The global gaming industry is an impressive entity, being on track to reach a total value of $314.4 billion by 2026. While this industry has been charting upwards for quite some time, the recent implementation of blockchain technology into gameplay has caused some platforms to skyrocket in value.
GameFi, the combination of blockchain finance and gaming, is currently taking the world by storm. Coming from being an unheard-of concept a few years ago to something that’s now entering the mainstream, GameFi projects are developing at an impressive speed. A central reason for their development is their Play-2-Earn functions, with users enjoying the duality of being able to play for enjoyment while also earning on these platforms.
This uptake is primarily driven by the inclusion of NFTs within these online games, further incentivizing the audiences to play. In this article, we’ll be exploring how NFTs have become integral to GameFi and highlighting six gaming projects that have mastered this integration.
Let’s get right into it.
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How do NFTs implement into gaming?
NFTs (non-fungible tokens) are commonly known for being the token that allows creators to sell digital art. As these tokens cannot be copied, a digital artist can mint an NFT and then sell it online. While this market itself has seen impressive returns over the last 18 months, nowhere more than gaming has started to feel the impacts of this aspect of blockchain technology.
Going beyond just buying and selling digital art, game developers have begun to incorporate the idea of NFTs into their games to give them further functionality and appeal. By creating a range of NFTs within their games, in the form of power-up items, characters, or apparel, developers inspire gamers to grind towards unlocking them. Once obtained, users can either employ the NFT within the gameplay to get an advantage over other players or sell it on the game’s marketplace.
A completely new genre of gaming has sprung from this, known as ‘Play-2-Earn’, where players can progress through a game, unlocking NFTs as rewards for performing particularly well. These NFTs can then either be sold on the game’s marketplace, lent to other players, or rented out. Due to this, many players have flocked to this gaining format as they see it as a valuable way of generating themselves money while playing online.
While many games have integrated NFTs into their gameplay, whole games have sprung up that directly revolve around these non-fungible tokens. For example, a card trading came in whichever single card is a different NFT would see players playing en-masse in order to find better NFTs and get a stronger deck.
Let’s take a look at six GameFi projects that have seamlessly incorporated NFTs into their gameplay, further pushing the limits of what gamers can expect from their gaming experiences. We’ll be focusing on:
- MixMob
- WonderHero
- XAYA’s Soccer Manager Elite
- MOBLAND
- Splinterlands
- Crypto Cups
6. MixMob
The central story-arc of MixMob is that an unknown A.I. force has deleted human culture. Joining up with other players from around the globe, you must work with other players to form a creative resistance force. Playing directly as your in-game avatar, users will be able to progress through the world, improving their skills as they gain in-game NFTs.
The characters unlocked through the NFT collection are mutable, further inspiring progression in the game and ensuring that players compete against each other to find the very best characters. This incredible MMO experience drives the central faucet of NFTs and ingrains it within the gameplay, allowing users to find NFTs to further customize the skills, reflexes, and style of their avatar.
Developers from some of the biggest franchises in gaming are working on MixMob, with ex-developers for Halo, FIFA, and Battlefield all being on the project. The gaming community has quickly rallied behind this project, with 25,000 players having flocked to the platform. With the unique ability to form a team of up to 30 players, MixMob represents an unparalleled multiplayer experience.
5. WonderHero
Framed as a mobile RPG, WonderHero is a turn-based, anime-inspired game that’s available on both Android and iOS. Within this game, players will move through stages, battling enemies, collecting new Heros to join their teams, finding power weapons, and gathering equipment to use in battle.
Going beyond simple mechanics, WonderHero has integrated NFTs into their gameplay, with different heroes all being created with slightly different gameplay styles, moves, and mechanics. Due to this integration, players from all around the world can log on to WonderHero and try to unlock NFTs as they progress through the game.
WonderHero also developed a whole system that uses the NFTs that players find in-game to further diversify the gameplay. Users that aren’t particularly skilled at the game can ‘sponsor’ other players, called ‘scholars’, and lend them their NFTs. With these lent NFTs, the sponsor will get a percentage of the experience and tokens generated through the scholar’s gameplay.
In recent news, WonderHero has announced ten major guilds, expanding this system of lending and borrowing into comprehensive societies that seek to bring players from all over the world together. This development generated nearly $2.5 million USDT to the platform instantly, with the new NFT releases associated with this news being highly sought after.
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4. XAYA’s Soccer Manager Elite
XAYA is a blockchain gaming and dApps platform that specializes in creating unique and innovative GameFi projects. This platform launched into fame after creating Huntecoin, the very first P2E game all the way back in 2013. This most successful project to date, Soccer Manager Elite, is a GameFi creation where users can create, run, manage, and sell and buy shares in their favorite football clubs.
Taking the central characteristics of legacy soccer manager games, Soccer Manager Elite moves these concepts into the world of blockchain. Instead of having a virtual stake in the clubs you cultivate, this platform allows your club to accurately generate an income. By managing a club, you’ll be paid a salary, with your team’s performance in the worldwide leagues reflecting the amount it earns in total.
Equally, you can use your currency to buy shares in teams that you think will perform well in the future, alongside selling shares in your own team. This football economy has drawn players from around the world to the platform, with the many different roles a user can decide on taking pushing the functionality of the game even further.
This comprehensive management system is unlike anything the world of fantasy football has seen before, with Soccer Manager Elite using NFTs and blockchain technology to firmly launch this platform into the 21st-century.
3. MOBLAND
MOBLAND allows players to form their own mafia, expand across the world, recruit new players, and find unique NFTs to give them a one-up over their competition. The game has a thriving community behind it, having nearly reached a community total of 500,000 unique players. The exciting gameplay, ability to earn through NFT collection and head-to-head syndicate battling have driven the success of this platform.
Recently rebranded from Syn City, MOBLAND is the #1 GameFi NFT collection on Binance’s NFT platform. With a range of different NFT collections and an active and devoted community, it’s no wonder that this game has seen such a monetary uptake. In less than 30 minutes of its launch on the site, MOBLAND generated over $3.5 million USD thanks to its various NFT collections.
Although already a trail-blazer in its own right, MOBLAND’s recent partnership with Overwolf displays the future promise of this platform. Overwolf’s content creation platform will allow players of MOBLAND to further customize how they play, monetizing their gameplay and dramatically increasing the game’s economy. This is definitely a project to watch out for as it continues into the heights of popularity.
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2. Splinterlands
Splinterlands is a trading card game that uses NFTs to drive user engagement, with players from around the globe seeking to create the best decks and destroy their competition. The advanced trading and marketplace features of Splinterlands allow users to obtain different NFTs, alongside the traditional method of obtaining them through completing daily questions and seasonal challenges.
The game brands itself as the next step in collectible card gaming, with the 24/7 format of the game and integration with blockchain technology driving the functionality of the platform further than ever before. With a unique balance of strategy and dependence on powerful NFT cards, this game has created a huge buzz around it.
One of their NFT drops, the Wocka Flocka collection, sold out in only 30 seconds, demonstrating the extent to which the community values these trading cards and seeks to get the very best ones available. With impressive sales figures like these, it’s no wonder that Splinterlands has been the most played GameFi experience for the past seven months in a row.
Seemingly excelling at whatever they put their minds to, the Splinterlands developers have also recently announced that they’ve partnered with Warner Music Group to create a productive intersection between music, gaming, cryptocurrency, and NFTs. As more details about this partnership come to light and Splinterlands continues to grow, this platform further displays the potential of NFT integrations into gaming.
1. Crypto Cups
A different application of NFTs in a gamified style can be seen within the financial application Timechain. Created by Timechain, a DEX aggregator and DeFi yield platform, Crypto Cups is a collection of 10,000 NFTs, each with different rarities and a range of visible traits. Alongside being able to stake these NFTs with Timechain, users will also be able to use these NFTs to get further usability within the Timechain application.
Being based on strong lore with a funny backstory, the Crypto Cups will provide users with more options when navigating through the Timechain ecosystem. Those that have rarer Crypto Cups will be able to boost the amount of capital they can earn within Timechain, scaling with the rarity of the NFT they hold.
What’s more, the rarity of these NFTs can stack, with ten common cups being equivalent to one rare cup. By combining these stacks together, users can get a 1% boost on their returns within their Timechain investment portfolios. This gamification of finance allows users to integrate NFTs into financial transactions, further boosting the functionality of their portfolios in an innovative approach to finance.
Crypto Cups demonstrates just how far GameFi has come, with finance quite literally being gamified by Timechain’s release of this NFT collection.
Final Thoughts
These projects demonstrate the active pull that GameFi projects are inciting within the gaming community. Representing the midpoint between a lucrative money-making opportunity and an enjoyable gaming experience, games that have introduced NFTs are seeing a surge in popularity.
From trading card games with additional functionality due to NFTs to world-domination mafia-style entities, there doesn’t seem to be a limit on the direction that GameFi will go. As this phenomenon continues to change and grow, we’re likely to see these projects continue to develop.
That said, one thing is clear – GameFi is just getting started.
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