Cryptocurrency, a prominent use case of blockchain, permeates all areas of human endeavor, from finance to retail, real estate, and many more. It’s an even hotter topic in the gaming industry as its inclusion is unlocking a new level of innovation, offering leisure and professional players an opportunity to catch fun without worrying about excessive regulatory oversight that sucks the fun out of everything.
From console gaming to cloud gaming, action-adventure, role-playing, esports, and casino gambling, the crypto convergence breaks barriers by extending the boundaries on transaction security, reduced fees, and top-notch user privacy. Crypto adoption has been on a steady rise in gaming communities, as evidenced by this list of crypto casinos that use the technology to process payments for users globally. It has proven a force to be reckoned with, having grown this industry to $250 million strong, with more outfits opening every day to service the insatiable needs of crypto gambling enthusiasts.
This is but the tip of the iceberg of what cryptocurrency is doing and can do in the gaming industry.
Fantasy sports gaming
In fantasy sports – football, rugby, basketball, or what have you, a user assembles a fictional sports team and manages the talents efficiently to make the most out of them. Each player in the fictitious lineup is limited to the known capabilities of the real counterpart, so a fictitious Mata won’t start demonstrating advanced dribbling skills out of the blue.
A few fantasy sports platforms, like Sorare, Oval 3, and Fanton, are innovatively blazing the trail by eliminating funding and payout hassles by integrating cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and others. Some games even allow users to trade non-fungible tokens to assemble high-yielding sports squads that top weekly squad rankings.
Console Games
Many enthusiasts grew up loving to play the Grand Theft Auto game series from GTA Vice City to GTA Liberty City, GTA San Andreas, and others in the lineup. Rockstar Games, the parent company behind its release, has generated billions in revenue from this continually successful game.
Some leak reports say the newest iteration, GTA VI, set to be released around 2025, will support cryptocurrencies for purchasing weapons, building properties, business shops, and other types of in-game purchases that combine to make the game exciting.
As a new rollout, the most popular cryptocurrencies it will accept are Dogecoin, Ethereum, BTC, and others. This rumored feature would give players from disadvantaged parts of the world who typically have card funding issues a chance to maximize the fun gaming experience without any hassle. For example, buying an RPG to cause mayhem in the game would be as simple as sending coins to a player’s in-game BTC wallet address.
Esports betting
Integrating cryptocurrencies is becoming a significant disruptor in eSports, allowing the general public to bet on eSports tournaments just like they would gamble in traditional sports. Picture cheering on your favorite players, not just to have fun, but with skin in the game.
As you can imagine, eSports is one of the most significant types of gaming entertainment today, and total crypto adoption is expected to be a huge game changer. In 2023, the League of Legends World Championship alone had a whopping $2.2 million prize pool, which shows how fiercely the niche has grown in past years.
FIFA, Valorant, League of Legends, CS: GO, and Dota2 are some of the world’s famous eSports tournaments, and crypto is quickly gaining traction in that ecosystem due to the blazing-fast transaction speeds, lower fees, and profile privacy that it affords enthusiasts.
Casino games
Today, casinos are also jumping on the decentralized finance trend by integrating cryptocurrencies into their operations. This is critical as various regulatory frameworks tighten the leash on casino operations within their jurisdictions.
Most of these crypto-powered casinos distinctively market themselves as offshore casinos to show they are licensed in countries like Panama with more lenient laws and can, therefore, provide prospects with unlimited game options, from roulette to blackjack, poker, and baccarat, over their fiat online casinos and brick-and-mortar casinos.
Aside from user anonymity, global accessibility, and unlimited game selections, crypto casinos can offer higher bonuses, promos, loyalty rewards, and betting limits. Essentially, they offer the user more freedom, as evidenced by some US regulations that dictate that casino outfits restrict player deposits because the user provided mandatory KYC information on registration. However, this reality is absent in online crypto casinos, as players have total control over their deposits and withdrawals.
Crypto AR games
By 2029, the global VR/AR gaming landscape is expected to boom to $10 billion, up from the current $1.2 billion estimated in 2022. The surge shows people’s excitement about this new gaming world, which is also increasingly being disrupted by cryptocurrencies.
Now, we are seeing more and more AR gaming projects encompass not just Play-to-earn but also Move-to-earn crypto reward capabilities, allowing players to earn crypto tokens when they achieve objectives. Such games include Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, Jurrasic World Alive, Ingress Prime, The Walking Dead: Our World, and many more.
NFT P2E Gaming
Some gaming projects allow players to complete quests and challenges to earn some crypto tokens or mint non-fungible tokens that can be turned into crypto assets. A good example is Axie Infinity, a popular Pokeman-styled metaverse game featuring play-to-earn capabilities for enthusiasts. Like most other P2E gaming models, the game is powered by Ethereum and features Lunacia, the Axie homeland. It comprises 90,601 land plots on which players can amass, nurture, and fight creatures called “Axies.”
Axie Infinity Shards (AXS) is the currency spent within the ecosystem, and players get a boatload of it when they complete gaming challenges. Other gaming projects where you’ll see a fantastic combo of crypto and NFTs are Decentraland, Spider Tanks, Chainmonsters, Cryptokitties, My Neighbor Akice, and many others.
Challenges cryptocurrency faces in the gaming industry
As exciting as the introduction of cryptocurrency to the gaming world sounds, it is not without its drawbacks and concerns. Experts in the industry are weighing the pros against the following cons:
Newbie difficulties
For noobs that are unfamiliar with crypto and blockchain fundamentals, such as wallet addresses or token ownership, crypto integration can raise the knowledge entry barrier for them. It might add an unnecessary layer of complexity to their gameplay that takes the fun out of their favorite gaming title.
Tokens price volatility
While users are excited about the ease using cryptocurrency affords them compared to fiat when gaming, they also have their eyes on the volatility of these tokens. What use is ease and convenience when all your earnings can be halved on a bad crypto market day?
Environmental concerns
Another major concern is that continued adoption will only mean more crypto needs to be mined, with more negative effects on the environment. The carbon emissions from crypto mining operations are already believed to be high, and invested parties in the industry are concerned that they will be contributing to the problem.
Overmonetization
Lastly, marrying cryptocurrency with gaming makes it seem like gamers are only in it for the money. Before, it used to be about being top of the leaderboards, but now it’s about who can mine the most crypto or bag the most exclusive NFTs. Core gamers are concerned that gaming is slowly losing its substance and would want a more measured approach that does not let them feel like “sellouts.”
Conclusion
As more digital gaming projects integrate a crypto element in their design to adopt the blockchain use case, we expect to see more enthusiasts join the revolution. Industry experts predict that by 2027, the global crypto gaming market will reach $65 billion, with a compound annual growth rate of 70%. In 2023 alone, more than 41% of new blockchain wallets were solely created for gaming. Crucially, it’s also important to weigh in the concerns of gamers and experts in the industry, as gaming outfits must find ways to cut back on their environmental impact while keeping the essence of gaming intact — you know, the fun part.