Counter-Strike, Global Offensive, Call of Duty – we all remember our first ace, the first clutch killing, destroying the highest round of zombies. But what if these online games went beyond and gave you digital ownership and rewards for your interactions in the game? Blockchain-based games are going to bring this absolute experience to online gamers.
Online gaming income is expected to increase at a CAGR of 40%, reaching 2.8 billion by 2022, as per Deloitte's 2021 predictions for the Indian gaming industry. Moreover, revenue statistics are expected to skyrocket in the future as players shift their attention away from video games and toward blockchain-based gaming.
How Web3 changes the Gaming Inc
Web3 has significantly changed the online gaming industry by permitting community-led growth. Earlier, all decisions and their economic effects were made centrally, which disconnected it from the end users, or gamers. With Web3, there is greater community involvement, involving people in the decision-making process, which gives a sense of ownership to the gamers.
“Web3 gaming will bring more trust, transparency and better economic models to the online gaming industry,” said Saurabh Sharma, co-founder of Championfy, a Web3 gaming platform.
Championfy claims to bring Web2-like experience to Web3 games with our Web2.5 platform.
Blockchain-based companies aim to give the community more decision-making power. Gamers will develop more trust in the platforms as there is more data on the chain and open smart contracts. In addition, previous gaming companies had to implement numerous cash-in/cash-out choices, which limited their flexibility. Gaming platforms will become more global when the fiat system is replaced with crypto coins, reducing geographical boundaries.
Radically new monetisation process
There are several business models available for Web3 game companies. The majority of Web3 gaming companies create their own currencies to engage and incentivise their users. Token holders, sometimes combined with NFT owners, act as decision makers to help companies make better decisions. Aside from the initial sale, the regular utility around tokens lets businesses create recurring revenue.
When Web3 gaming first began, it was still inaccessible to a significant number of gamers due to the initial investment required to purchase NFTs and the poor quality of the games. As a result, a majority of Web3 gaming platform customers were crypto traders rather than actual players. During the bad market, as the ROI on these NFT games fell, they departed from the platforms.
“We help gamers to start playing without any upfront investment and with seamless onboarding experience. Then we slowly introduce them to the Web3 world by helping them mint free NFTs, buy premium NFTs and unlock more value in Web3,” added Sharma.
Why gamers are turning towards Web3
In the past one year, there has been a lot of sponsorship and deals internationally among esports and crypto. Last year, FTX announced a ten-year, $210 million sponsorship and naming rights agreement with leading esports club Team SoloMid (TSM).
Experts say that gamers are very early adopters of crypto and that’s the reason for investment and partnership between esports and crypto. Being already part of international communities, there is a large incentive to bring crypto to esports.
Companies are partnering with upcoming Web3 games to reach Web3 gamers by running customized competitions for them. Being one of the biggest markets of gamers as well as crypto users, experts observe that India is most suited to lead the growth in Web3 gaming.
Not everyone is excited
While Web3 gaming companies are gung-ho about them, some feel that this industry in India is still at a very nascent stage. “I feel it’s in a very immature state. With incoming 5G technology, opportunities are going to be huge with AR and VR coming into the picture. At this point of time, Web3 gaming companies are offering 2D gaming experience, calling it Web3,” Avelo Roy, MD, Kolkata Ventures, told AIM.
According to Roy, currently, Web3 gaming companies are building for the future. They should rather act on it today, not tomorrow, he opined. However, to be accepted among people, it needs to reach a certain level of maturity. “There are a lot of concepts of monetization for gamers in Web3, but only a few have been implemented. As an investor, I am holding back before investing in Web3 gaming companies,” said Roy.
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