Will NFT Games Shape The Entire Gaming Industry Around Themselves?
NFT games are a relatively new and rapidly growing phenomenon in the entire gaming industry and they include the two things that everybody desires in life: Entertainment and Income. Although NFTs (Non Fungible Tokens) were first introduced back in 2012, they gained popularity during the 2020 NFT Revolution, which was driven by marketplaces such as Rarible and Opensea. Not only did this revolution change the digital art creators’ lives, but also created virtual scarcity, and most importantly- forced us to think over our definition of ownership. With this article, let’s find out whether NFT games hold the potential of shaping the entire gaming industry around themselves.
What makes NFT Games different?
Participating in the NFT in-game ecosystem allows players to add value to the game producers and so to one-another while also earning in-game assets as rewards. These rewards include items such as weaponry, tokens, virtual land, NFTs, skins, and more. Because of the decentralized structure of NFT games, users can trade the in-game items in exchange for real money outside the virtual environment of the game. As a result, the gaming industry, which previously restricted in-game content to centralized systems that could not be shared with others, has finally undergone a significant change.
Is the market-share of NFT Games rising?
Despite the instability in the cryptomarket in 2022, many NFT games stayed afloat, and several even beat their previously set records from last year. Illuvium, for instance, is worth $73 million, Decentraland is valued at $1.72 billion, and Axie Infinity $1.56 billion, adding over $200 million according to Coinmarketcap. The market value for NFT games is expected to grow at a CAGR of 22.4%, from $765 million (2021) to $3619.7 million (2028) according to a report by Business Research. It clearly shows how NFT games are poised to transform and accelerate the gaming industry’s growth.
Factors influencing the rise of NFT Games:
Increasing Popularity- The beauty of NFT gaming is that it creates limited and unique tokens that can be swapped for other NFTs in an immutable decentralized ledger that runs on blockchain technology. It gives NFT gamers the actual ownership by allowing them to build, trade, or even implement non fungible tokens within a game, where on the other hand the developers create smart contracts which line the rules for the utilization of NFTs.
Breathtaking Phenomenon- By giving players more participatory and immersive experience, NFT games are breaking barriers in the gaming industry where earlier, traditional games kept the players confined to playing inside the limitations specified by the game makers. Furthermore, a gamer gets incentivized for merely playing the game, which keeps him motivated and provides a more personalized game experience.
Ownership & Transparency- NFT games are transparent and decentralized by their nature, allowing gamers to influence how a particular game evolves in future while letting them democratically participate in the game decisions. Moreover, unlike traditional games, where the in-game economic system is entirely under the control of the game developer, all digital assets held by players remain their own.
Income with Entertainment- NFT games hold the potential of generating revenue for both- Gamers & Game Developers. This concept has already proven to be successful with several free-to-play games such as Axie Infinity or Reward Hunters. Furthermore, creators can contribute throughout every phase of the process, from generating new assets to setting their value, and earn more from secondary trades in the form of royalties.
Building Communities- NFT games have the ability to foster a sense of community among their participants. Gamers in traditional gaming frequently remain isolated from each other, interacting only through their digital avatars. However, with NFT games, individuals can interact on a more personalized scale as they collaborate to achieve common goals. This could lead to long-term friendships and even in-person meets.
With new advancements in technology being made, the day is not far when NFT games will match the immersive gaming experience of traditional games such as Grand Theft Auto or Fortnite. With its possible integration with the metaverse through VR (Virtual Reality) devices, it even holds the potential to revolutionize the entire gaming industry. More and more companies, from different niches are investing in the NFT gaming world, as seen recently by Epillo Health Systems, a healthcare conglomerate that introduced the world’s first blockchain smartwatch with in-built NFT gaming. As the company expects to integrate with the metaverse in the times coming, it would be interesting to see if Epillo could be the next big player of the decentralized gaming universe. In the big picture, NFT games are likely to become more prevalent as tokenization gains momentum in the future and may substitute the traditional games once and for all.
