Creative industries are leading social and economic growth globally, becoming one of the fastest-growing economic sectors worldwide with a market size estimated to be worth $218.7 billion by 2024.
With that, the gaming industry has quickly emerged as a key catalyst for this movement.
In Saudi Arabia alone, according to the latest figures, the gaming and e-sports sector is worth $1.09bn, with mobile gaming leading the way with 19.3 million players, 13.9 million consoles, and 13.4 million PCs.
As the industry continues to boom, and major transformations continue to take place, game developers are now looking towards the play-to-earn model to incentivise players, rewarding their time with digital assets.
“Only 1 percent of gamers around the world are successfully monetising their time to build serious careers in the industry. Blockchain-based play-to-earn models create new token-based incentives to help monetise your time spent,” said Adi K Mishra, founder and CEO of Zone, in an interview with Arabian Business.
While traditional video games follow a centralised economic model, in which developers have rights to all in-game economy items, the play-to-earn model allows players to own digital assets within the game and the ability to sell them on other marketplaces.
Play-to-earn games rely on blockchain technology, ultimately allowing players to earn items while playing games in the form of crypto tokens, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and through a process known as staking.
Access to cryptocurrency through the play-to-earn gaming model is sparking a new monetary revolution, especially in low to middle-income countries where local currencies are weak and economic turmoil is high.
“The possibilities are such that, for example, in countries like the Philippines, people are playing an NFT-based online game called Axie Infinity, converting winnings to fiat money, and supporting families,” explained Christian Chalfoun, CTO of ColossalBit and Kaloscope.
With that, developers are increasingly creating gaming ecosystems that offer tangible value, providing further encouragement for people who spend their time gaming.
Vorto Games, the company behind the videogame Hash Rush where players mine for digital goods and crypto, introduced its play-to-earn model last year where gamers generate real NFTs through playing the game.
Those 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, in an earlier interview with Arabian Business.
“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.
Led by the region’s youthful population, Sample believes “there is a lot of innovation development that is happening in the region”, with the Middle East’s gamers slowly embracing the play-to-earn model.
“We have only just seen the first wave of these products and there is massive room for improvement in token economic models and accessing new markets,” said Mishra.
“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 $181bn gaming revenue to be made this year will increase substantially,” he added.
Follow us on
