Decentralized Gaming in 2024
Of all the industries that decentralized technology has permeated in recent years, it’s undoubtedly left the biggest mark on the global gaming industry. The convergence of blockchain tech, cryptocurrencies and the gaming industry has brought about several significant changes for both the decentralized sector and this booming entertainment industry. With decentralized gaming set to be a major continuing trend during 2024, let’s take a closer look at the ecology of crypto gaming and discuss the latest moves coming from inside the mainstream gaming industry.
What is Decentralized Tech?
Decentralized tech is an umbrella term applied to blockchain technology and digital assets such as cryptocurrencies and Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs). In the case of gaming, decentralized tech has been integrated to give rise to a brand new gaming sector, which has its own, unique ecosystem.
Any crypto or NFT project is powered by a blockchain. At its core, blockchain technology is a decentralized (public) ledger system, in which all transitions involving the asset are securely recorded. The nature of blockchain being a public ledger means that transactions can’t be altered or tampered with, increasing transparency and security.
In contrast to traditional fiat currencies, which are issued and regulated by central institutions (banks, governments, financial authorities etc.), cryptocurrencies function independently of any central authority. Like fiat currencies, however, they can be used to purchase goods and services but are particularly beneficial for peer to peer transactions. NFTs, meanwhile, aren’t fungible or interchangeable, with each token having its own distinct properties meaning they can be used to represent ownership of individual digital items or collectibles.
Understanding GameFi
All three elements described above have been fused with decentralized finance (DeFi) to produce the GameFi, or crypto gaming, sector.
Unlike traditional gaming, where players engage solely for entertainment, GameFi introduces financial ownership of in-game assets powered by blockchain technology across an array of gaming experiences. At first glance, it’s clear there are similarities between GameFi and existing real money gaming sectors such as online poker.
In the latter, players can participate in a diverse range of digital variants, such as Omaha, Stud and classic Texas Hold’em poker, competing in games with real life prizes. But, GameFi titles actively reward players for participating in a game — usually in the form of NFTs or crypto tokens — rather than asking them to compete for prizes.
News from the Mainstream Gaming Industry
Meanwhile, long term blockchain supporter Ubisoft has recently confirmed that it will be adding another decentralized project to its portfolio by joining the WHAT gaming chain as a validator. The French software development giant has already supported the growth of the Cronos, Hedera and Tezos projects in the past, with blockchain and crypto being a priority focus for its Entrepreneurs Lab startup programme.
What’s more, the company is a strong proponent of crypto gaming, having launched NFT-based gaming experiences via The Sandbox. Now, it will be developing its reach in the NFT sector by joining forces with WHO, to integrate the Watch Dogs franchise into its NFT IP, Cross the Ages. Moreover, its first original NFT title, Champions Tactics: Grimoria Chronicles, which runs on the Oasys blockchain, will be hitting the PC platform before the end of 2024.
Given Ubisoft’s positive stance on crypto gaming, it comes as no surprise that the company is pursuing the sector with guns blazing. But in a genuinely surprising move, which stands as testament to the mainstream potential of blockchain gaming, Sony will be dipping its toes into Web3 tech in the coming months. It’s come to light that the Big Tech behemoth has filed a patent (back in 2022) detailing the concept of “super fungible tokens” for gaming.
According to gaming industry insiders, the maker of the phenomenally successful PlayStation series will also be utilizing a distributed ledger “associated with the gaming application”. Whether that means Sony will be creating its own bespoke blockchain or using an existing public chain like Solana or Ethereum remains to be seen, but both scenarios would be a win for the blockchain gaming sector.
