2021 was a breakthrough year for non-fungible tokens (NFTs), with total sales amassing a record $23 billion. The trend has already carried over to the world of gaming, with major publishers including Square Enix, Ubisoft, and EA all declaring blockchain and NFTs as the future of the industry. NFTs open a world of new possibilities and utility, and are perfectly positioned for lasting success in gaming.
That being said, there has been plenty of resistance to blockchain gaming — be it Valve’s decision to block all NFT games on Steam or skeptical discourse in the gaming community on their use. Much of the critique stems from uncertainty about the role of this new technology, which wouldn’t be the first time anyone resisted change within the gaming community. Does anyone recall the apprehension about Xbox One’s diskless console?
Now, digital consoles are comparable in function and more cost effective for hardcore gamers. In the same way, as long as NFTs remain poorly understood by the wider gaming community, resistance and hesitancy will remain. Education is crucial to the growth of blockchain gaming.
A playground for innovation
It’s not surprising that gaming would be a driving force behind NFT adoption; the industry has long been a proving ground for emerging technologies. Augmented reality’s (AR) best moment arguably came in 2016 with the explosion in popularity of mobile game Pokémon GO, while virtual reality (VR) eventually came good with Beat Saber and Half Life: Alyx.
Invisible innovations abound on the back end, too — for example, most probably aren’t aware that Fortnite has deployed in-game bots since season 11, and while they’re not very challenging, this showcases the capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI).
While many studios aren’t equipped with the in-house know-how to incorporate NFTs at scale, our gaming habits will soon be translated into everyday life. Owning digital assets will be standard for citizens of the metaverse, and that encapsulates the transformative potential of NFTs. In reality, they effectively already exist in the realm of gaming, but NFTs provide a way to streamline and secure possession of virtual property.
Gaming NFTs: Not the JPGs you heard about
One of the largest hurdles to overcome is the popular misconception of NFTs being solely related to digital artworks which are traded for monetary gain. In fact, the most exciting aspect of NFTs has nothing to do with individual assets but instead relates to the scope of their utility within an evolving digital landscape. It’s clear that we will spend more time within global, virtual, and interconnected worlds — namely the metaverse — and NFTs will be a core component of everything within this new digital domain.
The promise of NFTs is to move power and ownership in the metaverse away from big tech corporations and back to individuals as they exist within their communities. In today’s gaming landscape, players either spend money or substantial amounts of time on acquiring virtual goods that are only effectively rented from the game-maker, with no real-world value or possibility of existing outside the confines of that world. With the passage of time and as certain consoles or titles fall out of favor, all of this effort dissolves into nothing.
Blockchain gaming spells the end of this reality. Already, so much of how we engage with games is fertile ground for new ideas. For those used to spending and enjoying countless hours in hugely popular massive multiplayer online (MMO) gaming worlds, NFTs can translate time spent working towards deeply meaningful statuses or rewards in their alternate lives, to real-world value and true ownership.
The misconception about art NFTs rears its ugly head again here. Because the term “NFT” makes most people think of receipts for an off-chain JPG, they balk at the term “true ownership.” But you can’t “right-click” a utility NFT stored in a wallet. That NFT’s information will stay there for the user to admire and remember, and/or until a future project uses its data.
On that point, despite the dominance of gaming in depicting the utility of NFTs, it is important to remember that they are not synonymous with gaming — nor is the metaverse. Both NFTs and the metaverse are concepts that will find application at the intersection of Web3 and society.
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