2023 was the year of realizations in crypto gaming. Developers started to discern the current limitations of Web3, games started to slowly get better, and multiple gaming projects came up with realistic roadmaps. Crypto gaming might be evolving at a snail’s pace in terms of technology, but investment-wise, it is attracting a lot of positive attention. According to Dappradar, blockchain gaming raised more than $1.4 billion between May and November 2023 alone.
Is this a sign that crypto gaming will get a boost this year? Let’s look into the current state of gaming to forecast how crypto gaming will look in 2024.
Crypto Gaming Until Now
Blockchain games burst onto the scene in 2017 with CryptoKitties, but it wasn’t until projects like Axie Infinity, DecentralandMANA, and The Sandbox went through a bull run in 2021 that the world started to take notice.
However, it wasn’t necessarily the gamers that boosted these projects. A joint effort of marketers and technological evangelists was at play, which led to a thriving blockchain gaming community.
As 2022 arrived, so did the crypto winter. It all started with the fall of TerraLUNA. The entire crypto market took a massive dive, and leading metaverse and crypto gaming projects saw their value diminished.
The interest in crypto gaming was at a low when 2023 arrived. Fortunately, projects like Gala had a massive pump in January 2023, with CoinMarketCap showing the GALAGALA price rising by 308%.
But such trends were momentary; the market was still suffering. In fact, Game7 reported last year that most blockchain games mainly consist of indie or mid-size projects, and over 50 of them were abandoned.
However, not everything regarding crypto gaming is going through a bad light. Pitchbook revealed that blockchain gaming was “forgotten and not gone” in its Q3-2023 Gaming Report.
Overall, the current state of crypto gaming is not very noteworthy. There are a few good projects here and there, but devs are still trying to break the ice with traditional gamers. Will they be able to do that in 2024?
Gamers May Start To Finally Care About DeFi
“Games and DeFi do go together for most games, not all,” said Karl Blomswell, CEO of Nibiru Software. “In games such as PlanetIX, where there is a tremendous amount of value being transferred between users and also value being accumulated, it makes sense to add a DeFi element to it.”
These sentiments are not novel. Blockchain gaming devs have continued to echo them since the beginning of crypto gaming. However, only recently have devs started implementing ways to gamify DeFi.
One of the leading examples of such games is Honeyland, a Web3 strategy and resource management game on SolanaSOL. The game is powered by its native token, HXD, and requires players to Hunt and Harvest, complete quests, and win PvP raids to strengthen bees, which form the central element of the project. It also has a dedicated section where players can potentially stake their HXD tokens for rewards. This aspect has been built into the gameplay mechanic.
If similar projects arrive that could break down the complexities of DeFi through gamification, gamers may start to care more about crypto gaming.
More Traditional Gaming Companies Will Likely Adopt NFTs
Ubisoft announced Ubisoft Quartz in 2021, which promised to create ever-greater connections between players and game worlds. However, that was not well received by gamers, with publications like Ars Technica dubbing this addition as a “dumpster fire.”
But that didn’t deter the developer of the famed Assassin’s Creed franchise. Ubisoft has recently partnered with ImmutableIMX for new blockchain games, according to a report by PC Gamer.
Even companies like Electronic Arts have declared NFTNFT and blockchain games as the “future of the gaming industry.”
Traditional gaming companies are bullish about blockchain-powered gaming, and it’s likely that more conventional game devs will join the crypto space in 2024.
Fun Will Take The Center Stage In Blockchain Gaming
While multiple blockchain games have been peddled as fun, the truth is that the market is ripe with static games like Axie Infinity and other simpler gaming titles.
Fun hasn’t been the key factor behind these games, but 2024 promises to be different.
Alec M. Wantoch, head of product at Hyperplay, said in an interview with Decrypt, “I think a lot of the industry has realized that these games need to be optimized for fun. We’re seeing a lot of new and innovative games that are indeed embracing the fun aspect, and that’s a good thing.”
There has indeed been a concerted effort to make NFT games more fun. For instance, Deadrop is a free-to-play NFT shooter created by the popular streamer DrDisrespect; it has gotten good reviews. 2024 may see more personalities from the mainstream gaming industry putting their weight behind blockchain games.
Crypto Game Devs May Remove Blockchain Jargon From Their Games
Bringing traditional gamers on board is a difficult task, especially since one of their complaints is the overly complicated blockchain terminologies that most cannot understand or care about.
2024 may see devs stepping back from talking about blockchain in their games.
Josh Jones, co-founder of the open-world blockchain game Cornucopias, predicts that devs will focus on user experience and cut down on blockchain jargon that alienates traditional players.
2024 Could Be A Bright Year For Crypto Gaming, But Only If Devs Listen
For a long time, blockchain gamers have treated themselves as elitists, sidelining any criticism blockchain games have received. That has resulted in blockchain games never really crossing over and appealing to traditional gamers.
But the tides are turning; traditional gamers are looking for something new. That makes now the right time for crypto game devs to refine their strategies.
Devs must go where the wind is blowing, cut down on talks about the earning factor, and push the fun narrative if they want to make their games look appealing.
The same goes for leading gaming corporations who have started to see the potential in blockchain gaming. They must not rush — and must keep their focus on their core audience at all times. That could lead to the simplification of core crypto gaming concepts, making 2024 the year in which traditional gamers embrace what decentralized gaming has in store.
However, gamers will have to wait and see what the devs actually do. Perhaps by year-end, we may witness blockchain games receiving the same notoriety and hype that GTA games received when they redefined the open world genre when they arrived.
Follow me on LinkedIn.
