Blockchain 101: Industry Dive – Gaming

2431

 Remember “Blockchain technology represents a potential 3%-10% cost savings on every good that uses it as a medium of exchange

     Gaming is one of the most rapidly growing industries today. Billions of dollars are being siphoned into gaming. A report from Newzoo predicts that the industry will grow from $137bn in revenues today to $180bn in 2021. A 31% increase over the next three years. This growth will bring new technologies and new ways to play. There is too much value at stake in the current gaming climate to not see a revolution of the way value is transferred in gaming. Something I think we are already seeing implemented using blockchain technology.

A Shift in Gaming

Video games have been around for 30+ years. They have quickly adapted to market demands and the explosion in computing power. Throughout the 90s, they were a fun, usually single player, chance to relax from the day. In the 00s, the rise of the internet changed this. The internet added in a new aspect of gaming, online multiplayer. You can now play games via the internet with people halfway across the world. Multiplayer, coupled with the rise of social media in the late 00s and the 10s has turned gaming into a vastly different landscape than we witnessed in the past. Player vs player games are bigger than ever. Social platforms, like Twitch, are launching gamers to the level of famous athletes. Many gamers have been able to monetize their gaming through leveraging social platforms. Raking in millions of dollars.

Where Does Blockchain Come In?

There are a few different blockchain based platforms that are being built out and utilized to give more power to viewers and gamers alike. One such platform is Unikrn. This platform allows betting on live games in real time. It uses bookkeeping mechanisms, built off of their proprietary machine learning, to allow users to bet on certain teams or individuals in matches. Unikrn currently has betting going on for one of the largest gaming tournaments in the world, The International.  Using the native token Unikoin Gold (UKG), you can bet on matches happening at The International .

Another use-case of the blockchain for gaming is blockchain based gaming. These games utilize smart contracts to issue in-game equipment in exchange for a native token. They also allow for betting, and other sorts of value transfer in-game. There have been a few created thus far. One of the most popular is the Decentraland project. Users purchase land with the Decentraland native ERC20 token, MANA. Users can then build structures upon that land and sell it to other users. The microcosms of economies that have been built using the Decentraland platform are fascinating.

Many other projects are being built out using blockchain technology to assist with the gaming industry. The amount of value in the gaming space is only growing. We are going to need ways to transfer that value efficiently and in a distributed manner. Blockchains are built to solve this exact need. I am excited to see what other blockchain based solutions are created in the coming years.