Despite the intimidation players inflict on traditional gaming companies diving into non-fungible tokens (NFTs), Executives working in the NFT gaming sector are hopeful that more traditional gaming companies will jump into the space this year.
Various industry professionals shared their views on NFT gaming trends in 2023, from the entry of major gaming companies to the relevance of NFT gaming models such as play-to-earn (P2E) and move-to. -earn (M2E).
Aleksander Larsen, co-founder of Sky Mavis, the team behind the popular P2E game Axie Infinity, told Cointelegraph that it’s only a matter of time until more big players enter the space. However, Larsen also believes that these ventures will hold off until they see a game generate billions in revenue.
Aside from gaming-focused studios, Larsen pointed to the involvement of tech giants like Google, mentioning how Google Cloud also runs a Ronin Network validator. “I’m excited to see big tech giants like Google and Microsoft getting even deeper into the gaming industry with blockchain,” she added.
When asked about the relevance of P2E in 2023, the Sky Mavis executive admitted that the model is currently flawed. He explained that:
“As the pioneers behind the first play-2-earn game, I can confidently say that it doesn’t work in its current state. Games need to be fun first with strong financial backing, which may allow some players to win.”
Zoe Wei, commercial director at BNB Chain, echoed Larsen’s ideas. According to the executive, it is necessary to continue experimenting and analyzing so that the token economies of most games are sustainable.
“Too much emphasis has been placed on the winning mechanism and not enough on the fun of the games,” Wei said. Nonetheless, Wei still believes that both P2E and M2E concepts will be relevant in 2023, although further improvements are needed.
Aside from NFT game models, Wei also commented on the topic of traditional game producers entering the space. Wei believes that blockchain technology and NFTs have “undeniable benefits” for game producers and gamers. “We have already seen countless game studios venture onto the web3 over the past year, and this is a trend that will continue into 2023,” Wei added.
For his part, Carlos Pereira, a partner at Bitkraft Ventures, a venture capital firm specializing in games, is also convinced that this year there will be more game companies. He explained it this way:
“In 2022 we saw many funding rounds related to spin-off projects from traditional US and European gaming companies and we expect the trend to continue, with some high-profile public releases in 2023.”
Pereira also mentioned that while Asian gaming companies are more public in their crypto efforts, Western ones are also jumping in, but are “being more cautious with their PR.” However, the executive believes that the trend will continue.
When asked about P2E, the executive argued that the initial iteration of the concept should be phased out. “We hope that this first implementation of play-to-earn is buried forever”, said. According to Pereira, this concept does not make sense as a business model, since there is no way to attract players who pay to play.
As for other NFT game trends in 2023, Alex Altgausen, co-founder of NFT Banksters game, stated that community members in 2023 will have higher standards. According to Altgausen, 2021 and 2022 acted as filters, exposing NFT games that only seek to take advantage of users. He explained it this way:
“The era of anyone with a cute website and a promise of gaming is over.”
This means that 2023 will have NFT game investors who won’t dive in easily and will be able to verify assets, product development, partnerships, and media presence before investing any money in NFT games.
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