Since the start of the global pandemic, the global gaming industry has grown significantly due to the social restrictions in place in most countries. As a result, consumers are spending more time on online platforms in search of entertainment.
As a fusion of the two, enter the NFT gaming industry, which uses blockchain technology in gaming. Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) represent the digital assets used as content in games.
NFT Mania takes over the market
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are cryptographic assets on the blockchain with unique codes that contain metadata that distinguishes them from each other. Due to their unique nature,NFT Development services they cannot be exchanged for another token or exchanged for equivalence unlike cryptocurrencies.
NFTs have evolved from the ERC-721 standard. It is created by some of the people who are also responsible for the ERC-20 smart contract that many tokens on the Ethereum network are currently based on. ERC 721 lays the foundation for the ERC 1155 standard by providing ownership, security, and metadata details essential for token exchange and distribution. ERC 1155 takes this a step further by reducing the storage and transaction costs required for NFTs, allowing them to be bundled into a smart contract as well.
NFTs are being sold as crypto art collectibles in the market now. According to data from CryptoSlam, there have been more than $700 million in NFT sales to date. Of which more than $400 million of those sales have occurred in the last 30 days, signifying how quickly the industry is growing in 2021 and suddenly thrust into the spotlight.
NFTs are seen in two main ways, as crypto collectibles and as fan tokens. Crypto collectibles are an art form that creates unique avatars or pieces of art for fans and patrons to purchase and hold onto. Companies like NBA Top Shot and CryptoPunks are making the most prized NFTs available to the market, in addition to artist NFTs. Recently, artist Beeple’s NFT was sold via Christie’s auction for $69 million to crypto personality Metakovan, making it the record-breaking NFT sale to date.
NFTs facilitate decentralized social governance through the use of fan tokens. These fan tokens allow brands, fans and influencers to interact directly with their fans and patrons by providing them with voting options on different stages and categories of the NFT. The use of fan tokens in sports like soccer has been on the rise considering empty stadiums due to the ongoing pandemic. Sorare is the platform leading the charge and giving users a platform to enjoy these fan tokens.
NFTs are also popular in the gaming industry as their unique functionalities solve some of the inherent problems that the gaming industry itself has with regards to selling rare features and accessories on its platform. With the use of NFT, these features can be easily transferred and used in different games. NFTs help fuel in-game economies; Various sections like art platforms and OTT platforms have been using gamification through NFT as part of their platform. One such example is Theta.tv, a decentralized streaming platform created for content creators to mint and share with their fans. NFTs are powered by THETA blockchain technology.
NFT Gaming gets a boost
The use of NFTs in blockchain-powered games brings immutability, provable scarcity, player ownership, and interoperability to online gaming for fully decentralized gaming. Blockchains could become the technological foundation for the player experience, player transactions, and the back-end technology for the games themselves. Even the gaming giant, Atari has announced that they will soon establish a crypto casino using the Ethereum blockchain technology.
NFTs are also redefining the OTT and digital entertainment platform domain through gamification on some platforms. Most of the OTT platforms in use today are centrally controlled companies; They work in two basic models. The first and most popular model is a subscription-based model where users pay a monthly or annual fee to access premium content on the platform. These models often also have multiple subscription levels, which means that to access all the content on the platform, users will have to pay a higher price compared to a proportion of the content on the platform. Examples of this model are Netflix, Disney Hotstar and Apple TV +.
The other established model is a free model for users, but the interference and distractions caused by ads placed within the content often prove to be a deterrent for users to use the platform. Perfect example of this in YouTube’s old business model, which they changed to offer a Premium subscription for their users who don’t want to monetize their attention through ads.
In contrast, Xfinite, a blockchain technology platform, aims to create positive economic incentives for its participants. Their first app, Mzaalo, is a decentralized gamified video-on-demand platform. Mzaalo provides free access to premium content, user rewards, and a variety of interactive features. It is secured by Xfinite’s unique blockchain. Mzaalo is a way to drive mainstream adoption of blockchain and aims to democratize social entertainment.
Mzaalo’s OTT ecosystem rewards its users for viewing content on its platform. Users can redeem their rewards for digital goods and premium experiences. Mzaalo has partnered with over 50 content providers to offer users a huge collection of content. Since Mzaalo is targeting the Indian market to begin with, he has acquired the most extensive library of premium Bollywood content with exclusive licensing deals. There are already more than 50,000 hours of movies, series, live TV, video on demand content available on the platform. Its recent partnership with Eros, a major player in the Bollywood content ownership space, provides Mzaalo with a potential user base of over 200 million registered users.
The XET token is the native currency of the Xfinite ecosystem. It is a token on the Algorand blockchain.NFT Development company XET works as a single value exchange mechanism for all stakeholders, including users, brands, influencers, and content producers.
