As the global gaming industry continues to boom, videogame stakeholders are utilising non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and other digital assets to incentivise players into spending even more time on the game by earning money.
Vorto Games, the company behind the videogame Hash Rush where players mine for digital goods and cryptos, is taking its concept a step further by introducing a ‘play to earn’ model where gamers generate real NFTs (digital assets stored on blockchain that represents the ownership real-world objects) through playing the game.
These NFTs can be traded with other Hash Rush gamers and other videogame users within the Vorto Network, an NFT marketplace where gamers can trade their digital wares with each other outside of the game.
“Previously, digital power, such as a shield or sword, gamers earned in the game became part of their in-game inventory or arsenal,” explained Warren Sample, chief strategy officer, Vorto Gaming.
“But now when we talk about adding blockchain underneath, it becomes a digital real-life asset which the player owns and which is tradable, not just between players, but between other gamers within the Vorto Network,” he continued.
With 2.9 billion players across the world and $181 billion in revenues expected by the end of 2021, the gaming industry shows no signs of slowing down and Vorto Gaming saw the opportunity to capitalise, Sample said.
“This [digital assets] economy is going to be on top of the existing gaming economy because all of a sudden there are all these valuable things stored in the network and that’s a type of network valuation which can grow to hundreds of billions of dollars. If you think of 2.9 billion people transacting or trading, you’ve got a mini economy almost in the whole gaming industry,” said Sample.
“We believe that when people are incentivised to participate, what will actually happen is the $181 billion gaming revenue to be made this year will increase substantially,” he added.
Because of its standing in terms of e-sports and gaming innovation, Sample believes the Middle East’s gamers will embrace this play to earn model.
“There is a lot of innovation development that is happening in the region and when you add a youthful population with new ways to socially connect, we think there is a very good alignment with what we are talking about,” said Sample.
In Saudi Arabia alone, according to the latest figures, the gaming and e-sports sector is worth $1.09 billion, with mobile gaming leading the way with 19.3 million players, 13.9 million consoles, and 13.4 million PCs.
Vorto Games will be renewing Hash Rush sometime in July to include more earnings, competitions and a social element where people compete in real time with each other, earning NFTs along the way; the renewal will coincide with the launch of Vorto Network.
Although gamers can opt to cash out their NFTs through the traditional digital assets marketplaces, they will be encouraged to transact on the Vorto Network, said Sample. The network receives a small fee for each transaction on its platform and is in talks with other studios and gaming titles to bring their games to Vorto Network.
Later in the year, the company will be “examining the role of the native token that would have many users for the community going forward such as Vorto tokens used as pre-paid discounts on services across the platform,” said Sample.
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