Gaming fuels the crypto industry in a bear market
The crypto market may be stagnant right now. But gaming continues to motor along, supported by user interest and financial investment.
Gaming blockchain technology, “is one of the emerging, promising industries of the Web3 with 847,230 daily Unique Active Wallets and $698 millions in transactions,” DaapRadar reports.
How promising? In today’s chilly market, gaming accounted for 51% of activity in August. That’s down from 57% in July, but continued activity and interest and investment in block-chained gaming are positive signs.
“The best blockchain games keep their player base, which demonstrates actual engagement at the top of the rankings. In addition, investments in metaverse and blockchain-based gaming businesses continue to rise,” the DaapRadar Industry Report for August said.
Traders are increasingly using their coins for games
Awareness of GameFi, as play to earn (P2E) blockchain-based games are often referred to, grew during the run up of the crypto market in 2021 and early 2022. The focus on the digital universe, Web 3.0 and the introduction of the “metaverse” concept helped propel games to top of mind awareness.
Triple A, a crypto payment processing company, recently reported that “48.6% of digital currency owners want to use their coins for online gambling or gaming in the future,” Bitcoinist said.
“This is considerably greater than the 25.1% of bitcoin owners who did so last year. It should be noted that online gaming and gambling have experienced growth in recent years, and by 2027, it is projected that the gaming sector will be worth US$340 billion.”
Gaming blockchains continue to gather financial support.
Prior to the May selloff in the crypto world, interest in investing in blockchains remained high.
“In face of the encroaching of a bear market, USD 2.5 billion worth of investments were poured into blockchain gaming during the first quarter of 2022,” Cryptonews said.
“Solana Ventures set up multiple funds valuing over USD 100 million to grow the gaming sector on its blockchain and Immutable dedicated USD 500 million to gaming and Web3 development. Just recently, Animoca Brands completed a USD 75m raise at USD 5.9bn valuation to invest in blockchain games.”
Yat Siu, the cofounder and chairman of the venture firm Animoca Brands, recently expressed continued confidence in the power of the metaverse.
“Within the next 18 months or so, we expect hundreds of millions of new entrants into the open metaverse because the quality of open metaverse products, such as new and higher quality blockchain games, will have launched, and will attract a new wave of people joining the space,” Siu said during the Urban Land Institute’s Asia Pacific Summit last week, according to Forbes.com
Animoca Brands is a global leader in gamification and blockchain with a large portfolio of over 340 investments, and with the mission to advance digital property rights and contribute to building the open metaverse. The company and its various subsidiaries develop and publish blockchain games, traditional games, and other products, many of which are based on popular global brands including Disney, WWE, Power Rangers, MotoGP™, Formula E, and Snoop Dogg, according to its website.
Gamers remain positive about the future
In its State of GameFi 2022 survey, ChainPlay, a one-stop hub for GameFi related information, uncovered insights that may bode well for the industry during this crypto winter. Three quarters of the investors worldwide said they joined the crypto universe because of GameFi, and 68% joined just in the last year alone. While half joined to profit, more than 80% say they “prioritize the fun factor over earnings when it comes to future GameFi projects.”
GameFi demonstrates the potential of blockchains to revolutionize traditional market sectors. The appetite for gaming – and gambling – is growing and major players in the metaverse are working to capture that interest.
Joyce Pavia Hanson
Contributor