Blockchain technology has generated a flurry of innovative applications in several areas since the introduction of the Ethereum network in 2015. What began as a means of making digital payments and a safe way to invest in cryptocurrencies (except XRP, which is not based on a blockchain) has grown into a full-fledged industry that has touched areas like banking, healthcare, and supply chain management, among many others.
In addition, blockchain is making inroads into one of the most profitable entertainment industries: gaming. Today, we’ll look at the possibilities of blockchain in the gaming business and how it may benefit both players and developers. We’ll go through how NFTs operate and how they may be used to create a decentralized, global game economy or metaverse.
In this article, we’ll look at how two large (in terms of market potential) industries may work together to disrupt the market and raise income.
Because game assets are almost as valuable as tangible goods, the blockchain provides clear proof of provenance for particular virtual things, making it a potentially helpful tool in today’s gaming industry. It can offer a decentralized asset market, verified scarcity of virtual items and collectables, quick and secure payment networks, and the opportunity for developers to monetize their work appropriately. In addition, blockchain-based digital tokens save money, which is especially useful in e-sports for generating local in-game currency and allowing seamless transactions on decentralized markets.
However, blockchain has grown into its industry, with several companies exploring high-end gaming experiences based on the technology.
We’ll go through each business separately first, then look at how blockchain and gaming might work together.
Gaming Industry
According to new data from the Entertainment Software Association and The NPD Group, video game revenue reached a new high of $43.8 billion in 2018. The total blockchain gaming token market currently sits at around $488 million, including prominent names like Enjin (ENJ) and Theta Token (THETA), up 18 percent from previous years and surpassing the projected total global box office for the film industry.
Global gamers spent $138 billion on gaming in 2018, and blockchain will help increase that amount above $500 billion. One approach is to provide players with more roles and methods to participate, which will pique their interest and keep them engaged for a more extended period of time.
Compared to other businesses, the gaming industry has swiftly expanded the number and generated significant income, from cassette video games to PlayStation and now AR games (Pokemon). We will talk more about the gaming business and how blockchain may help it develop, but first, we will look at the potential power of the blockchain industry on its own.
Blockchain Industry
Let’s take a look at the most cutting-edge technology over the last three years. Blockchain technology is at a crossroads, with its very existence being called into doubt.
People, on the other hand, understand and have observed the power and promise of blockchain technology. Several notable assaults on the Ethereum blockchain have occurred, including DAO, Parity, and others. The technology’s existence and acceptance are still in jeopardy as a result of these attacks.
In this piece, we will not discuss currency (bitcoin, ether) or tokens (ICOs); instead, we will look at blockchain uses other than crowdfunding.
We’ll begin with a SWOT analysis of Blockchain technology before connecting it to the gaming industry.
Strengths
- Distributed
- Decentralized
- Trustless
- Immutable
Weaknesses
- Scalability
- Transaction cost
- Potential attacks
Opportunities
- It gives back control to the user, e.g. instead of Google and Facebook using your data; you can control who gets access to your data. All these permissions will be stored on the blockchain.
- The world is becoming more digital.
- Tokenization
- Jobs creation
Threats
- Scalability issues: too many transactions (overload), although several solutions are present.
- Unwanted centralization: mining pools and large mining farms.
- Quantum computers (in the future) can decrypt data.
- Hype and fast-changing environment.
- There is always the possibility of mining attacks and hacks.
We may deduce from the preceding discussion that blockchain technology has a very high capability since we can observe individuals getting increasingly interested in blockchain technology due to traditional technologies’ lack of qualities such as immutable data and decentralization.
Blockchain and Gaming Industry together
Let’s look at how blockchain technology may help the gaming industry develop and get even bigger.
Card games, digital cat breeding, and digital casinos with games of chance profited from the absence of centralized administration in the early days of blockchain gaming. However, game creators are rapidly venturing into the worlds of multiverses and massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs). When the gaming business moves toward world creation, where no single player can define the rules, the advantages of decentralization and asset provenance become increasingly significant.
As games have become more collaborative and cooperative in the internet age, there has been a heavy emphasis on justice and trust. When a large gathering of diverse players from many global societies, centralized administration is usually avoided since it is easy to become discriminatory.
We believe that the traditional gaming sector is an excellent candidate for blockchain integration since it can enhance blockchain acceptance and popularity while also enhancing the present gaming industry.
Blockchain Games will also have a significant impact on the Dapp ecosystem. By concentrating on the challenges of the current traditional video game industry, blockchain integration will transform the gaming industry.
- On-chain governance that is both fair and trustworthy, with the appropriate incentive structure.
- self-distribution networks
- Virtual assets in-game are disseminated with legitimate ownership and without the requirement for trust.
- Improved gameplay design and interaction with the virtual environment.
We can use native tokens (non-fungible tokens) for a specific blockchain game; native tokens have a variety of applications in blockchain games, which we will cover later.
If an in-game object is a non-fungible token (NFT), it can be registered on the blockchain to verify ownership and validity. As a result, new game design options emerge. In-game items such as a rare sword can be stored on the blockchain in this manner. After then, the player retains ownership of the sword indefinitely. This idea is powerful because it offers the user a sense of tangibleness and exclusivity – they don’t just have an object in the game; they own it.
The same player could then sell the item for fiat or cryptocurrency to profit or keep it for bragging rights. The introduction of NFTs was the first step in the evolution of blockchain gaming, but it is far from over. It has far-reaching consequences.
You may have a lot of questions if you want to develop your own blockchain game.
Is it preferable to create a new blockchain game or to use blockchain technology to rebuild an old game?
It is totally up to you to build a new blockchain game or alter an existing conventional match. Let me first describe the advantages of recreating a current game on the blockchain.
- By reimagining an existing game using blockchain:
- Users now have additional options.
- Users will have the opportunity to swap assets.
- The relationship between game publishers and gamers is being rebuilt (kick out centralization).
Also Read: How Will BlockChain Transform The Revolutionize Gaming Industry
