Long gone are the days where blockchain and cryptocurrencies could, and often were, dismissed as tech fads. The widespread adoption of blockchain-based applications has perhaps cemented its place in our everyday lives; it is even being utilized by governments all over the world. Many today are still skeptical of how much blockchain could disrupt the largest entertainment sector that has ever existed: Video Games. The thing about the integration of blockchain within the gaming industry is that it won’t just be disruptive; it will be radically transformative. Enthusiasts and experts alike are beginning to think the current emergence and growth of blockchain gaming will be the tipping point for true mass adoption of blockchain technology. Josh Chapman, a managing partner of Konvoy Ventures, said this on the subject:
“Gaming does not need blockchain; blockchain needs gaming. Blockchain will only see mass adoption and mass application once it provides significant value to the video gaming ecosystem. … You have 2.6 billion people that play video games and thousands of studios that all have digital assets and digital IP. Within video gaming, tokenization is [already] a 40-year-old concept.”
Blockchain gaming could be thought of as a beginning. It is key to widening understanding and adoption. A person may not understand anything about blockchain, but they can play games and begin to interface with systems and experience owning digital assets built on a blockchain. This is turn opens the doors for more independent development and competition to pave the way forward.
Some of the biggest players in the gaming sphere are betting on blockchain as well. Atari will be releasing two ICO tokens this year, the Atari token and the Pong token. CEO and Chairman of Atari, Frederic Chesnais, has stated he believes blockchain can solve a lot of the current problems in the gaming industry. Earlier in the year he announced Atari’s partnership with blockchain application creator Arkane Network and described the partnership as “another significant step towards the broad adoption of blockchain initiatives across interactive entertainment.”
Chesnais says that Atari views blockchain from two angles:
“The first one is the vision from the gamer. So as a gamer you want to be able to buy games and use games on the blockchain. There is going to be a big business in grinding and selling avatars. It’s already big, but it is going to be much, much bigger. We are trying to help out users by using the blockchain and playing on the blockchain or buying on the blockchain as an individual. That’s why we’re creating the Atari Token.”
Sony Interactive Entertainment and Tencent Games are the two largest gaming companies in the world in terms of revenue, and both are investing in blockchain as well. In 2018 Sony announced they had developed a Rights Management System using blockchain. Sony said that the system has novel capabilities that would “automatically verify the rights generation of a piece of written works, which has conventionally proven difficult.” Sony has also stated that they are exploring numerous other blockchain applications.
In 2018 French gaming giant Ubisoft, along with Blockchain Initiative Manager Nicolas Pouard, announced they were working on a blockchain-based called HashCraft in the company’s strategic innovation Lab stating:
"The mission of the lab is to explore social, technical, and business trends that will shape the future of entertainment. On this basis, we are trying to help Ubisoft to be prepared for these changes. We strongly believe that blockchain is a huge thing, something that will change the gaming industry.”
One of the most popular collectible trading card games, Magic: The Gathering, saw a top-level figure suddenly jump ship in 2019 to work for a blockchain-based competitor. Chris Clay had been a top executive at Wizards of the Coast since 2016 before resigning on June 2nd, 2019, and began a position as the new game director for Gods Unchained. He said in his statement that he believed blockchain represented a new frontier for game developers, stating that “digital asset ownership on the blockchain lets developers support games and their communities in ways we’ve never before seen in electronic gaming.”
Epic Games, the company behind what could perhaps be considered the most successful game of all time (Fortnite), is also edging into the blockchain space. The company was once adamite they had no “cryptocurrency partners”, but have since changed their tune.
In May 2019 Epic Games announced a partnership with The Abyss, a blockchain gaming platform that allows game developers to tap into Epic’s Unreal Developers Network. The gaming conglomerate Tencent Holdings Limited, whose subsidiary Tencent Games owns a 40 percent stake in Epic Games, is also dipping its feet into the market.
In 2019 the Shenzhen based game development company, who owns Riot Games and has large stakes in Activision Blizzard and Ubisoft as well as Epic Games, released its own augmented reality blockchain-based game in the world’s largest gaming market-China. “Let’s Hunt Monsters” combines the concepts of Pokemon Go and CryptoKitties. Gamers can catch street monsters using native mapping services in China as well as trade digital kittens using blockchain.
Tencent Holding Limited’s primary shareholder, Naspers Limited, is a multinational internet group and a major global investor in internet communication, entertainment, gaming, and e-commerce. Along with a variety of blockchain projects, Naspers has invested in Immutable, the company behind the TCG we mentioned earlier – Gods Unchained.
All the action from the movers and shakers of the gaming world signals strength for the future of blockchain gaming. It should also serve to highlight the vital need to increase understanding of the potentials of these new technologies as quickly as possible. Blockchain integration provides so many more tools to create decentralized systems that empower independent developers and players alike but remember: centralizing forces are always at work. We have to work together to create and control the digital landscapes of the future.