Blockchain Has the Power to Reshape Gaming. Here's How.

The gaming industry has grown to such an extent that it has surpassed both the music industry and Hollywood in terms of value. In 2021 the gaming industry was valued at $198.40 billion, which is expected to grow and reach a value of $339.95 billion in the next five years.

This industry growth is subject to the increasing number of gamers on the planet; it has been estimated that over 3 billion people play video games worldwide. With these increasing numbers, the gaming industry has become quite a compelling use case for blockchain technologies.

With both blockchain and gaming getting a high level of public exposure in recent years, it's only fitting to show how blockchain can reshape gaming as we know it.

The Integration of Blockchain and Gaming

To better understand how blockchain technology can be utilized in gaming, first, we have to understand what blockchain actually is. On the surface, blockchain comprises a chain of data blocks that exist on a computer network that is transparent to all users. This transparency allows traceability, where complete records of data transactions on the network can be traced and preserved.

The integration of blockchain within a game thus allows for decentralization which means that blockchain-based games aren't controlled or even owned by a central authority such as the game studios, as this royalty then goes to the gamers that possess the game's digital objects and assets called NFTs. These in-game items can be purchased by gamers with both real and virtual money.

Gamers can hold a specific amount of these NFTs, reminiscent of how crypto coins are held on a cryptocurrency blockchain. This similarity further extends to how these game assets can then be traded and transferred not only to an e-wallet but even outside of the game. The fact that gamers are already aware of tokenization makes this integration quite effective.

These factors, combined with how blockchain-based games also allow decentralized transaction methods such as cryptocurrencies, show why the blockchain gaming industry has grown by 2,000% in the past year from Q1 2022.

How Blockchain Can Reshape Gaming

Blockchain addresses a number of longstanding problems within the gaming industry and can help reshape gaming in the following ways.

Assuring Asset Ownership

A problem that gamers have been facing for decades is how they don't actually own in-game assets even though the money they spent on them was real!

Gamers feel that instead of ownership, they've been renting these in-game items, and at the end of it all, when the servers shut down, these assets will be lost to time. Loss of these in-game assets can occur even through a simple game update, and who'll be to blame then? Not the developers; gamers will have to face the fact that the digital void ate up their hard-earned game assets.

But with blockchain gaming, these worries will become a part of the past. With blockchain's use of smart contracts, asset ownership will be assured. How, you ask? Well, these smart contracts will make sure that in-game transactions are governed through automated rules. This means that automatic execution of these contracts will occur in light of the gamer meeting specific predefined conditions. Furthermore, this execution will be irreversible, and so the gamer's in-game assets will be transferred to their public addresses.

Enhancing Security for Data Protection

With the increasing number of hackers worldwide and the subsequent increase in data breaches being exercised by gaming sites, the gaming landscape has become quite questionable regarding security and privacy.

A noteworthy example of this is the Zynga data breach, where hackers stole the private information of countless gamers; the number of affected accounts was over 172 million, which shows the scale at which hacking can impact the gaming industry.

But with the integration of blockchain, the gaming industry will gain additional layers of security with advanced encryption systems such as Two-Factor Authentication and Secure Messaging. This added security layer will protect gamers' private information, such as game data, user transactions, and account information.

Providing Play to Earn Rewards

A fairly new dimension within the gaming scene is blockchain-based play to earn games. Blockchain technology has introduced this new concept which has garnered the attention of gamers to a great degree.

This interest is due to how these new blockchain games allow gamers to earn traditional in-game items such as weapons, tokens, Avatars, skins, and virtual land through missions and quests with an added twist. This twist is the fact that apart from using them in-game, they can trade and sell them in the form of NFTs and cryptocurrency, thus being able to convert them into fiat cash.

This means that gamers will not only enjoy playing these blockchain games but will also earn real rewards through them, bringing a whole new meaning to game reward systems.

Challenges of Blockchain in Gaming

This reshaping of the gaming world is easier said than done; naturally, with such high ambitions come great challenges. Blockchain faces several challenges in gaming, the most noteworthy of which are.

• Limited awareness of gamers has led to blockchain-based games not getting the amount of attention they need.
• Direct competition from the traditional gaming industry can make it difficult for blockchain-based games to gain traction.
• Blockchain gaming systems can be difficult to maintain with the increasing load of transactions, thus impacting the level of scalability.
• Onboarding gamers also proves to be difficult due to the long journey of setting up user accounts, creating e-wallets, and even purchasing crypto to start gaming.

Conclusion

With the level of progression, blockchain has experienced in the past few years; it's no wonder it found its way into the gaming industry. This reshaping of the gaming industry is set to take the stage in the years to come.

If you're a company that wants to dive into blockchain game development, you'll need skilled and talented developers to convert your ideas into unique blockchain games. So, connect with Aspired today and boost your development process with our remote blockchain game developers.