer game assets and collectibles from one game to another. Interoperable blockchain gaming ecosystems would create the ultimate competitive gaming experience.
- P2E models: Although this model exists and continues to grow in popularity, I believe the model will be duplicated and improved. Players would be allowed to earn real value for their time, but this time with improved functionality like interoperability.
- Metaverse: A growing feature of blockchain games is integration with the metaverse. Powered by metaverse technology, these gaming platforms create an immersive virtual environment in which players can easily interact and participate in gaming and economic activities.
- Regulatory landscape: The more blockchain gaming companies create these games and launch them in different countries, the more essential navigating regulatory frameworks and compliance requirements becomes. This is particularly important for the long-term sustainability of the blockchain gaming ecosystem.
- Performance and scalability: Addressing scalability challenges is a crucial need to ensure the growth of blockchain gaming. This is true for the blockchain gaming scene as it is for the rest of the industry. Today, new scaling solutions are being developed to improve the performance of blockchains, while reducing their costs. Layer 2 and, more recently, Layer 3 blockchains (built on the foundations of Layer 1 and Layer 2 solutions) are good examples of these scaling solutions.
Last word
The future of the blockchain gaming industry looks bright. Challenges and opportunities will always be a constant feature of the industry, at least until we get past these early stages. I dare say that platforms like Sidus Heroes and QORPO, a decade from now, will be at the forefront of blockchain gaming, and will be remembered as those who demonstrated the potential of the technology to transform the gaming sector.
