NFT games: dead or alive?
- Demand for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) has grown over the years, paying total trading volume reached 10.67 billion U.Suint in Q3 2021 – up from just under a million dollars two years ago.
- NFT games contributing heavily with in-game items added $2.3 billion to overall trading volume over the same time frame.
- In short, NFT games make it possible to combine gaming and finance with both a financial incentive for users along the lines of play-to-earn.
- Crucially, game developers are also using blockchain technology to issue gaming-specific digital assets that gamers can trade with one another or sell.
- In general, the market trends point to NFT games being tomorrow’s winners as they gain adoption.
Introduction
You may have heard about the new blockchain technology craze NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) these days. These digitally signed single instance items were made popular by their record on a blockchain, and unique digital provenance: they can not be reproduced or altered (basically impossible to steal counterfeit!). Non-fungible tokens can encompass any digital art, music tunes you make, or a video, alchemy found within games, etc. Their uniqueness lies in the fact that neither creators nor buyers give up their intellectual property over these assets.
In this blog post, we go into the recent changes that have been happening in NFT-based games; from rapid successes to devastating disasters, and how play-and-earn has completely altered the gamer scene. The study will explore the hottest features in NFT games in or near 2024; what kind of hot-selling assets we could have; which titles might be most popular among the masses; and emerging challenges within this realm that must get curt over soon. To close the conversation, we will shift focus to looking forward: whether playing NFTs will still exist in our future by 2024 or just an ancient thing.
The current outlook of NFT Games
At this moment it appears to be exciting NFT market has been on fire. In the first quarter of 2021, NFTs had a trading volume of $10.67 billion between them like forex training. That is a massive leap — 704% more than what was traded just prior to that timeframe! In other words, $2.3 billion of the total revenue earned came from in-game items- taking out a decent slice from this big pie! This is truly indicative of the excitement people hold in NFT games and points to a complete overhaul of how gaming could be done.
Evolution and Growth in the Past Years
These types of games have really been exploding in the last couple of years, and I think they will get quite a bit bigger. Games such as Axie Infinity, Gods Unchained, and Alien Worlds have exploded in popularity this last year with millions of users on their platforms. In particular, Axie Infinity has become big making billions on the trades and getting its players cash rewards to play. They are pioneering a new era for video gaming and blockchain technology. This combination of elements is giving birth to a new frontier where background art collectors gamers can own and freely huck their digital stuff. After all, NFT games are still relatively young and have plenty of room to grow in the game industry.
Major Milestones and Setbacks
NFT games have had a rocky road. Here’s what happened:
Together with Apex Game Studios, they turned heads in the NFT game world and really brought some charisma to it – enough even for investors. They raised a ton of money and they got people playing their games.
It did not help that game assets have some insanely high prices due to the hype surrounding a few NFT games. Thus casting doubts on the millions spent purchasing them since it was debatable if there was any real demand or application hindered by those high prices.
Besides that, Governments also started looking into NFT games as they wanted to know what is this new thing happening in the world. This made things a bit more complicated for both game developers as well players had to follow and respect so many rules.
Despite these issues, NFT gaming is undeniably expanding and evolving, producing new prospects for gamers as well as game developers. So, while we are all excited to see what comes out of this industry in the years ahead hype around NFTs amongst gamers and opportunities upon apex studios and other nascent names within the sector where innovation is potentially limitless despite regulatory oversights.
Play-to-Earn Model Explained
The play-to-earn model has really disrupted the world of NFT gaming. Using this solution, the player can earn money playing games. That’s for all intents and purposes working a side hustle, in passive income format of course. Players have to do a lot of tasks or challenges while playing these games and in return, they get some tokens or other cool digital stuff that can be sold out and traded into real cash. All these things combined result in a way for gamers to use their skill and time investment into real money, it sort of creates another genre, where people can make an income from the gaming universe. All over that, this entire play-to-earn thing works with crypto and cryptocurrency which sort of layers onto it to make it even more usable because there’s an opportunity these digital networks are going to find value.
How it Works for Players and Developers
Both the gamer and game maker get good news with this play-to-earn setup. Gamers have an opportunity to play games and win a token or other cool digital thing by winning the challenge. As a result, they can sell these tokens to make real money; additionally, those cards could be traded – this is an interesting idea of how games continue to become profitable. Better yet, if the value of those tokens increases in time.
On the other side of things, it’s good for game developers as well – they have a new way to monetize their games and promote more people playing. Developers attract more players by potentially encouraging developers to simply give away valuable digital items that a player can earn and then trade or sell. It keeps their game world a tad more lively, and compelling and gives them some money on the side.
In recent developments, we have seen this concept being discussed a lot in GameFi, which is the new sector where gaming meets finance and lets its players play games while also participating in a decentralized financial platform via their gameplay. It’s a win-win scenario having fun playing your favorite games and possibly making some money at the same time, ideal for everyone!
Challenges Facing NFT Games
These NFT games definitely sound promising but they sure do have some large flames to leap over. This is the only thing holding them back from doing so:
With regards to scalability, however, the more people that play NFT games only complicates it further. The games are powered by blockchain technology, which may not be able to process or accommodate everyone who wants to play at once.
Then there’s sustainability. At the moment, NFT games are 100% hot and that has to be concerning some people for their long-term viability. There are instances where simply because other people want a game asset, then that item is somehow a desirable commodity.
In addition to this, we also have regulations. As the rules behind NFTs are still being written (literally how you sell them, tax or explain them) it creates a potential headache for both those who make these games and well as play in such titles.
The longevity and prosperity of the NFT gaming industry is contingent on solving these problems. This could mean everything. From building the tech behind blockchain gaming to writing laws as regulators. They all need to come together and find ways so things are seamless and remain fair to players jumping into worlds filled with never-before-seen digital loot.
Scalability and engagement issues
When progressing through the ranks of play-to-earn NFT gaming, two important factors doggedly follow you; scaling issues and sustaining long-term gameplay. Higher play volume on these games can push the underlying blockchain technology to its limits due to the processing speed of transactions. This could lead to waiting times and high costs for making game moves, which isn’t great for players’ fun. Plus, you have to concern yourself with the ongoing value of NFTs and in-game items. It is also likely that their value will fluctuate primarily based on fads rather than genuine demand – which makes it significantly important for many players to persist as well as continue being excited about the game. Here game creators have a large challenge to ensure that something you purchase, which is largely zero cost as well from in-game earning of currency (that’s another topic for later) has value – or perceived cool – wanted so players continue playing and invest money into.
The challenges of regulation and player-well (or ill) being
With regards to NFTs, the rules are not yet clear – and so things can get complicated for those who play these games. The laws that govern the sale, trade, and taxation of NFTs might mean different things based on where you are located in the world: potential implications for whether or not these types of marketplace could be allowed at all legal. Gamers hope will be able to secure private Items so that they remain digital.
Therefore it is very important to implement regulations around NFTs and put steps forward for consumers’ protection, by doing this step we can prevent any possible controversy or issues head-on as you get going with your gaming affair in virtual space.
The Future of NFT Gaming
So it appears that bright days of NFT gaming are ahead. Really games are going to be a lot cooler, and this is only being enabled by the fact that technology – not just blockchain – becoming able to handle more but simply getting better. We can expect to see this idea of playing games for staff continue to grow, providing new ways for players to profit from their gaming habits.
What happens in this entire area as it matures? All of its difficulties are worked out will undoubtedly develop into some major online gaming facet for everyone to have experiences with other similarly interested people who share the same interests within virtual lands.
Expert Predictions and Trends
The new breed of NFT games is catching the attention of those in-the-know, and speculating how these types of games can evolve further. A lot of them believe the game market will expand due to NFT, or there may be a big place for the play in games.
One thing that is becoming apparent is when looking at how NFT games are released and what people then follow up with these game developers are getting spanked for. More than just a romp, they indicate where things are going for both players and investors.
More recently, there has been an emerging spate of RPG NFTs (short for role-playing games) and other MMORPGs (massively multiplayer online role-playing games). You are strapped to a chair by bindings set up like on your turntable. The players love to play these and they do such that you could lose yourself in tales, understand the complex deprived of any tricks or two gameplay logics then eventually bring internal circle. Combining NFTs with a kind of RPG, or go full MMORPG and you have the perfect blend between rarity, gaming potential for winners…and even losers.
Upcoming technological advancements
It will be interesting to watch the world of NFT gaming evolve as new tech emerges. This will make purchasing and trading of NFTs a more user-friendly experience for all players it assembles with its technology riding on top of the games we already enjoy, thus allowing blockchain to blend into something that does not stand out like a sore thumb.
Also: cool waves where games will start building native tokens for gamers on top of that. You can cash these in to improve your game or treat them like a currency within the game itself. Integrating such tokens massively increases the sense of stakes for NFT games.
As such, we see these upgrades in blockchain technology and gamer tokens are becoming more prominent faster with updates across the board highlighting some interesting things coming up for players.
NFT game sharper: economic impact
Games based on NFTs are aggressively breaking the gaming space. Thanks to their popularity, there is a lot of income coming in from the digital assets trade like game pieces. This is good news for all concerned – literally low down to the game manufacturers and content creators, through to the players.
This would provide an opportunity for players to make money on the side from some of their in-game activities, or perhaps even accumulate wealth while having fun playing games. Therefore, it is not only a matter of having fun with video games; in addition to this NFTs will become increasingly important from an economic point of view in the gaming environment.
In the Gaming Industry
NFT games are really causing quite a stir in the gaming community! First of all, these are million-dollar games that move through large transactions. On the one hand, this is good news for big-name and smaller teams building games because selling NFT-ready digital items allows developers to earn more money not previously possible.
And then there is the next generation of gamers that are coming to play since they can win cash and also get cool stuff. This in return has seen more and more individuals take to gaming, leading communities to form as thousands rally around individual titles.
But it doesn’t end there – the quality of NFT games has inspired game developers to think up all sorts of new and interesting ways for us to play with blockchain technology while allowing us to own digital wares. We are sure with so many developers flooding the space of NFTs some radical games cannot be as bizarre anymore which may very well alter our perception in gaming altogether.
On Players and Communities
NFT video games are changing the gaming landscape, undoubtedly improving what you can for players as well as how a party of game fans coalesces. In any case, NFT in games do allow you to earn some money passively on the side by simply owning and trading valuable NFTs. One of which is the play-to-earn NFT game setup, as people can get some rewards while playing or sell their NFTs for real cash. This is a gateway for gamers to generate an income and become wealthy just by doing what they enjoy most.
This also tends to create very strong and invested communities on top of it all. These communities are linked together through shared interests such as gameplay strategies and NFT trading. They give a sense of community to people, the safety and comfort in knowing that all your new friends are on this crazy NFT gaming journey together.
The Social and Community Side of NFT Gaming
Playing games is not just about playing the game, and certainly, in NFT gaming you also meet people who share your values. These games have built vibrant fan communities that love posting and sharing tips and stories on social media.
These groups are where the players collaborate and exchange strategies. Here social capital becomes a big deal — you know, that good stuff of friendship and teammate-ness. Strong relationships in NFT gaming can lead to unique opportunities such as access to inside information or meeting other individuals who understand exactly how you like to game. Understanding the NFT meaning game is crucial as it helps to navigate the intricacies of this emerging market.
Creating a Network and Social Capital
Friendship means the world in NFT gaming landscapes, so it’s very important to keep a crisp reputation. Joining gaming communities can introduce you to fellow players, industry employees, and even celebrities.
Through these connections, you are able to pool your collective knowledge within the gaming scene together and seize opportunities that arise. These networks are used when gamers want to know about awesome things they might otherwise pass up, acquire secret discounts only a few get, and team up on new concepts.
Something like this could be how people can get some kind of a headstart among others in the already very competitive world of NFT games and possibly will lead them down exciting paths to uniqueness when playing…
Conclusion
The future looks like a blend of challenges and significant opportunities for NFT gaming as an at-large concept in its entirety, with new innovative content and digital reality realms continually being unleashed. This really makes this seem like the kind of shake-up that will affect both how games are made, and well we play them in ways not even we can predict yet. The growing pains dealt with by the players, developers, and concerns from gamers may not go as easy but it seems that the idea of earning while playing will continue to grab headlines in both good and bad ways.
Since we’re already contracting for 2024, here are some of the hottest games in NFT without any special function to move up with. Choosing an NFT game to throw your hat into means considering many things, and being alert enough not to fall for common (or new) pitfalls. How people assemble in these games is going to be crucial for establishing solid relationships that will ensure everyone succeeds.
