13
The rapid growth of the crypto market over the past decade has seen this yet nascent space give birth to a whole host of technological niches, many of which allow users to earn passive income streams seamlessly. For example, in recent months, a growing forum of individuals have gravitated towards the use of game-centric decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols — referred to collectively as ‘GameFi’ — that reward players for partaking in various traditional gaming activities.
To put things into perspective, a research study released by the Blockchain Game Alliance (BGA) showed that over the course of Q3 2021 alone, blockchain-based gaming titles were able to generate a total revenue of over $2.3 billion. Not only that, the rise of these offerings have seen a 24x explosion in their associated wallet activity, with the number of users actively playing these games increasing from 29.5k to over 750k between Q1-Q3, 2021.
Play-to-Earn (P2E) is redefining the gaming landscape
As stated above, the growth of the GameFi market has largely been driven by the advent of an operational model referred to as ‘Play-to-Earn’ (P2E), which as the name suggests, allows users to generate tangible income streams for themselves in lieu of playing video games. This setup lies in direct opposition to how most centralized gaming ecosystems work, wherein players have to facilitate numerous microtransactions in order to unlock every little aspect of a particular title.
Again, in terms of real-life numbers, several news articles released over the last couple of years clearly show that GameFi offerings have already started making a tangible difference in the life of many, with gamers across the Philippines reportedly being able to earn an above minimum wage salary by simply playing the highly popular blockchain-based fantasy title ‘Axie Infinity’. Another study revealed that some high caliber players living across lesser developed nations have been able to accrue upto $50 per day — which is well above their daily income median — and have thus been able to convert their passion for gaming into a full time job.
Also with the continued growth of the metaverse, the rise of blockchain-based gaming titles seems to be a foregone conclusion, especially as more and more firms — ranging from Coca Cola, McDonalds, Adidas — continue to make their way into the burgeoning Web3 ecosystem. In this regard, studies suggest that the top blockchain games in the market today have already surpassed a total value cap of over $14 billion with the industry all set to disrupt the $175 billion global video games market greatly over the coming decade.
