Blockchain: The Gaming Game-Changer
Gaming has become one of the most prominent modes of entertainment in the world. People across the world enjoy games, be it the casual gamer playing Helix Jump to pass the time or serious gamers streaming League of Legends for 12+ hours a day, modern-day gaming has something for everyone.
Gaming has been at the forefront of innovation since its introduction as a household commodity via Atari’s home version of Pong in 1975. All aspects of gaming, from hardware to game mechanics, are in a constant state of evolution. The industry has gone from clunky, quarter-gobbling arcade cabinets to sleek consoles and powerful gaming PC’s in a relatively short amount of time. Our phones have also become a source of entertainment, with mobile gaming accounting for almost 50% of the worldwide video game revenue in 2021.
Despite the booming gaming industry, there are a number of jarring issues causing loyal fans to push against “innovations” by AAA developers. Some of the issues plaguing the gaming community include the increased prevalence of microtransactions, the economy of which is expected to hit $34.59 billion this year, and the piecewise release of full-price games where customers will purchase a new game for $60 and the developer will release additional content that can double or triple the initial purchase price of a game.
After all is said and done, that investment goes nowhere when the game ends. Gaming is a centralized entity that, outside of metaverses like Roadblocks, prevents users from packing up their dollars and hard-earned progress to bring to another game. The investment ends when you turn the console off or switch to a new game.
What if instead of only losing money, you could actually make money through gaming? What if you could take characters from one game and play them in another? What if the entire system was decentralized and democratized, versus the traditional system we have now? Imagine a world where you can earn money from one game and reinvest it into another, without breaking a game’s terms of service.
The inception of DeFi gaming accomplishes all of this. Utilizing a play-to-earn model, DeFi gaming hands the power of governance to the players. The economy is owned and controlled by the players instead of centralized entities. JD Salbego, CEO and founder of AnRKey X defines DeFi gaming as, “[the] gamification of earning rewards through decentralized finance. Instead of saying ‘I want to stake this token into this staking platform and earn some APIs by leaving it’, through gamification you have more extensive actions, competitiveness, incentivizing actions that people like, except you're using these as well as finance.”
BattleWave 2323, a blockchain gaming platform built by AnRKey X, has extremely low barrier-of-entry costs and a wide array of methods to earn. BattleWave incentivizes multiplayer functions, changing the paradigm of the otherwise solo venture of crypto yield farming into co-experiences.
Not only does DeFi gaming democratize the industry, it also empowers the players. There are huge opportunities to make money within the space.
Some disenfranchised countries like the Philippines have turned to DeFi gaming to support their families. During the course of the pandemic, games like Axie replaced traditional employment for those who lost their jobs. According to JD Salbego, “They're more incentivized because they can earn money. In the Philippines, $125 or $150 USD a month is an average salary.” While games like Runescape have supported families in countries like Venezuela for years now, blockchain technology makes the dream of playing games to support one’s family a reality, rather than a gray area in a game’s TOS.
It seems surreal to think that the gaming economy as we know it could completely change in the next few years, but we’re watching it happen in real-time. As restrictions wipe out entire economies and inflation decreases the value of national currencies, more and more people are turning crypto into full-time jobs. Blockchain gaming is still very new, but the potential is limitless.