How GameFi is Becoming the Next Major Part of the Entertainment Industry
As the gaming industry moves forward with metaverse/crypto gaming, online gaming has stepped into the future with crypto gaming platforms like Decentraland, Axie Infinity, and the upcoming MetaFame celebrity gaming platform. Of the estimated 2.69 billion gamers worldwide, stay with the route of console gaming, but no matter what the means, it has become very clear that the gaming industry has dwarfed some of the top-earning entertainment industries. In 2021, the Global Gaming Market had a whopping $180 billion in revenue and has increased from $8 billion in 2006 to $160 billion in 2020.
So…Just How Big is the Gaming Industry?
The global gaming market is said to potentially reach $256.97 billion within the next 3–4 years. With nationwide lockdowns implemented due to COVID-19, masses of people turned to gaming platforms to pass the time. In 2020, the revenue for the worldwide PC gaming market was estimated at almost $37 billion U.S. dollars, while the mobile gaming market generated an estimated income of over $77 billion U.S. dollars. As an example, the Clash of Clans franchise, with an estimated 55 million players worldwide, generated $722 million in revenue in 2019. In 2021, they generated over $1.1 billion in revenue, showing the massive potential that the online gaming industry holds. Although Clash of Clans may not yet be part of the crypto space, a similar game play model has been used as a source of inspiration for many crypto gaming platforms, lending validity to the success and future potential of GameFi.
This trade-and-battle, play-to-earn game is based on “Axies” which are Ethereum-minted NFTs that players can collect and breed, generated $364 million in revenue in August 2021 alone. That’s up 85 percent from its July numbers during which the company generated $196 million
Launching its BCOIN token in October 2021, Bomb Crypto is a play-to-earn NFT game built with Unity. Bomb Crypto is the third-most-popular Metaverse crypto game on the market, boasting over 496k users over the past 30 days. The game involves players managing their bomber hero NFTs and slaying bosses for rewards. Players must purchase a Bomb Hero NFT to start playing, costing roughly $50 at writing.
A virtual reality platform that allows players to construct their own 3D world, buying land and developing it into whatever they want within the platform. Their market cap is worth between 800 million and 1.4 billion U.S. dollars.
With many people all around the world becoming more knowledgeable about crypto and NFTs, it seems that the integration of the gaming industry and cryptocurrency was the next step in the progression of the crypto space. Now, gamers and developers can leverage blockchain technology to construct resource-rich games and apps, as well as upgrade game versions, and earn awards through blockchain gaming mining procedures. With many potential MetaFame players across the globe, the use of cryptocurrency will allow GameFi players to play internationally without the worry of security and exchange rate issues. Blockchain technology could also potentially solve several related problems including eradicating fraudulent items, creating more scarcity within gaming projects, and incentivizing more purchases by making items transferable across different GameFi spaces.
The Unbanked Join the Metaverse
Currently, many people in the world are not part of any major banking system, which can present a problem for those who wish to join the online gaming community. According to the World Bank’s latest report as of 2021, nearly 1.7 billion people are unbanked globally. Morocco, Vietnam, Egypt, Philippines, and Mexico top the list of the most unbanked countries in the world with more than 60% of their population not holding their funds within a banking institution. With the rise of crypto gaming, access to online gaming becomes much easier and can draw in a much larger audience by only requiring a mobile phone and a crypto wallet address.
In the online gaming world, NFT-based crypto games are quickly moving the future of online gaming forward. So far, we have seen just a glimpse of the limitless possibilities of what play-to-earn gaming could become. With NFT and crypto gaming platforms becoming commonplace among pro gamers and novice players alike, the future of GameFi looks to be a bright one for all those involved in the gaming space.
Follow MetaFame on our official Medium page https://metafameproject.medium.com/ to join the future of GameFi and stay up to date on all upcoming updates and more!