Market overview
The blockchain gaming market is actively developing, so we give an insight into this industry in this section.
The future of gaming
With the advent of new technologies, we are starting to see a shift in the way games are made, played, and experienced – defining the future of gaming.
The next generation of gaming is being shaped by a few major forces. First, new platforms and technologies, such as virtual and augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and cloud gaming, are rising.
Then there’s the increasing importance of the metaverse. It will be a shared online space where players can interact with each other in a variety of ways while transacting both information, but also value.
So how can we dip our toes into the future of gaming?
Virtual and augmented reality
Games are becoming more powerful at an accelerating pace. And what creates that power is the line that separates reality from a virtual world – that any player can cross.
Artificial intelligence
Another field that takes mega corporations to invest in gaming is Artificial Intelligence (AI). Over the years, we got to see AI in different areas, from the control of non-player characters (NPC) to the improvement of the gaming experience with the help of analytics.
Cloud gaming
The cloud is changing the way we live and work. The games of the future will not only be more immersive and exciting, but they will also require less hardware to run.
Ownership and the rise of game communities
When we speak about the future of games, we need to consider that game communities play an important role in reputation and branding. In these communities, players support the game and create content and social engagement on different platforms.
The rise of game communities has increased with the adoption of the Internet, allowing them to connect, exchange information, and create together. It is something never seen before.
The metaverse
Combining all these futuristic elements, the metaverse is a certain next step for gaming. The metaverse can be seen as the next evolution of the Internet, where people can interact and transact with each other through various virtual worlds, gaming spaces, and social hubs.
The games of tomorrow: A summary
The future of the gaming industry is looking bright. With the rise of new technologies, the democratization of the industry, and the empowerment of gaming communities, there are endless possibilities for the next generation of games.
According to statistics, by 2026, about 25% of people will spend at least one hour a day in the metaverse communicating, working, shopping, traveling, and educating or entertaining themselves.
So, if you want to join the gaming industry, now is the time to start.
Blockchain Gaming Market
The revenue impact and advisory company, MarketsandMarkets, has shared its Global Blockchain Gaming Market report. The report covers a forecast period between 2022 and 2027, predicting the market will reach $65.7 billion by 2027.
The current market size of $4.6 billion is expected to grow at a CAGR of 70.3% within five years.
The increase in investments and funding in blockchain games have been identified as core drivers of market growth. Other drivers have been determined as the elevation in popularity of the play-to-earn model, along with the rising NFT trends.
Investment in the blockchain gaming space has been growing exponentially. The total capital raised in 2019 was $27.7 million, which increased to $191 million in 2020, and $3.7 billion in 2021. In 2022, the total capital raised reached a staggering $7.6 billion, indicating a growing interest and confidence in the space.
Out of the $7.6 billion moving into the blockchain gaming space in 2022, blockchain gaming infrastructure made up 33.5% of the total invested. Individual gaming projects or metaverse worlds received 27.3%, while guilds and incubator programs got 19.1%.
Web 3 Gaming in 2022
Despite the challenges faced by the industry in 2022, the blockchain gaming market has continued to grow. The number of unique active wallets (UAWs) in the blockchain gaming sector increased by 60%, reaching 1.13 million dUAW on average, while on-chain game transactions reached 7.4 billion, growing 37% from the previous year and a staggering 3,260% since 2020.
Key Takeaways
Gaming remains a driving force for the dapp industry, accounting for almost 50% of on-chain activity tracked by DappRadar.
In 2022, on average, 1.13 million Unique Active Wallets connect to game dapps daily. That’s a 60% increase from the 2021 numbers.
On-chain game transactions reached 7.4 billion, growing 37% from the previous year and a staggering 3,260% since 2020.
Wax remained the most popular blockchain for web3 games, attracting almost 350K daily UAW on average during 2022, followed by Hive and BNB Chain with 235K and 167K UAW, respectively.
Polygon consolidated as a chain for games, attracting an average of 97,000 daily UAW during 2022. That’s 340% higher than the previous year, driven by the success of game dapps like Arc8, Benji Bananas, Crazy Defense Heroes, and Pegaxy.
Alien Worlds closes the year as the most played dapp with almost 200,000 average daily UAW and 4.8 billion on-chain transactions encompassing gameplay, trading, and DAO activity.
Immutable X generated $87 million in NFT trading volume, 250% higher than last year. The trading card game Gods Unchained finished among the top 25 most traded collections across all blockchains.
The trading volume from virtual worlds (land sales) in 2022 is estimated at $1.45B, 136% higher than last year. However, if we don’t count Otherdeeds, the rest of the virtual worlds only saw $400,000 in trading volume combined.
Web3 Gaming and metaverse projects raised $7.6 billion in 2022, 59% more than in 2021. In addition, $2.54 billion was invested in infrastructure projects.
Investments in the metaverses
As the metaverse is probably going to permeate all areas of human life in the future, nowadays, many companies and private investors are making large investments in different virtual spaces. For example, Meta has already invested more than $10 billion into the metaverse.
The three largest categories of investors are major technology companies like Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, etc., venture capital, and large corporations and brands like Disney, LEGO, and Balenciaga.
According to McKinsey's Value creation of metaverse data, the metaverse market has the potential to generate up to $5 trillion in value by 2030.
As video game makers continue to elevate existing titles into 3D online worlds, their market opportunity can expand to encapsulate live entertainment such as concerts and sports events, as well as fight for a share of social-media advertising revenue.
The total metaverse market size may reach 2.7x that of just gaming software, services, and advertising revenue.
Past, present, and future of the metaverse
The history of the metaverse starts in 1991 when Tim Berners-Lee gave birth to the Internet. In 2003 Linden Lab introduced Second Life, the online virtual world. Which is considered to be a precursor of the metaverse we have today. However, it had low bandwidths.
In 2006, Roblox was created, which allowed users to create computer games and play ones developed by others. Minecraft, which is the closest to modern metaverse games, was released in 2011 and sold to Microsoft in 2014.
Nowadays, thanks to the introduction of smart contracts, decentralized applications, and the development of cryptocurrency, metaverses are no longer limited to video games. They are now platforms for social networking, entertainment, doing business, and buying real estate. Decentraland was one of the first modern virtual reality metaverse games, followed by such famous titles as Axie Infinity, Sandbox and Illivium.
In the future, the metaverse is going to become more popular and facilitate the emergence of new franchises and brands, not only as a new platform to promote their products but also as a platform that provides the tools to create new content.
The UAE and Saudi Arabia are among the most enthusiastic countries about the metaverse and the leading countries in the Middle East to invest in the metaverse.
For example, in 2022 Saudi Arabia announced a $6.4 billion investment in future technology, including metaverse. The kingdom will invest $1 billion into Neom, which plans to launch its own metaverse.
In the UAE, the metaverse is mostly developed in Dubai. There are currently around 1,000 companies working in the metaverse.
In 2022, Dubai also announced the metaverse strategy to create more than 40,000 jobs in the metaverse industry by increasing the number of companies and adding $4 billion to the economy in 5 years.
All this opens up great prospects for the industry in the eastern region.
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