In today’s article, we’ll talk about NFT games and their diversity, look at options for making money from them, and talk about what the future holds for the games industry with the advent of blockchain technology.
According to a study by Digital Media Report, by 2025 the global video games market will generate $220 billion in revenue, up from $154 billion in 2021. The video game market is one of the most lucrative and competitive markets. For this reason, the introduction of new technologies and solutions is demanded by major companies and game developers.
Ubisoft, a giant in the gaming industry, founded the “Ubisoft Entrepreneurs Lab” gas pedal, which involved developers of blockchain games such as Sorare, Axie Infinity, Skyweaver and others. The goal of the program is to provide support and opportunities for startups to increase their visibility and expertise when developing games using augmented and virtual reality, as well as blockchain technology.
Gaming industry legend Atari, in April 2021, announced the creation of two new divisions: Atari Gaming and Atari Blockchain. The Gaming division focuses on games, particularly the retro gaming market, while the Blockchain division is dedicated to exploring blockchain and NFT technology, as well as supporting Atari’s ecosystem and its own token.
The largest companies in the traditional gaming market are interested in introducing new technologies and developing innovative solutions. So the Blockchain Game Alliance was created to promote and disseminate information about blockchain technology, and to build gaming communities and ecosystems with opportunities to share experiences and knowledge. Thanks to the BGA organization, a new NFT standard called Blockchain Bean Asset is being developed, with the possibility of decentralized content storage, digital signatures and other features. It’s worth noting that the alliance includes companies like Ubisoft, Fig, video card manufacturer AMD, developer community ConsenSys and others.
My Neighbor Alice
The multiplayer game My Neighbor Alice is an open world that can be traveled through with an avatar, and allows players to acquire virtual islands, collect various collectibles, trade and sell them, and interact with other players. Collectibles and island plots are represented as NFT tokens and can be used both for in-game processes and for sale on marketplaces.
ALICE’s own utility token is used as in-game currency, a control token via DAO, and as rewards and rewards for completing quests. Features of the game include the development of a storyline with multiple quests, as well as the ability for users to work together to achieve common goals. It is also worth noting that in January 2021 the game was tested on the Steam platform with early investors, and its launch for everyone is scheduled for spring 2022.
Decentraland
Decentraland positions itself as a virtual reality platform based on Ethereum, allowing to create and monetize content and applications. Decentraland is a game world called “Metaverse,” divided into plots – LANDs with their own coordinates, which are NFT tokens of the ERC-721 standard. These areas are purchased for in-game MANA tokens, and some of them are combined into areas with common themes and interests.
In addition to acquiring plots, users can trade items and real estate, place artwork on their plot, create 3D scenes and applications, place advertising banners, and create content. It’s worth noting that for many new players, entering the game can cost a pretty hefty sum, since land plots are already valued at thousands of dollars.
Prospectors
Prospectors is a wild west style economic strategy game created on the EOS blockchain and designed to create real trade relationships. The essence of the game is building mines, mining, producing and trading assets, and earning real money by selling the mined assets.
Farsite
Farsite is a strategy game with a space bias and an open world with items in the form of NFT tokens. The game is in beta testing and allows players to explore the universe by interacting with each other, get collectibles, spaceships and improvements, as well as exchange or sell them on the in-game exchange. The game operates on the Ethereum network with Polygon and zk-relay integration, thus providing faster transaction processing and smart contracts, as well as increased security and additional gameplay features.
CryptoBlades
CryptoBlades is a browser-based RPG on the BSC network with NFT support. The internal SKILL token is used to buy weapons and upgrades, trade or exchange. The game currently has about 400,000 users.
A list of blockchain games is available on Dappradar, where you can analyze by network, number of users, or amount of funds.
Play to Earn games are gaining popularity not only because of the extra income opportunity, but also because of the hype around DeFi and NFT. It is worth remembering that to get tangible income from games, you need to invest your own money, time and effort, as well as have some luck to get rare items that can be sold for other cryptocurrency or fiat. The blockchain and NFT game market is just developing, but you can already see how the market is filled with games of different genres with their own features and capabilities. In the near future, the growth of this segment of the crypto-industry will grow, and the number of users who earn money playing games will only increase.