Ever since the invention of blockchain technology, it has been making waves in various industries, including the gaming sector. The unique ability to decentralize processes and enhance digital ownership has made blockchain transformative in the realm of user-generated content (UGC). Blockchain continues to reshape how players create, trade, and profit from their in-game assets and creations, continuing to unlock new opportunities for developers and gamers.
The Growth of Blockchain in Gaming
Blockchain in gaming has been an ongoing integration process for years. In the past couple of years, blockchain gaming has been attracting large investments. In Q2 of 2024 alone, blockchain gaming saw USD 1.1 billion in investments, which is a 314% increase from the previous quarter. This is signaling the potential for blockchain gaming to become a mainstream force in the industry. Games are increasingly using Web3 technologies to allow players to both participate and truly own in-game assets, including characters, skins, and entire maps.
Two pioneering blockchain games that are worth mentioning are “The Sandbox” and “Shrapnel”. Both are examples of the shift, as for example “The Sandbox” enables users to create and trade digital items in a virtual world. “Shrapnel” allows players to build custom maps by using non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which can be monetized. Both games are leveraging blockchain to allow users control over generated content, either through monetization or ownership, which helps build thriving in-game economies.
Crypto Wallets: The Key to Manage In-Game Assets
To ensure the use and management of in-game assets happen in a safe manner, players rely on crypto wallets. These can be visualized as digital wallets in which you store the cryptocurrencies and NFTs representing ownership of in-game items. There are many operators of crypto wallets offering different types of wallets. This is why research into the best crypto wallet is important to compare and contrast the level of security, type of blockchain used, and the type of crypto wallet offered. By using sites comparing various crypto wallets, it is possible for gamers and players to gain earnings from gambling activities to ensure that their online assets are secure.
The integration of crypto wallets adds a layer of complexity while also offering users more control over their assets. For a decentralized gaming ecosystem, wallets are essential since they enable players to manage their digital possessions without the need for third-party services.
Empowering Players Through Digital Ownership
At the core of the integration of blockchain technology and gaming is digital ownership. Where traditional games allow players to spend hours creating content and amassing virtual items without real-world benefits, blockchain technology ensures users can maintain true ownership over their digital assets. In other words, players can trade, sell, and rent out assets across different platforms and games.
One example is NFTs in blockchain-based games. NFTs in blockchain-based games represent ownership of digital items. After a player acquires or creates an NFT, it is stored on the blockchain, which means the ownership is cryptographically verified. Such innovations mean that players can capitalize on creativity, which fosters a new level of engagement among players, as they are directly involved in a game’s economy.
Monetizing User-Generated Content
Blockchain has also brought about a change in gaming through the ability to monetize user-generated content (UGC). Some traditional games such as “Minecraft” and “Roblox” has always allowed players to create and share their own content, blockchain has now enabled taking this further. Now creators are enabled to directly profit from their work.
Various games have built-in NFT marketplaces, on which players can buy, sell, and trade user-generated content. Players are enabled to design virtual real estate, avatars, and entire game experiences, which can then be sold to other players for cryptocurrency. This has resulted in the opportunity for players to create micro-economies within virtual worlds. Blockchain technology is also leveraged to facilitate peer-to-peer transactions with no need for intermediaries, which ensures that creators receive fair compensation for their work.
Connecting Multiple Games and Platforms Through Interoperability
Blockchain gaming is also leveraging the advantage of interoperability. This allows assets and characters to be used across multiple games, which is in contrast to traditional gaming.
Traditional gaming ecosystems were designed in a way to allow items to be locked to a single game or platform. However, with blockchain, these assets can be transferred across different virtual worlds. Take an example of a sword or a piece of armor: This might have been acquired in one game, but it would then be traded and used in another game as long as both games are built on the same blockchain.
The concept of interoperability is in its early stages, but it is already showing great potential and expectations for rapid growth in importance. As more gaming platforms adopt blockchain technology and these ecosystems expand, it is expected that the development of entire metaverses will materialize, where players can move assets between various games.
The Future of Blockchain Gaming
The future of blockchain gaming looks bright and full of opportunities. However, there are also some hurdles this industry has to pass through. This involves the complexity of technology, as players and developers can find the technical knowledge required to understand and engage in blockchain elements can seem overwhelming.
However, the gaming industry is not standing still any time soon, and with the continuous adoption of blockchain technology into the gaming industry, it is expected that blockchain awareness will increase among consumers, fostering a stronger foundation for blockchain gaming.