Blockchain technology has made major advancements in recent years, especially in the financial industry, thanks to its decentralised, distributed, and irreversible ledger.
Although this technology is still in its infancy, it has enormous implications across many industries, particularly the gaming sector.
Over 2.7 billion people play video games worldwide, making it one of the “hottest” industries right now. This represents one-third of the world’s population. In 2020, its market value will be $159.3 billion.
Although it might seem improbable, blockchain technology has a lot to offer the gaming business, and the two really work very well together.
The game runs smoothly
The gaming industry is widespread around the world.
Microtransactions and in-game purchases by millions of users require expensive payment gateways and currency translation and processing.
Such fees can be removed or much decreased using blockchain. Regardless of how small or huge the transaction is, it may still be done over a blockchain for a very tiny charge.
And all of this may occur quite quickly, giving players a seamless experience.
To own it, you must first play it!
The question of who owns virtual assets has been up for discussion for a while now in the gaming world.
Despite the fact that game developers allow in-game purchases of virtual goods, players do not actually own these goods.
With blockchain-based technology, there may be a transfer of ownership from developers to users, increasing the player’s value of the game and its assets.
After spending endless hours playing a game, players can now own the stuff they win and utilise them however they see fit.
These goods would be legitimate, easily distributable, and unchangeable because they would be supported by the blockchain.
Economic Gamification
Blockchain technology has the potential to open up many new and exciting business opportunities for gamers.
Users pay for games or make in-game purchases, and developers benefit.
Blockchain allows gamers to use virtual goods they’ve obtained in-game in the real world.
Age of Rust by SpacePirate is one such example; it offers players “Enjin Coin” (based on the ETH chain), which can then be exchanged for gift cards, uber credits, etc.
This opens up a whole new world for gamers, who may now profit in real life from their endless gaming sessions.
This is how the “gamification economy” actually appears.
Several well-known games that use blockchain technology
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CryptoKitties
This game is the first blockchain-based game. Players can acquire, breed, purchase, and sell cats with CryptoKitties’ Ethereum (ETH) blockchain-based platform.
This game, created by Axiom Labs, revolutionised internet gaming by incorporating some previously unheard-of paradigm-shifting elements.
The game’s user base grew to the point that it made up 30% of the traffic on the Ethereum blockchain.
Enough spoken to suggest that the corporation received millions of dollars in investments as a result of the game’s success.
The company doubled its valuation in November 2018 as it raised an additional $18 million in a venture round headed by Venrock.
Some CryptoKitties kittens sold for $300,000, making it the first blockchain-based game to grant players complete ownership.
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Spell of Genesis
The first mobile game built on blockchain Trading cards and point-and-shoot arcade games are combined in Spell of Genesis.
The game was released in 2017 and was created by the Swiss-based game studio EverdreamSoft. Spell of Genesis, as opposed to CryptoKitties, which held an investment round, performed an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) of its cryptocurrency token, BitCrystals, in 2015 and raised roughly $300,000 to launch the game’s development.
To build a “team” to battle opponents, players can gather and combine cards in the game.
Additionally, these cards can be combined utilising the “Blockchainization” method. In essence, this enables users to transform their virtual in-game cards into tangible blockchain assets.
Spells of Genesis is a multi-chain game that is right now supported by the blockchains of Ethereum, Bitcoin, and Klaytn.
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Age of Rust
A first-person, single-player game called Age of Rust combines cyberpunk and the post-apocalypse.
The entire version of the game is still releasing by SpacePirate Games, which is the company that is creating it.
As soon as the complete version is launching, players have the chance to win a treasure worth up to 20 BTC. But be aware that it would be rather well concealing.
Enjin Coin, an Ethereum-based token, is the in-game currency, and all cryptocurrency items are saving in the player’s wallet.
Any developer from anywhere can access the player records stored on the Ethereum Game Development because blockchains are essentially massive, open databases.
Conclusion
Blockchain offers a much-needed solution to the gaming industry’s security and control issues.
Gods Unchained, Age of Rust, and Spell of Genesis are video games using blockchain technology.
Thanks to games like CryptoKitties, which made millions of dollars in sales and showed that businesses can make money while also giving players a way to acquire things they can use in the real world, we now know that this is possible.
The future of gaming is bright as more businesses and players take advantage of blockchain technology. Who knows, maybe this will help the technology gain widespread adoption.