Blockchain is currently a big talking point across multiple industries. After all, it's hands down the most revolutionary technology since the internet. This technology has already taken the financial world by storm and continues to be embraced by the world's other most influential sectors. Similarly, it's being adapted to the ever-expanding gaming arena.
Looking back at
the modest inception of gaming, what strikes us is Super Mario, which we
enthusiastically played on a 16-bit console. But as the industry continues to
grow, there's been a spike in blockchain games. We are now talking about world-building
games like Decentraland, collectible games like CryptoKitties, trading card
games like Gods Unchained, and more.
The gaming arena is accelerating to new heights, going from fun to play-to-earn games. Blockchain gaming has shown a lot of potential. And now, the global gaming market is predicted to grow from USD 173.70 billion in 2020 to USD 314.40 billion by 2026. That said, let's look at how blockchain is transforming the gaming industry and what the future of blockchain gaming will look like.
How Blockchain is Transforming
the Gaming Industry
1.
Blockchain Enhances Ownership
of In-Game Assets
In the current
gaming arena, you don't really own your in-game purchases. But with blockchain technology,
players can own their gaming assets. Blockchain-based games will use irreversible
smart contracts, which run on pre-programmed parameters, to govern in-game
transactions.
And since smart
contracts operate independently of a centralized authority, no one has the
authority to alter the in-game assets' private ownership or the public address
at which they are kept. Smart contracts store immutable records in a
decentralized blockchain.
2.
Blockchain Provides a Safer
Environment for Game Developers and Gamers
Blockchain
technology comes with highly powerful data encryption technologies, which is
almost impossible to hack with today's computing technology. On top of that, hackers
cannot destroy a decentralized blockchain network as there's no single server.
Nodes maintain the
blockchain in a shared manner with distributed databases. Also, since hackers
can't modify or delete an existing transaction history in the network, it's
impossible to stage an attack.
3.
Blockchain Enables Interoperable
Gaming Profiles
In the traditional
gaming arena, users need to create multiple gaming profiles to access the games
and features of each gaming platform. With blockchain technology, things are
different. Gamers only need to create one integrated gaming profile, which they
can access and run across various gaming portals. That improves the user
experience for gamers as they can use their unique public address across
multiple games, making interlinking programs more accessible.
4.
Blockchain Allows Players to
Have Better Control of Favorite Games
Blockchain
technology in gaming gives users greater control of their favorite games. Players
can download their favorite games from various locations without compromising
gaming experiences. Also, blockchain technology allows users to create
characters and even write their own in-game stories.
What's more, a
game developer can't shut down their blockchain DApp game without a consensus
from the gaming community. That gives players better control over the future of
their favorite games. They no longer have to worry about games being abruptly shut
down.
In Summary
As seen in this article, gaming and blockchain are natural partners. Similarly, blockchain in the gaming industry is truly revolutionary. It gives users a more secure, enjoyable gaming experience and brings a significant industry paradigm shift.
With blockchain, it’s partly possible to transfer the power from gaming companies to people who fund all of it – players. All in all, blockchain gaming is still in its early stages. Therefore, as much as it may sound perfect, there's still much fine-tuning required.