The gaming industry is undergoing several transformations at a global level with the advent of Web 3.0, blockchain, crypto, and NFTs. Traditional games, on the other hand, operate on centralised systems and are controlled by large enterprises that tend to have complete authority over the gaming environment. Also, the finances from the in-app purchases had a one-way relationship: from the pockets of the players to those of the game developers.
In contrast, new-age play-to-earn (P2E) games are built on decentralised platforms (blockchain) and run on smart contracts, putting power in the hands of the participants. P2E games have changed the trend and are tokenising in-game assets in the form of unique NFTs, where players can maintain ownership.
Rise of Indian P2E games
India has gained the top position in the adoption of NFT games, and 34 percent of the 400 million Indian gamers have already played P2E games, while 11 percent are willing to play in the future. Also, as per a report by KPMG, the gaming market in India will be valued at $3.9 billion by 2025.
Looking at the growth prospects, India is becoming a playground for gaming studios to enter and capture the markets with their innovative blockchain-based games.
The soaring number of gamers is going to expand ARPU and in-game purchases due to an increase in "willing to pay" users. Other games are also offering free-to-play along with P2E models to attract more users. Advertisers are also increasing their budgets for gaming app advertisements because of the elevated popularity of NFT-based games.
ALSO READ: Play To Earn: Can You Really Earn Crypto By Playing Games?
Surge in gaming studios while investments are pouring in
In the recent Union Budget of 2022, the government announced plans to set up an AVGC (animation, visual effects, gaming, and comics) task force to make India ready for serving the domestic and global markets.
Gaming studios are gaining stronger funding support in 2022 and are developing a full-fledged gaming infrastructure and ecosystem. As of now, there are 400 gaming companies in India, and the numbers are growing significantly.
With the huge interest received from the players, several organisations and investors have been showing curiosity in the development of these games.
DappRadar has stated that VCs have invested almost $2.5 billion in blockchain-based games, and 1.1 million UAWs (unique active wallets) are dynamically interacting with P2E and other blockchain games.
Big gaming giants such as JetSynthesis are exploring the potential of NFT games. Several games are getting investments, such as Age of Tanks, which is backed by BlueWheel Capital and has received a capital of $21 million through investment rounds.
Epiko Regal, designed by Wharf Street Studios, has been supported by Polygon Studios in their community and has attracted huge amounts of investment.
Artifex Mund has spent $6 million on developing Blade Bound, a P2E RPG adventure game. In addition, independent games such as League of Empires (the first true MMO real-time game) and KingSpeed (a blockchain-based racing game) with their tokens are thriving to become the most popular games in the P2E community.
ALSO READ: Indian Play-To-Earn Game Ethernia Announced By SuperGaming
Dynamic NFTs: The Future of P2E Gaming
P2E games have proved that NFTs can have use cases beyond being an avenue for digital art. Dynamic NFTs have metadata that can be changed in response to changing circumstances using smart contracts, giving them a whole new level of uniqueness.
Apart from token awards and in-game assets, P2E games can use dynamic NFTs to participate. When a player interacts with an NFT within the game, they have a chance of earning an in-game currency. This supports a yield-generating dynamic NFT, which initially updates its value based on its holder.
New players can also take advantage of this process as they can lend NFTs out to gain a portion of the yield. Dynamic NFTs reflect a different class of rarity, which in turn ensures a limited supply and maintains its value.
In addition, these NFTs are not directly connected to the performance of the game's inflation or progress, giving independence to the gamers.
Seamless gaming experience
Using a verifiable randomness function (VFR), the distribution of in-game assets and characters is unique and verifiable and determines the rarity of the stated factors. The random results are stated on the blockchain, aligned with smart contracts so that no player could sway the randomness in their favour.
There are several creative methods by which P2E games use NFTs to create immersive experiences for their players. Game avatars can evolve and gain new functionalities after a quest or a challenge, which would reflect in the NFT.
The sky is the limit when compared to real-life events as the NFTs can change according to the weather, place, or time zones. If backed by crypto, the avatar can change expressions based on its performance on the crypto exchange.
All things considered
The concept of dynamic NFT is in its infancy, and we have just scratched its surface. Several opportunities and challenges will emerge as we move forward. More and more P2E games will accept these NFTs and embrace the advantages they provide.
It will help blur the line between gaming and real life because of its hyper-interaction with real-world events. Several companies will emerge to create new P2E games and create diverse environments for the players to experience.
The addition of AR/VR will also enhance the dynamics of the games. P2E crypto and NFT economic models are the future of gaming, as instead of paying to play, they can earn hefty profits by playing the game and trading in-game assets (including avatars, NFTs, etc.).
(The author is the CEO and Founder of House of Gaming, a company that looks to develop esports in India through its three offshoots: Indian Gaming League, GameGods, and HeftyNFT)
Disclaimer: The opinions, beliefs, and views expressed by the various authors and forum participants on this website are personal. Crypto products and NFTs are unregulated and can be highly risky. There may be no regulatory recourse for any loss from such transactions. Cryptocurrency is not a legal tender and is subject to market risks. Readers are advised to seek expert advice and read offer document(s) along with related important literature on the subject carefully before making any kind of investment whatsoever. Cryptocurrency market predictions are speculative and any investment made shall be at the sole cost and risk of the readers.