Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have already changed the way several industries run for good. Thanks to NFTs, artists now have a better way to communicate with their fans and make money. The same goes for content creators and everyone else who has a physical asset that they can sell.
However, another major area where we’re seeing more NFT action is with blockchain games. Axie Infinity, Decentraland, The Sandbox, and many more are just a few examples of them so popular games today use NFTs as a means of incentivizing people.
2022 is widely expected to be the year when we see more growth in blockchain gaming and the entertainment ecosystem. So, it is worth asking why these games might need NFTs and how the appeal came along.
Building player-centric economies
There are several reasons why blockchain games and NFTs have become a thing. One of the most important is the opportunity to create economies where players get the maximum power.
In the traditional gaming model, items that could be purchased were usually limited to in-game use via payers and their accounts. If the player’s account got stolen or hacked – or perhaps even if the player got bored and was unwilling to continue with the game – then it’s all over. All the investment in the account has essentially gone to waste. Gamers have continued with this system primarily because they didn’t believe there was an alternative – until NFTs came along.
By turning these in-game assets to NFTs, games are creating a world where players get to own everything they win or buy. Instead of just having some new accessory or feature that is pretty rare, you can now actually sell it and make money off it – especially if you’re looking to move to another game. Whether on a secondary market or in the game’s in-house marketplace, your ability to sell these NFTs means that you get maximum value for them.
Integration is still being implemented, but a lot of games will eventually come to see why NFTs make the most sense for their players.
General liquidity boosts NFT appeal
It might not necessarily be the most ethical reason, but game developers can also take advantage of the general appeal that NFTs have gotten to grow their ecosystems. Games like Axie Infinity and Decentraland already showed that NFTs have a place in gaming. And, with the world currency being enamored with NFTs, more people are looking to get their hands on these tokens seemingly every day.
This presents an opportunity for game developers to build with these tokens in mind and commercialize their games. At the end of the day, the most popular games will be those that can spot trends and capitalize on them to achieve fame. Right now, NFTs seem like the best trend to capitalize on if you’re looking to optimize the popularity of your game.
Today, we’ve already seen an increase in the entry points to GameFi. Meta DAO Guild – a GameFi incubator – focuses on offering easy access for people looking to get into GameFi and thrive there. Meta DAO Guild allows players to come in, access the funding and training they need to play these play-to-earn games, and actually make money.
Players looking to join the Meta DAO Guild can watch out for its whitelist on April 10 and public sale on April 17.
The existence of such a company shows that there is a real appeal for people looking to play blockchains games with NFTs. Right now, the market seems ripe for any opportunistic game developers to take advantage of.
Bringing an age of game interoperability
On its own, interoperability is a pretty big concept. But, it could be a revolutionary one – especially when you consider the gaming ecosystem.
One of the many qualities of NFTs is that they are built and hosted on blockchains. Your NFT collection can be used across multiple platforms because it is hosted on a single chain. This means that the NFT theoretically can also be used across different games.
So, imagine game publishers with more than one popular game – or even famous names like “Call Of Duty” and the likes. These games have multiple variants, and they’re all connected in some way or the other. With NFTs, players could be able to use the same collection across different games to provide more of a uniform feeling.
We already covered how NFTs allow players to take control of their in-game assets from the publishers. Now, these items could, in theory, be transferred across games using your account. So, if your favorite game developer closes one game and launches another, you could simply move your NFTs from the closed one and into the new game. Play on, then.
Of course, there are still doubts concerning how far this could go. Some have questioned the practicality of such a move, while others believe that it might hamper creativity. But, interoperability is a major part of gaming culture, and NFTs could feed right into that.
Fundraising for game developers
Then, there’s the financial incentive that game developers get with NFTs. They could issue these tokens as a way of raising money to build their games, making NFTs essentially like Kickstarter.
Today, the gaming landscape is getting crowded. This means that the opportunities for you to effectively raise money can be slim at best. But, if your game is good and people love it, then you could issue NFTs and use those to raise money instead.
All you have to do is incorporate these tokens into the game and sell them, giving players specific perks and attributes. With the demand for NFTs right now, game developers should be able to effectively raise money and get enough resources to build out more features for the games over time. More money, more development.
