Since the beginning of the pandemic, people have embraced virtual lives. Video games have been the main beneficiaries of this change, particularly online games where people visit to hang out and have fun. These games, many of which are free to play, make money by allowing players to purchase additional virtual assets in the game, such as “skins” (costumes for their avatar) or upgrade specific powers or experiences.
Many in-game purchases are temporary or achieved by winning various challenges to create scarcity and increase your perceived value. For the most part, the players who buy them don’t legally own them.
Another problem with online games is that they remain largely centralized. This centralization is significantly vulnerable to both attack and disruption. DDOS attacks are a common occurrence for the centralized server structure of these games. For example, Blizzard Entertainment, the creator of “World of Warcraft”, was the target of such attacks in recent days.
Therefore, the NFTs seem to fit naturally, as expressed by the CITI companies in their opinion report. A successful example is a virtual football trading card game that recently raised $ 50 million in a Series A round. There are also a few companies focused on developing the NFT gaming space.
As in the real world, no two assets can exhibit similar characteristics or values, similarly, each tokenized asset (NFT) on the blockchain has unique characteristics. Since these digital assets are distinguished from each other, they are not interchangeable and are therefore called non-fungible tokens. Like real assets that have a certificate of ownership, NFT tokens keep records of ownership and proof of authenticity on the blockchain.
In the past, the value of NFT collectibles was based primarily on speculation and what someone else was willing to pay for them. Therefore, demand drives price rather than fundamental, technical or economic indicators, which generally influence stock prices and, at least generally, form the basis for an investment decision.
Change to the fundamental: Today, the new wave of NFT projects is bringing unique utility to your NFT collectibles, such as use as playable avatars or metaverse experience and Defi opportunities (play to win, game economy and instant liquidity).
Below are the most notable projects planning to incorporate NFT into the game / metaverse in the future. (Selection based on progress in game development, community choice, and concept uniqueness).
Chibi Dinos:
The Chibi Dinos are 10,000 cute NFTs of different Chibis with Dino suits that are programmatically generated based on 262 different assets: head, dinosaur, mouth, eyes, BG, accessories, face tattoos, hair, and jerseys from 10 different basketball teams.
Announced in early August 2021, the project quickly gained fame and has become one of the most followed NFT projects. The mint was launched on August 21, 2021 and sold out in less than 20 minutes.
Currently owned by over 2200 unique owners and increasing with each passing hour, each Chibi Dino is completely unique with permanent power levels granting a specific experience when the NFT is brought into the game (Basketball Metaverse) in the near future.
VOX:
VOX are versatile companions that can be animated, 3D printed, used in augmented reality, and more. The first series of 8888 VOX was minted on August 10, 2021 and currently already has more than 3000 unique holders. Built by Gala Games, each VOX will generate future game rewards to earn by interacting in various ways with the Gala Games ecosystem.
Shortly after the mint (in 2 days), the team released the alpha version of the VOX metaverse, where holders of their NFT avatars can roam, meet and socialize with other VOX owners via voice chat.
Credit: Game experience to share in the VOX community
The Settlers (Colony Online) is an NFT collection of 5 different species, with a limited supply of 5,000 per species, programmatically generated that can be redeemed for your playable in-game character and cosmetic items in the next Colony Online MMO on the chain. of blocks. supporting thousands of players simultaneously.
The growing trend of online gaming among millennials and many people adopting largely digital lives online since the beginning of the pandemic, where people come together not just to play, but to socialize, and more, has put the projected MMO gaming market size at USD 11.75 billion by 2026, a CAGR of 8.2% during 2021-2026.
There haven’t been many MMO games on the blockchain, which has put a lot of attention on this project. The game takes place in an alternate reality lunar colony, where a society of randomly generated space animals (called colonists) have colonized the moon and turned it into their own social playground for elegant materialism, the lifestyle of women. parties and lunar mining.
The growing trend of online gaming among millennials has led to the creation of a virtual world for video players, where they get a virtual economy, currency, business environment, and real-time scenarios to deal with. This change in the consumer profile has not gone unnoticed. Many game developers are embracing blockchain technology to protect players’ ownership of in-game assets (NFT) and monetize in-game actions to drive real-life transactions (in-game economy).