60% of Video Game Developers Are Already Using Blockchain: Research

A survey conducted by the software firm – Stratis – revealed that 58% of American and British video game developers had incorporated blockchain technology into their endeavors. 47% have integrated non-fungible tokens in their games.

Blockchain Is The Future for Video Games

The poll surveyed 197 video game developers in the USA and the UK. Apart from those who already use blockchain and NFT technologies, the rest of the participants are also optimistic since 72% said they would consider employing them to develop new games. 56% intend to do so in the next year.

Asked whether they believe blockchain technology will become prevalent in video gaming within the following 24 months, 64% of the participants answered with “yes.”

According to 61% of the developers, blockchain allows for innovative and more interesting gameplay. 55% said it secures value for players by keeping money in the game, while rewarding gamers with real-word value collected 54% of the vote.

It is worth noting that 46% of the developers’ interest in blockchain focuses on the Play-to-Earn trending business model. On that note, Jean-Philippe Vergne, Associate Professor at UCL School of Management – commented:

“Blockchain is rapidly becoming a core building block for online games. What blockchain enables is incredibly compelling — players can now earn cryptocurrency while playing and trade digital goods both within and across games.”

Also on the same matter, Chris Trew – Chief Executive Officer at Stratis – predicted that most of the early growth in play-to-earn gaming will come from emerging economies, “where earning a few dollars a day through gaming can send them to the middle class.” At a later stage, this wealth transfer could transform the global economy, he concluded.

What Is Play-to-Earn?

Play-to-Earn is a business model where users get to play a game and earn appreciating in-game assets while doing it.

The key component in this model is to give gamers ownership over those assets and enable them to increase their value by playing the game actively. Usually, in the crypto world, defining the ownership is possible through the use of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

The main idea of Play-to-Earn is to reward players for putting their time and effort into the game. By participating in a specific game, players create value for other gamers in the ecosystem and the developers. In turn – they receive a reward in the form of potentially appreciating in-game assets, which can be a certain type of cryptocurrency.

Some of the most famous examples of such games include Axie Infinity, Decentraland, and The Sandbox.