The data related to blockchain gaming shows that the market is experiencing significant growth, but it is still far from the traditional gaming market. Here is a summary of all the achievements in the GameFi sector.
Summary
Blockchain Gaming: the significant growth of the Web3 and GameFi market
The blockchain gaming sector continues to grow significantly, although it is still far behind the achievements of the traditional gaming market.
According to data from market intelligence company Grand View Research, the blockchain gaming market was worth more than $4.8 billion in 2022, with a forecasted expansion at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 68.3% from 2023 to 2030.
Not only that, according to other reports, the blockchain gaming sector seems to have recorded a 2000% surge in activity compared to last year. This enormous growth illustrates the increasing popularity of the technology and the significant shift in favor of the gaming industry.
At the same time, however, the data reported by Statista shows that the traditional gaming market is expected to generate over 400 billion dollars by 2023 and is projected to reach 584 billion dollars by 2027.
Another important data that highlights the growth of the gaming sector on blockchain is reported by CoinGecko in October, stating that over 800,000 people play Web3 games every day. This figure pales in comparison to the Web2 (and therefore traditional) game Minecraft, which alone has an average of over 11.9 million players per day.
Blockchain gaming: the player and the chains of GameFi
Always CoinGecko has analyzed and described the different types of players in blockchain gaming and traditional gaming. In this regard, here is how the GameFi player is described:
“While traditional games have players, in GameFi there are yield farmers, degenerate traders, institutional investors, bots, actual players, and a constantly evolving list of participant types, who connect their wallets to the protocols.”
In practice, for the traditional player, the price does not directly influence the quality of the game. On the contrary, the cost of an NFT or a game token, and its fluctuation, significantly affects the type of players that the blockchain game attracts.
Going into specifics, in blockchain gaming, it is also necessary to know the technological peculiarities on which the game is based, and therefore the data on the blockchain used.
In April 2023, for example, BNB Chain had over 9 million users, accounting for 25% of the total GameFi market, making it one of the most widely used blockchains for GameFi projects.
In the same month, Axie Infinity, the Ethereum-based game, recorded 36,000 daily transactions, demonstrating a high level of loyalty and a strong ecosystem during the bearish market.
The growth of GameFi tokens and the current ranking
Looking at gaming on the blockchain from a token perspective, it is easy to see that there has also been significant growth here.
CoinMarketCap provides a ranking of GameFi tokens based on market capitalization. At the time of writing, in first place is Immutable (IMX), whose price has recovered, almost reaching its annual high of $1.53 touched in March 2023. Now IMX is worth $1.38.
In early November, Immutable announced its partnership with Ubisoft’s Strategic Innovation Lab to develop a seamless and frictionless Web3 gaming experience. Not only that, the blockchain platform had also developed three new games with financial support and backing from Disney China, Alibaba Cloud, Google, and Square Enix.
In second position, then, there is Render (RNDR) which, instead, is now at its annual maximum with a price of $3.61, in a pump of +630% compared to last year.
Bronze medal instead for Axie Infinity, the game that uses NFT, which has seen its native token AXS recover value since August 2023. At the time of writing, AXS is worth $7.15 compared to $4.80 last summer. Unlike the other two, AXS is experiencing a price dump compared to last year of -15%.
Despite this annual price decrease, AXS remains the most profitable NFT crypto coin on Binance Launchpad. In fact, with an initial launch price of only $0.10, AXS reached its peak of $164.90 on November 6, 2021, offering a return on investment of 1649 times.
Other gaming tokens that have instead seen a more significant growth are Ethereum’s sidechain network Ronin, which sees its native token RON rise, now reaching its yearly high at $1.68. RON is up +582% compared to last year.
The reasons behind the growth of blockchain gaming according to Bitget
The crypto-exchange of Bitget has also expressed its opinion on the significant growth of blockchain gaming.
Specifically, Bitget argues that this is a phenomenon attributed to three main factors such as technological advancements in the industry, the entry of Web2 gaming giants like Ubisoft, Krafton, and Bandai Namco, and finally, the increase in capital inflows in the sector.
Not only, Bitget Wallet, which plays a crucial role in the GameFi ecosystem, sees that this growth can only be sustained in the long term if it manages to make certain changes.
Among the many, Bitget mentions the transition from “Play-to-Earn” to “Play-and-Earn”, in order to emphasize the value of entertainment, rather than the potential for earnings.
Alternatively, through the development of sustainable tokenomic models in order to ensure more stable growth, avoiding Ponzi schemes.
