Why invest in blockchain games in 2022?

We have shared several blockchain games here on buidlbee, including the top five crypto gaming tokens of 2022 according to CoinMarketCap.

Moreover, we feel the need to explain why you should consider investing in blockchain games and which top blockchain games to invest in 2022.

What is a blockchain game?

Any Web3-game or NFT-game, with or without play to earn mechanics, that makes use of blockchain technology, is a blockchain game. The trend for not only playing, but investing in blockchain games kicked off in 2017 with the Cryptokitties NFT game.

These adorable furrever animated virtual NFT cats inspired the likes of the Bored Ape NFTs that are currently the top traded NFTs in the world.

Major names such as Sandbox and Decentraland switched things up by building entire metaverse platforms to host their play-to-earn games, and have achieved a multi-billion-dollar market cap.

What drives players to play blockchain games is not only the tech involved, but the ability to store what you won/earned or bought from a game on a blockchain, the ability to transfer these items to your wallet, and the ability to have full ownership of that item, permanently.

Why invest in blockchain games?

In DappRadar’s Q3 report, the trading volume of virtual world projects has decreased by 91.61%.

Good news is that the crypto gaming industry is riding the bear market fairly well, with 48% of all blockchain activity accounting for blockchain gaming.

Blockchain games have grown, and continue to grow as we boldly move from Web2 to Web3. The crypto gaming industry has grown by 2,000% in the past year and has attracted $2.5+ billion in investments. Curious and avid game-players are fascinated by the concept of having durable in-game assets on a blockchain. NFTs may be popular, however, more crypto gamers care about one thing: having fun.

Investors are also coming in hot into the blockchain gaming scene.

Earlier this year, investors poured $2.5+ billion into crypto games, with this number expected to grow to $10 billion by the end of 2022.

What puts blockchain games at the forefront of Web2 games is the transparency.

From the onboarding process, gaming infrastructure and tournament software, blockchain games are rife with opportunity and a sure bet in getting seed funding. Crypto VC investments have surpassed the levels of 2021 by 33% and are projected to reach $12 billion by the end of 2022.

Major Web2 video game creators like Sony, are also jumping on the opportunity and have invested $1 billion in Epic Games to build a metaverse.

Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) alone have increased their level of investment in Web3 gaming to $7.6 billion in 2022, despite Bitcoin, Ethereum and most altcoins being in a downtrend.

The pros and cons of blockchain gaming

The best part about blockchain games is to have fun, like all other games.

When this fun comes with ulterior motives, players retaliate. Gas fees, and non-free to play games are tough to sell to avid gamers. Diablo Immortal by Blizzard received the lowest user score in Metacritic history after it was discovered that it could cost players up to $110,000 to fully upgrade a character.

Do you actually earn money or mere pennies when you play blockchain games? You can earn real money that can substitute your expenses in a large way.

So much so, that crypto games have become an alternative career for many developing countries in the world.

In the Philippines, 20% of the population of about 111 million people have adopted play-to-earn games.

Before the hack on Axie Infinity, the NFT game was the source of livelihood for many with Filipinos constituting 40% of the player base. The bear market was yet another blow to the ecosystem, and many players have since stopped playing the game.

Nonetheless, Filipinos reportedly earned double or triple their local minimum wage. Brazil and Argentina have also adopted play-to-earn games, like Decentral Games, to substitute their income.

We can’t ignore cybersecurity risks that come with play-to-earn or P2E games.

You stand to make money – crypto currencies or real-world money with NFT games, but because it is an investment like any other, do your research, approach with caution and be aware of the risks involved.

So, should you invest in blockchain games?

For blockchain game developers, having sustainable knowledge on tokenomics goes a long way. As a noob play-to-earn player, start with the free-to-play NFT games to get a feel of what it means to gain without losing.