What Is NFT Game Development? Why Is This Trend Exploding in 2021?

A new but not entirely new "Play-To-Earn" trend has recently emerged, which has been thriving for a long time since the trend of non-fungible tokens (NFT) ended with several tokens seeing increases of up to several hundred percent. There are several professional NFT game development services that have delivered a thrilling experience with crypto collectibles. According to the explosion of Axie Infinity, a Vietnam-based game project, millions of players worldwide are estimated to take part in this type of game between the end of 2020 and mid-2021.

Check out this article to learn more about Play to Earn, including the growth potential of this market and real-world applications of NFT economies as well as the investment opportunities.

1. Understanding The Play-to-Earn Model of Gaming

The play-to-earn paradigm of gaming has hit a sweet spot for game developers. First and foremost, what is this all about? This is a new type of NFT gaming that is becoming popular. Play-to-earn is essentially giving gamers and gaming enthusiasts management and ownership of in-game assets, as well as the ability to enhance the value of these assets by actively playing the game.

By engaging in the in-game economy, players in this business model add value to the game developers and other players. They are awarded in-game assets as a reward for their participation. These assets can range from in-game resources like gaming tools, weaponry, or cryptocurrency to other in-game assets that can be tokenized on the blockchain and sold as NFTs for eventual conversion to cash. This is why the play-to-earn business model has proven to be successful when combined with blockchain games.

2. Although The Trend Has Been Around For A While, Why is NFT Game Development Booming Now?

Although this form of cryptocurrency has been around for a long time, it reached new heights during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, with following lockdowns leaving millions unemployed and available to earn money through gaming.

According to statista.com's most recent data, the NFT market's total capitalization grew from $338 million at the end of 2020 to $22 billion by 2021. And a large portion of it is being devoted to the gaming industry, which has enormous potential in providing games.

Play-to-earn is probably exploding due to two reasons:

Using NFT technology as leverage for the Play to Earn game group
True ownership

Some games offer cryptocurrency as a reward for players, while others allow players to accumulate in-game NFTs that can later be sold for a profit. Decentralization is provided via blockchain, allowing gamers to regain control. For traditional games, the game companies own all the control. The players made a lot of money through in-game purchases, but they never truly owned the items they purchased. This is changing, though, thanks to blockchain games. When you buy something in a blockchain game, you are the only owner of that item and have complete control over it. As a result of the NFT app development platforms’ popularity, a slew of blockchain game initiatives has sprung up, indicating that this might be the future of gaming.

With the release of CryptoKitties in 2017 when players could only buy or hatch eggs to hatch NFT cats, NFT gaming has been around for a while. Then came the second generation of games, such as The God Unchained and Axie Infinity, which allowed players to bring their NFTs into battle with others, dramatically boosting character game interaction. Because of the mix of online games and Blockchain, Axie Infinity has become a pioneering initiative in the Philippines, with a growth of up to $ 2 billion.

The limits of existing games will be addressed in the future generation of games, providing gamers with a greater experience and game quality. Players will be able to have a better gaming experience since they will not have to satisfy as many requirements to participate; the game will also be faster and smoother. All of the above benefits contribute to the Play to Earn model's success; users can confidently regard gaming as a legitimate source of money to supplement their income.

3. The Real-world Applications of NFT Economies

A new initiative is currently on pace to become the second unicorn in the Play-to-Earn NFT games sector. Axie Infinity has recently become a well-known name in it.

Axie Infinity is an Ethereum-based blockchain game that debuted in 2018 and features cute animals known as Axies. There are no two Axies alike. Each kind has its own set of strengths and limitations, which are determined by its genes. While playing this game, players can acquire Axie Infinity Shards (AXS) tokens. AXS is an in-game governance token that allows players to vote on crucial choices. On the Axie market, it also serves as a currency. Soon, game players will be able to wager AXS and earn extra tokens.

Axie Infinity has already been hailed as revolutionary for NFT game development and blockchain adoption.

In the Philippines, Axie Infinity has created quite an impression. Due to their low income and the consequences of Covid-19, they had to find another source of income, and Axie became a lifeline for the Filipino people. The AXS price is currently at $46, up from a low of $3 at the end of June 2021.

Axie Infinity is just a current standout play-to-earn game. There are a lot of similar games that can be found on the market. All the games have different themes, but they share key features, such as the ability to combine with DeFi products.

For example, to engage in in-game features, users must stake tokens or NFT, or stake admin tokens will have the ability to vote for desired features and receive valuable prizes. Furthermore, in certain NFT games, the length of time it takes to pay back is partly determined by luck. Buying eggs that are lucky enough to hatch with nice animals or lucky enough to acquire valuable items can be sold for several times the amount invested.

Finally, after you've joined and experienced the game, keep an eye on the project's active community. It is possible to determine which projects have a higher chance of success by monitoring them to check if it adheres to the roadmap. In addition to playing to earn, players may then buy tokens on the exchange and hold them when they believe in that project.

4. Conclusion

There is a lot of speculation about the present crypto and NFT hype and wondering what may happen in the next 12 months. The play-to-earn and NFT gaming trends are expected to continue through the end of 2021. As an investor, you have the option of buying NFTs on the market and waiting for the price to rise, or you can directly participate in the game to gain rewards and earn profits by purchasing NFTs in-game.

If you have an idea to start your gaming action with your own NFT marketplace, please feel free to contact us. SotaTek's exceptionally organized and talented team will help you to develop your own NFT-based game adopting the latest and trending blockchain technology. Our game-specific NFT marketplace development solutions are designed to bring immersive experiences and a promising future to your NFT app development project. Contact us to get the project started!