From gaming to making money, how is blockchain changing the face of video games?

Source/CNBC

Compiled by Ivans

If the idea of ​​making money playing video games sounds futuristic, think again. With GameFi, it's now a reality.

BTC, ETH, NFT, DeFi, Crypto, blockchain, and the technologies based on them are no longer simple buzzwords, but are rapidly entering the mainstream. Skepticism about the current global financial system and the promise of possible profits are prompting more people to explore the possibilities offered by blockchain-based services, and this also applies to games.

GameFi, a homophone of "Game" and "Finance", has become one of the hottest topics in Crypto last year, essentially allowing players to receive rewards in the form of NFTs.

An NFT is a Crypto on the blockchain that represents a unique item, which can be a piece of art, a digital video game avatar, or even physical property, essentially solving the problem of ownership verification in the digital space.

Mike Shinoda, the singer from the band Linkin Park, who recently sold an NFT containing a newly released song for more than $10,000, tweeted, “Think of NFTs like owning a unique item in a game, or like owning an Instagram post.”

The reason why video games can use GameFi to make an impact in this area is through NFTs in the game itself. For example, your character or avatar in a video game can also be an NFT. EtherOrcs is a case in point, it is a role-playing game, all 5050 unique characters in the game are their own NFTs, and all the code that runs the game itself is on the blockchain. Players can buy and sell these things on the market, and they can also use them for work.

These individual characters are valuable because of their uniqueness and scarcity, but like many other NFT-based games, they take advantage of another aspect of the GameFi space, the play-to-earn model. By completing tasks and goals in the game, users can be rewarded with further NFTs, or more commonly, in-game assets that can be redeemed for game assets.

Fundamentally speaking, GameFi is still mainly about fun. Gary Vaynerchuck, CEO of Vayner Media and supporter of NFT, said on Twitter that at this moment in NFT2021, the biggest gain that has not been talked about is "fun". This is really just because it is fun. Many "fun" tabletop games that adults need were an important part of culture three or four decades ago.

While the popularity of NFT-based games is still in its infancy, blockchain-based games are almost as popular as Crypto, with games like Minecraft having years of servers and built-in BTC integration. However, DeFi (decentralized finance) through other Crypto, such as ETH, can implement smart contracts, reduce fees, and speed up execution.

Whether early adoption or not, the NFT gaming space offers huge opportunities. Top players are taking notice, with venture capital firms and game developers collaborating to explore and develop opportunities, with major gaming companies such as Ubisoft launching Crypto-based game incubation programs, which are responsible for developing some of the most popular games on the market today, including the incredible Axie Infinity, which reports over 1.8 million daily users.

Jamaine Krige, a player who has played multiple NFT mobile games, said that one of his friends recently stopped working and started playing this kind of money-making game. He thought that since he was playing games anyway, he might as well earn some compensation while spending time.

(Note from Gyro Finance: This article is a translation from overseas and is only for sharing opinions. It does not constitute any investment advice.)