How Free-to-Play NFT Games Disrupt The Crypto Market
In 2022, the gaming market will be valued at $220.79 billion and is constantly growing. Traditionally, the game industry uses a couple of business models, including premium-priced games and free-to-play (F2P) games.
The adoption of Web 3.0 and crypto technology is revolutionizing gaming by changing the traditional notions held by the industry. But are these changes working both ways? Are the games influencing the crypto markets?
Free-to-Play and Play-to-Earn Games
The free-to-play model departed from the previous approach, sometimes known as premium-priced games, in which users paid for the game’s cost upfront, and game performance was based on the number of units sold. In contrast, F2P games allow users to access a significant chunk of their material for free and may not demand payment to continue playing.
These games’ business models are based on the onboarding of new players for free. However, they are encouraged to make in-game transactions to access the additional content. The F2P game model was first applied in early massively multiplayer online games (MMOs). It was later adopted by big game publishers to fight piracy.
The most significant aspect of free-to-play games is the number of players a game can keep consistently engaged and get them to purchase additional content. Web 3.0 technology brought new concepts into the gaming business, such as ownership of in-game elements and play-to-earn games.
The non-fungible token (NFT) technology enabled the creation of an in-game economy and asset ownership. Using NFTs, the players are empowered to obtain proven ownership of digital assets, which was impossible before.
Play-to-earn games offer real-world value to players in exchange for their time spent playing. The adoption of blockchain technology has made the essential link between the in-game winnings to real-world value in the form of cryptocurrencies and NFTs.
