NFT Sales Could be Easy Wins for Gamers

Published: Mar 13, 2023

Non-fungible Tokens (NFTs) hold huge promise for gamers, both with how they can be utilized and for their value. This new blockchain-based technology means that in-game items and game collectables can be personally owned, traded, and monetized. Gamers can cash in on this potential – by selling their NFTs on the open market to collectors.

From a mainstream gaming standpoint, the technology is still new. In the blockchain world NFTs have now been around for a while. Blockchain collectables emerged on the scene with Crypto Kitties in 2017. Today, blockchain-based gaming is booming with titles like Axie Infinity, where Mystic Axie (an NFT) sold for the equivalent of 1.1 million USD. Or Gods Unchained, which sold 6 million trading cards (all NFTs) worth $5 million in its beta launch alone.

The NFT Resale Economy

Crossing into the pro-gamer territory, 18-year-old Fortnite player Kyle “Mongraal” Jackson recently won a Bored Ape NFT key. He cashed in, selling it for 1,000 ETH, equivalent to $1.6 million USD. The buyer was billionaire businessman and NFT collector Adam Weitsman who is an obvious crypto fan but doesn’t appear to be a serious gamer. The sale illustrates the massive potential NFT resale economy that exists and how game assets, won or earned by players, are just as valuable to gamers and non-gamers alike.

nft sales could be good for gamers

Screenshot of the Bored Ape NFT Key via OpenSea

Imagine the potential if major esports games like CS:GO and Fortnite move to Web3 or blockchain networks where game items and assets are NFTs that can be owned and sold outside of the games.

Right now, NFT P2E blockchain games are built with different technologies, on different blockchain networks, so NFTs can’t be traded quickly across chains. The future of Web3 is that its technology is truly interoperable so, for example, your League of Legends skin can also be your Fortnite skin. Gamers will be able to keep their digital identities wherever they go in Web3, or indeed the evolving Metaverse. Should gamers choose to sell, well, fans and collectors will pay a fortune.

Sports Collectibles Set the Bar for Gaming and Esports Values

We also know the value of the esports industry is catching up with traditional sports, and fan feelings and collector desires can be just the same. For instance, a game jersey worn by Michael Jordan in 1998 sold for $10 million. And Diego Maradona’s World Cup 1986 Hand of God jersey sold for over $9 million, 36 years after the game.

It’s also interesting to note that the gaming industry is now larger than the music and movie industries combined. Esports was predicted to reach a market value of $3 billion by 2022. Current figures suggest a healthy value above $2 billion.

Gaming, of course, also intersects with the filmmaking industry and traditional entertainment enticing an even larger fan base. Orange Comet hopes to be the Disney of Web3, its NFT website lists collections from “The Walking Dead,” and “Interview with the Vampire.” The Walking Dead has its own blockchain-based game already, “The Walking Dead: Empires.”

You may also like: What is Web3 in gaming?

Approaching an NFT Gaming Economy

S&P Global estimates that publishers already made $3.64 billion in revenue from video game NFTs in 2022 and predicts that this market value will reach $15 billion by 2027. The market intelligence company envisions the same level of disruption to gaming as the launch of League of Legends and Clash of Clans was in the last decade. NFT creators, as expected, take a cut of the resale value of an NFT, with blockchain enabling the transaction record. Incidentally, another new report from Deloitte puts the value of esports and video gaming combined at $184 billion by 2024.

nft sales could be good for gamers

Image credit: mundissima/Shutterstock

So, how close are we to a metaverse where an estimated $3 billion active gamers plus their fans can transact in games, outside of games, and even get paid in the real world in the same currency they use online? The lines are blurring quickly, Netflix is increasing its gaming proposition, Nike has created its .SWOOSH metaverse space and the Web3 movement is innovating the globe’s entire payments system. No matter what happens to cryptocurrencies, digital currencies and transactions will persist.

NFTs and Esports Betting

We’re seeing incredibly fast-paced digital transformation across all these industries that currently intersect but that will eventually be our seamless entertainment metaverse. Esports betting will be part of the pie. What’s more, NFT betting has already arrived and it’s another fast-growing phenomenon.

Platforms like BC.Game and Rollbit are leading the foray into NFT gambling and both are generating their own exclusive NFTS. NFTs can be both stake and prize. Like CS:GO skin betting, where players collect more skins, NFTs are accumulated. They are also a way for crypto casinos to allow players to own NFT slot machines in the metaverse and take a cut of the winnings from other virtual players. The opportunities in our digital age are truly limitless.

Melanie Kramer
Melanie Kramer

Since: January 20, 2023

Melanie has covered blockchain, crypto, global business and markets, technology, and gaming since 2017 and began writing long before that. She has an avid interest in the intersection of these spaces and in emerging technologies.

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