Crypto gaming has been a hot topic over the last five years.
So far, NFT-based play-to-earn games and collectible NFT projects have been the only ones to take off. Early hits like the NBA’s Top Shot Marketplace and games like CryptoKitties have led to more expanded crypto gaming worlds, from Axie Infinity to Decentraland.
Still, these projects mark the beginning of a potentially booming crypto-gaming industry. The possibilities are dizzying. For example, what about poker platforms—which were some of the first digital games to launch internationally thanks to the internet in the 1990s?
Today, it’s estimated that 100 million people regularly play poker worldwide on various platforms. Adapting poker platforms for crypto-based play would be a game changer for the industry. The same is true for more involved gaming favorites, such as Grand Theft Auto.
The open-world series is one of the most-played games of all time. With its in-game currency and developed marketplace, it would theoretically be a solid choice for NFTs. That being said, there are many hurdles standing in the way of a more fully fledged crypto gaming world. Let’s explore the main obstacles.
Processing Capabilities
The example of Grand Theft Auto is an interesting one thanks to its open-world map. The game is incredibly expansive, which already places a lot of pressure on its computational demands. In other words, gamers need a lot of processing power to play the game seamlessly.
That doesn’t pair well with the demands of blockchain. Though blockchain is renowned as a non-corruptible ledger, it requires quite a bit of processing power to run well. In other words, technology isn’t yet able to handle the demands of an open-world game that’s built on blockchain.
Player Education & Interest
Technology is one of the major hurdles for blockchain game developers—but it’s far from the only one. One of the most ingrained and difficult challenges that crypto gaming faces is player education and interest. First and foremost, players need to understand how crypto games work.
That means that they need to understand the basics of decentralized currency, have their own digital wallet setup, be comfortable navigating a crypto exchange, and more. While gaming is massively popular around the world, not all players understand the inner workings of crypto and blockchain. They might only have a passing understanding of NFTs, too.
This lack of crypto education underpins a lack of player interest. In other words, players aren’t actually interested in playing blockchain-based crypto games because they don’t understand how the industry works. Until players are educated and intrigued, little progress will be made.
Cross-Platform Concerns
Cross-platform play has been a major topic in the video gaming world for the last decade. Previously, games were released usually on one or two platforms—whether consoles, PCs, and/or mobile devices. But as the hardware available to gamers proliferates, so does the demand for cross-platform play.
Developers want to give their players the chance to play on PlayStations, PCs, and more—but cross-platform play requires years of work. Unfortunately, players are after the same thing in terms of crypto gaming. At the moment, the limited number of options in terms of hardware is a turn-off for many gamers.
Concerns About Over-tokenization
NFTs are the linchpin of crypto gaming. Even if gamers aren’t sure how blockchain works and they need help managing their digital wallets, they probably understand the meaning and versatility of in-game NFTs. Still, there are concerns surrounding the over-tokenization of crypto gaming.
Most of these concerns actually come from developers. Figuring out how to create a meaningful NFT that serves both in-game demands and serves as a valuable item is difficult, to say the least. On top of that, creators also need to assign token standards and figure out how to scale their NFTs for larger player bases. While these concerns will be addressed as crypto gaming evolves, it remains a pain point for those on the ground level of crypto game development.
—
This page was last updated on September 27, 2024.
–