Blockchain Gaming: Are The Smartest Investors Hedging Their Bets?

Opinion | November 9, 2018 By:

The numbers don’t lie. Blockchain is taking off in gaming and shows no signs of slowing down.

According to insights provided by NewZoo, in two years cryptocurrency and blockchain technology in the gaming sector is expected to become a $143 billion global industry. Today, digital gaming accounts for 87 percent of the industry’s $108.9 billion annual revenue.

Additionally, in a data pull done by BlockchainGamerBiz, it’s noted that as of June 2018, the top 10 blockchain gaming companies raised a total of $360M through token sales. There are nearly 130 blockchain games on ICO benchmark sites, with more than two billion active gamers in the world ready to play. Of those two billion, almost more than half of them are spending while playing.

Video game microtransactions represent one of the largest markets for blockchain technology, with an untapped potential that is waiting on funding. This presents a huge opportunity for new investments.

The investment landscape, which is far from capped, and the gaming industry’s ability to adapt quickly to new technologies, are just a window into how gaming can bring blockchain to the masses.

So what does this mean for investors and what should they know? Well, for one, they should be aware of the fact that blockchain technology has already influenced all spheres of the online gaming world and is exploding with new growth.

From blockchain’s ability to connect developers directly with users to ever-evolving transactions, and a secure way to track ownership, the reasons to not move gaming to the blockchain, are sparse.

Within the last few years, there have been 50+ ICOs for gaming-focused projects, which means the interest in blockchain gaming projects has grown tenfold. With new interest comes new creators, creations, and gamers of course.

For investors, this is a gold mine, and gives them a chance to come in on the ground floor, and help a budding ecosystem flourish. The pros of funding a gaming project are endless and when looking at investment opportunities they can and should consider the facts. For example,  blockchain gaming ensures encryption of digital assets, meaning more security for your tokened currency, meaning more players are more likely to trust your protocol… more players, more money, more growth. Additionally, smart contracts mean the safe and secure transfer of digital currencies, even more security.

In-game investments are opportunities too. If a company has a strong track record, gamers will assume their players and investments will appreciate over time, and for gamers this is a key point in return gaming – with investments that appreciate, they have a reason to return and therefore will invest more into each blockchain game.

In addition to the investment landscape being perfectly designed for investors to come in as early adopters, the blockchain is a natural fit for wagering based games due to trust, transparency, and the ease that comes with the settlement of each gamers rewards. This not only increases the amount of time and currency a gamer may invest in playing these newly developed blockchain games, but provides a seamless way for them to cash out, introducing a ‘real money concept’ into the equation. Furthermore, with the allotment of assets to be easily traded developers are able to monetize their games at a more sophisticated rate.

Gaming is infamous for being a first adopter, and if World of Warcrafts $100-million market for buying digital gold is any reflection of what’s to come in the new wave of digital currency based games, then investors who are ready to make the jump are in for a wild ride… because numbers don’t lie.