Blockchain Games in 2022: Play-to-Earn, Gamification, Interop | Crypto Lake
Blockchain Games in 2022: Play-to-Earn, Gamification, Interoperability and Major Publishers.
Video games have long been regarded as a Trojan horse for new technologies. Whether it be home computers, smartphones, or virtual reality, the pleasure of gaming is usually one of the most effective ways of interesting the public in new tech, and the same is true when it comes to blockchain and cryptoassets.
In fact, Cryptonews com prophesied that video games will drive blockchain adoption way back in 2018, and this prediction really does seem to be coming true, with 2021 seeing greater interest in blockchain-based games. And according to a range of industry figures, such games will attract even more usage and adoption this year, with play-to-earn (P2E) and GameFi (decentralized applications (dapps) with economic incentives) most likely being the dominant trends.
On top of this, many analysts expect major game developers and publishers to enter blockchain-based gaming to some degree this year, with the use of NFTs proving a big draw. However, while 2022 might witness considerable growth for crypto-gaming, there might still be a considerable degree of experimentation as the sector decides what works and what doesn’t.
Play-to-earn driving continued blockchain-gaming growth
Make no mistake: games are big for the crypto sector, as explained to Cryptonews com by DappRadar’s co-founder and Chief Development Officer (CDO), Dragos Dunica.
“Along with NFTs, which currently lead in terms of trading volumes, games are the blockchain industry’s leading segment in terms of usage. Similarly to Q4, over 50% of unique active wallets interacted with gaming dapps [decentralized applications] [last] month, meaning that, despite the crypto crash, this category remained stable,” he said.
Dunica explains that one particular area of the crypto-gaming sector is key for its growth: play-to-earn. As its name suggests, this is a model where players receive rewards (usually NFTs or native tokens) for playing a given title, with Axie Infinity being the most notable example.
“Play-to-earn has been a key driver for gaming’s increasing popularity, and it’ll likely remain so. That the top five games -- Alien Worlds, Splinterlands, Farmers World, Axie Infinity, and Upland -- are, all in all, retaining their users is a good indicator of this trend continuing over the next few months,” he added.
