NFT sales can be easy wins for players
Non-fungible Tokens (NFT) hold great promise for players, both in terms of how they can be used and for their value. This new blockchain-based technology means that in-game items and collectibles can be personally owned, traded and earned. Players can cash in on this potential – by selling their NFTs on the open market to collectors.
From a mainstream gaming point of view, the technology is still new. In the blockchain world, NFTs have now been around for a while. Blockchain collectibles burst onto the scene with Crypto Kitties in 2017. Today, blockchain-based gaming is booming with titles like Axie Infinity, where Mystic Axie (an NFT) sold for the equivalent of $1.1 million USD. Or Gods Unchained, which sold 6 million trading cards (all NFTs) worth $5 million in the beta launch alone.
NFT resale economy
Crossing over into pro-gamer territory, 18-year-old Fortnite player Kyle “Mongraal” Jackson recently won a Bored Ape NFT key. He cashed in and sold it for 1000 ETH, equivalent to $1.6 million USD. The buyer was billionaire businessman and NFT collector Adam Weitsman who is an obvious crypto fan but doesn’t appear to be a serious player. The sale illustrates the huge potential NFT resale economy that exists and how game assets, won or earned by players, are equally valuable to players and non-players alike.
Screenshot of Bored Ape NFT Key via OpenSea
Imagine the potential if major esports games like CS:GO and Fortnite move to Web3 or blockchain networks where game objects and assets are NFTs that can be owned and sold outside of the games.
Right now, NFT P2E blockchain games are built with different technologies, on different blockchain networks, so NFTs cannot be quickly traded across chains. The future of Web3 is that the technology is truly interoperable, so for example your League of Legends skin can also be your Fortnite skin. Players will be able to keep their digital identities wherever they go in Web3, or indeed the evolving Metaverse. Should players choose to sell, well, fans and collectors will pay a fortune.
Sports collectibles set the standard for gaming and esports values
We also know the value of The esports industry is catching up with traditional sports, and fan feelings and collector desires can be exactly the same. For example, a game jersey worn by Michael Jordan in 1998 sold for $10 million. And Diego Maradona’s World Cup 1986 Hand of God jersey sold for over $9 million, 36 years after the match.
It is also interesting to note that the gaming industry is now larger than the music and film industries combined. Esports was predicted to reach a market value of $3 billion by 2022. Current figures suggest a healthy value above $2 billion.
Gaming, of course, also crosses over into the film industry and traditional entertainment, attracting an even larger fan base. Orange Comet hopes to become the Disney of Web3, the NFT website showing compilations from “The Walking Dead” and “Interview with the Vampire.” The Walking Dead already has its own blockchain-based game, “The Walking Dead: Empires”.
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Approaching an NFT gaming economy
S&P Global estimates that publishers already earned $3.64 billion in revenue from video game NFTs in 2022, and predicts that this market value will reach $15 billion by 2027. The market intelligence company envisions the same level of disruption for games as the launch of League of Legends and Clash of Clans was the last decade. NFT creators, as expected, take a cut of the resale value of an NFT, with blockchain enabling the transaction record. By the way, another new report from Deloitte estimates the value of esports and video games combined at $184 billion by 2024.
Image credit: mundissima/Shutterstock
So how close are we to a metaverse where the estimated $3 billion active players plus their fans can transact in-game, out-of-game, and even get paid in the real world in the same currency they use online? The lines are blurring quickly, Netflix is increasing its gaming offering, Nike has created its .SWOOSH metaverse area and the Web3 movement is reshaping the entire globe’s payment system. No matter what happens to cryptocurrencies, digital currencies and transactions will persist.
NFTs and esports games
We’re seeing incredibly rapid digital transformation across all of these industries that currently intersect but will ultimately be our seamless entertainment metaverse. Esports tipping will be part of the pie. Also, NFT games have already arrived and it is another fast growing phenomenon.
Platforms like BC.Game and Rollbit are leading the charge in NFT gambling, both generating their own exclusive NFTS. NFTs can be both stake and prize. Like CS:GO skin betting, where players collect multiple skins, NFTs are accumulated. They are also a way for cryptocasinos to allow players to own NFT slots in the metaverse and take a cut of the winnings from other virtual players. The possibilities in our digital age are truly limitless.
