Gaming Meets Blockchain: Will It Transform Gaming in 2023?
Blockchain-based games and gaming platforms received more than $4 billion in venture investment in 2022
In his first book, “The Metaverse and How It Will Revolutionize Everything”,1 the CEO of Epyllion, Matthew Ball, writes that at a large enough scale, even the most successful pre-blockchain gaming developers, like Activision Blizzard, Ubisoft, and Electronic Arts, will find the technology financially tempting and competitively important. According to the website,
Epyllion is the majority shareholder in Ball Metaverse Research Partners, which provides the Index behind the world’s largest gaming and/or Metaverse-themed Exchange-traded fund (ETF), the Roundhill Ball Metaverse ETF, which can be found on the New York Stock Exchange (Ticker: METV)
Danish gaming industry gaining momentum
Although the blockchain-based game business is currently in its early stages of growth, an influx of investment and innovation could swiftly reverse the popular trends. This can be seen in the rise of the Danish games industry, which has more than doubled, according to the latest report from the Danish Producers’ Association. (From €192m in 2019 to €426m in 2020)2
Ushering in a new age?
The gaming studios that fueled this rise have very different business models. Even the products (games) designed by these studios exhibit a diverse range. Brightstar Studio, for example, combined blockchain and the NFT wave with a game in the massively multiplayer online (MMO) genre. This is a positive sign for those who want to usher in an age of gaming on the blockchain
Ground ready for a shift in ownership
Gaming on the blockchain, theoretically with scale, would enforce the transition of ownership from platforms such as Valve and Epic Games to the gaming community. The larger the community, the higher the stake. This could be the next big thing in the gaming world. An assessment of this could be made by analysing the amount of capital being pumped into the development of blockchain projects by VCs globally.
VCs have invested a total of about $30 billion in blockchain businesses and projects.
Some people believe venture funds have already raised or set aside another $100 billion to $200 billion. 3
In the past, the biggest challenge was always funding, but today it is also about recruitment. It shows that the industry is growing, and the scale of the need for talent has only grown larger within the industry.
Jesper Krogh Kristiansen, Games Consultant, Vision Denmark
Sega Corp., a gaming company that was formerly considered one of the most ardent supporters of blockchain gaming, is withdrawing from an area ravaged by the global crypto industry crisis, according to Takashi Mochizuki from Bloomberg. Although Sega remains open to getting more involved as the technology matures.
Co-Chief Operating Officer Shuji Utsumi told Bloomberg News earlier those month, on the 7th of July,
For the majority of people in the video game industry, what blockchain advocates say may sound a bit extreme, but that’s how the first penguin has always been,” Utsumi said, describing risk-takers who’re the first to take the plunge. “We should never underestimate them.”
Fortune favours the brave
It should not come as a surprise to anyone that the first to move always gains an advantage. As far as gaming on the blockchain is concerned, there are more questions than answers available for one to make a staunch assessment. What can be said is that
There is a market, and there is huge capital being invested, which is essential to any movement fueled by technology and innovation.
The burning question to answer is: who can manage to align these resources already available with the talent that could fully draw out the potential of gaming on the blockchain?
Ball, M. (2022). The Metaverse and How it Will Revolutionize Everything (1st ed., p. 225). Liveright Publishing Corporation.
Kjær, Sebastian, and Erik Lillelund. “The Danish Startup Bible.” TechBBQ, 15 September 2022, https://techbbq.dk/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/The-Danish-Startup-Bible-2022.pdf. Accessed 9 July 2023.
Ball, M. (2022). The Metaverse and How it Will Revolutionize Everything (1st ed., p. 225). Liveright Publishing Corporation.