Web3’s recent emergence has started to change the internet’s landscape, and now gaming as well. Web3 includes non-fungible tokens (NFTs), cryptocurrencies, and blockchains.

In-game purchases and other microtransactions have become commonplace in recent years for many games.

Although the popularity of free-to-play games that profit from various sources has increased, many players are still skeptical.

Thanks to blockchain technology and cutting-edge SDKs, developers may now add NFT-powered items and transactions to existing games (SDKs).

As a result, gaming may enter a new era that benefits both players and game developers.

 

Traditional business strategies for video games

• Publishers of video games used to profit by merely selling their titles as merchandise.
• The only variable used to determine a game’s overall profit was the number of physical units sold.
• However, for the majority, after the game was out, sales would determine their destiny.
• Larger brands could be able to include other goods or comparable revenue sources.
• By successfully bridging the physical and digital divides, Web3 Game Development will inspire more people to adopt social connectivity.
• Then downloadable content (DLC) and microtransactions, a brand-new business model, started to appear.
• The so-called “Web 2.0 model” saw a consistent revenue stream from add-ons, which may be as complex as extra characters and campaigns or as simple as in-game money or accessories.
• Different players have responded to this idea in various ways, but many games have been able to balance the added value of in-game purchases with their actual cost.
• This new revenue stream also increased the popularity of free-to-play (F2P) games.
• This occurs when developers create a game that, while maintaining its essential features, is fundamentally free to play for everyone while offering a variety of ways for users to alter and monetise it as they see fit.
• In general, this has been appealing to lots of players.
• They can choose to add whatever extra content they want to the game to make it more entertaining while still playing it risk-free and for free.
• There is a minor issue with this, though.
• Despite the enormous popularity of the genre, only 2.2% of F2P gamers actually pay money on these platforms.
• Despite this, F2P gaming generated US$88 billion in revenue globally in 2018, and this sum is likely larger right now.
• But it raises the question of what might be practical if more participants entered the fray.

 

Gaming is coming with Web 3.0.

• Fortunately, a creative monetization plan is beginning to take form.
• To enable the development of NFTs, blockchains act as immutable ledgers that cryptographically record all network transactions.
• NFTs are data that can be connecting to almost anything, including in-game items, and that can be verified as being unique from all other data in their most basic form.
• Each clothing, avatar, virtual property, and other item in a game may therefore be built as an NFT, making them all practically unique, substantial, and valuable.
• They might even be sold to other players on secondary marketplaces.
• As a result, rather than simply throwing money into a black hole, all of these transactions start to resemble investments.
• The game’s makers might provide a similar number of in-game purchases—perhaps even a greater variety—at a cost they probably wouldn’t consider in the current format.
• By simply levying a tiny fee on each transaction, they could then run in-game marketplaces and P2P trade to generate more cash.
• A noticeably higher percentage of players might be persuading to participate in the purchase of in-game items if there were an option for significantly lower upfront costs.
• Players can be confident that they haven’t actually “lost” that value because trading platforms are available; rather, they’ve merely turned it into the game world and can get it back whenever they want, possibly even at a profit.
• The activity in these marketplaces would provide as a consistent source of income for as long as the developers are still in business.
• Additionally, producers can boost the chances for player trading and revenue by continually adding new assets to the game as it evolves.
• This benefits both the companies that make these games and the players.
• The idea builds on Web 2.0 game development to provide players more control and give game producers more options for revenue.
• Better still, this is already supporting by a recent batch of Web 3.0 games (though they are coming). 2.0 games can already begin incorporating these systems into their current platforms with just a little preparation.

 

Thanks to new technologies, Web 3.0 capabilities are now available to Web 2.0 games.

In order to realize the full potential of decentralized technology, blockchains now have access to new scaling technologies that make transactions more accessible and rapid than ever before.

This suggests that well-known games will soon be able to upgrade with ease to integrate this new in-game buying and selling mechanism.

Then, this might breathe new life into beloved virtual worlds that already exist.

How crucial this technology will be in achieving this aspirational objective is demonstrating by the current excitement surrounding the advent of the metaverse, the idea of a “meta-platform” or extension of the internet that can connect all of these unique enterprises.

Although gaming is in a good stage right now, new technology has the ability to advance it significantly.

In addition, the future wave of blockchain native games stands to be considerably more well welcomed by players if customers are already accustomed to the new NFT model because it has been implemented in the games they presently enjoy.

If developers don’t adopt this trend now, they might find it challenging to catch up in the near future.