GameFi is the next unicorn for crypto, following up the previous trends. The GamFi industry is still en route to joining the ranks of words like DeFi and NFT, which already seem like dominant or integral parts to, maybe even a cornerstone of, the entire industry. The analytics foreshadow rampant growth, which may result in the blockchain gaming industry capitalization exceeding the $50B level by 2025, which is 10x that of the traditional gaming industry.
Nevertheless, GameFi and blockchain gaming have already become a niche in the blockchain market, with more projects appearing every day. This is no surprise, especially when it comes to the most popular protocols like WAX and HIVE, which are utilised by over 60% of the currently existing products, according to Footprint Analytics
The purpose of today’s article is to discover and showcase the trends that are gaining momentum in this fast growing market. As with every dynamic industry, it’s hard to highlight every growth point, however, I’ll try to go over at least the top 3.
WAX Dominance
The first trend that is pretty hard to ignore is the bloom in WAX blockchain utilisation, which currently appears to be the first-choice blockchain for GameFi developers. Based on the July DappRadar analytics report on GameFi, WAX with its 42% market share is two steps ahead of competitors like HIVE, Solana, Polygon and BNB Chain.
With over 2 million active user wallets, WAX also appears to be the blockchain suffering the least in terms of user activity amidst the bearish market stroke, which emerged in full force in Q2 2022. to its main market competitors, WAX is well protected for at least the next year or so, due to bearish market activity which is the main showstopper for the general GameFi boom at the moment.
GameFi & NFT Encounter
Blockchain gaming and NFT comprise two phenomenal blockchain trends that have consistently shook up the industry in the past couple of years. Although GameFi growth rates are impressive, NFTs are already sky-high. For instance, in February 2022, the monthly overall volume for the first time the $4.5B level, even though the global bearish trend was already observable on the general market.
The big opportunity for both industries is that they are highly compatible. Even though their intersection is already remarkable, utility-backed NFTs are gaining more and more popularity and, therefore, adoption, among the GameFi niche. The upcoming boom is clearly visible through the evolution of GameFi products and their related functionality. A great example was set by the Game Inn platform, which introduced an advanced solution aimed at lending gaming NFTs, among other things. There’s no doubt that soon, many other products will adopt this feature to completely redefine the gaming experience and accessibility for millions of users.
The Industry Maturation
As we can see, the GameFi industry continues to evolve despite the market’s downtrend. Although it's hard to predict how much this development might speed up once better times come, we can definitely scale to the other common trends that every fast growing crypto phenomenon goes through. Here I mean that each market sector heads towards structuralization and integration once its early days are passed, and we will definitely see more advanced tools and solutions that will take the existing UX standards to a whole new level.
As the early DeFi boom resulted in loads of unviable projects, and DEXs entered the market, investors learned a great lesson, so now most of them are based around several launchpads that have managed to remain with high standards of service. Drawing from GameFi market specifics, I believe the next phase of its development will be commemorated by the competition of several advanced ecosystems that will serve as hosts for other projects, providing their users with smooth and seamless options to migrate between games with ease.
