NFTs, short for non-fungible tokens, have already made headlines for their influence on digital art, presenting new business models for artists. But their influence could extend beyond art and collectibles and into gaming.

Here we present some examples of how they can impact the gaming industry.

1. Increasing the Number of Games Using NFTs

As NFTs grow in popularity, so will the number of gaming using NFTs, including play-to-earn games. Some games using NFTs include Axie Infinity, Splinterlands, Alien Worlds, CryptoKitties, and others. Axie Infinity is one of the most popular, with millions of players.

2. Increasing Value of In-Game Collectibles and Other Items

Players will see an increase in the value of the items and objects traded in games as they can be sold or traded for cash. Items can be, for example, skins/cosmetics, accessories, etc. While earning money in a game is not a new endeavor, NFTs will facilitate and help make the market for such items more secure, hence increasing their value.

3. New Business Models for Game Developers and Organizations

NFTs will allow companies to create new markets and monetizing strategies including for memberships and selling in-game items and collectibles. This will allow them to diverge from the model of purely selling game copies.

4. Making Games More Secure

Since NFTs are a certificate of ownership, they could help combat the reselling of pirated games. This is important since the cost of piracy is estimated in billions. Thus, preventing piracy could reduce the cost associated with gaming.

5. Making Games More Inclusive

Gaming has maintained a sense of exclusivity because of the costs associated with software and hardware. NFT could make gaming cheaper by allowing for cross-platform gaming from PCs to smartphones so more people can enjoy games.

6. New Opportunities for Branding and Marketing

Companies could promote their products and services in-game using NFTs. NFTs can be used to boost engagement with consumers and gamers and to create communities. NFTs can also be used to create a loyalty program and build the identity of your brand online.

7. Support Independent Developers

NFTs can be used to draw attention to a game in a saturated market and hence to smaller game studios and developers. It can not only be used to attract the attention of potential customers and offer them a unique experience but also to raise cash by selling NFTs items before the game’s release. Those items can then be used in-game.

8. Rise of a New Genre of Gaming

As NFT games grow in popularity, so does the ecosystem around them. We could see dedicated hardware for NFT games or platforms focused on NFT gaming.

9. Rise of New Hardware

As mentioned earlier, new hardware could be designed for NFT gaming and help gamers get the most out of games based on NFTs. This is like what we saw with hardware and accessories dedicated to the esports scene.

10. Endless Possibilities

We are in the early phases of what may be a great future in terms of the adoption of NFT gaming. And who knows in how many more exciting ways will the scene of NFT gaming keep growing. We are likely to see innovations emerging in what is bound to be an exciting time for gamers and developers.