Of the many uses for which blockchain has gained prominence over the past decade, one of the most interesting and fastest growing is certainly one related to the gaming industry. This is especially true since the explosion of NFTS and decentralised finance (DeFi), which provided a way to make money by playing your favourite video games.

How has the world game market changed since the emergence of blockchain

In terms of revenue, the global games industry is bigger than the film and television industry combined. The gaming market was valued at US $198.4 billion in 2021 and is projected to reach US $339.95 billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 8.94% during 2022-2027. Last year, the total number of gamers will pass the decisive 3 billion mark. The Asia-Pacific market is far ahead, largely because of the popularity of mobile games.

Axie Infinity case, record number

Enough to see one of the most popular blockchain games on the market right now, Axie Infinity, which was developed by Vietnamese company Mavis in 2017 and now has millions of fans worldwide, become exponentially successful in just a few months. It is an NFT-based online game centered on breeding and fighting among online players, earning native tokens by performing certain in-game actions. According to the latest available data, the blockchain gaming market was already worth $3 billion in 2021. It is expected to grow to $39.5 billion by 2025. More than 1.6 million gamers worldwide try out blockchain games such as the hugely popular Axie Infinity.

According to a report from DappRadar, there were 398 active blockchain games as of January 2022, a 92% increase from the previous year. Also according to the report, the number of wallets trading game-related products has increased to 1.4 million. The report also mentioned that venture capitalists invested $4 billion in blockchain-based games in 2021, up from $80 million a year earlier.

In short, the real boom slowed a bit in early 2022 due to the massive decline in the cryptocurrency market. The main difference between a regular game and a blockchain game is that the former is controlled by a third party while the latter, by contrast, is decentralized. Thanks to NFT and cryptocurrencies, the concept of "play-to-earn" was born, which happens to allow players to earn tokens or points by playing with other players or performing actions.

One of the biggest innovations was the development of the GameFi industry

With the advent of blockchain gaming, players can monetize the time, skills, and effort they spend playing. This is a real revolution in the concept of video games, which assume that players somehow pay to download or even just play the game. In blockchain-based games, players can be rewarded with cryptocurrencies, weapons, avatars, skins, coins and more. They took full ownership of these resources. These resources have value beyond the scope of the game, and players can earn money by playing skills. Some players have turned these games into a significant revenue stream.

That's why video game giants are entering this important segment, such as Ubisoft, which launched its NFT gaming platform, Ubisoft Quartz, in December. Microsoft bought Activision for $68 billion specifically to enter the promising world of NFT and virtual-world gaming. In late 2021, the company had said it was ready to implement blockchain on its Xbox console. According to recent research, about 61.4 percent of major game developers believe that blockchain will be the real revolution for gaming in the future, with most of them stating that they have researched implementing blockchain in their video games. The post that blockchain serves games first appeared on The Cryptonomist.