Gaming has been a natural convergence between known technologies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as the non-fungible token (NFT) market has evolved over the last few years. "NFTs are digital tokens built on the blockchain," Benzinga explains. They may be used to verify any digital asset, making it feasible for the first time to establish ownership of digital assets such as digital art, avatars, or in-game weaponry. What's interesting is that once NFTs are introduced, players will be able to genuinely own the goods they create, unlock, or acquire in a game.
This technique has been pursued by established gaming businesses such as UbiSoft Entertainment (OTCMKTS: UBSF) and CCP Games, who have integrated gaming NFTs into existing game economies.
Play-to-earn games take this notion a step further by converting in-game cash into cryptocurrencies or tokens that can be purchased and sold on crypto exchanges, most of which are decentralized (DEXs). In this way, it is feasible to earn cryptocurrency through playing online games.
What Exactly Are Gaming Non-Traditional Transactions (NFTs)?
Let's compare gaming NFTs to more traditional NFTs by utilizing the popular play-to-earn game Axie Infinity as an example. Axie Infinity is a turn-based fighting game in which players utilize teams of three characters (called Axies) to fight other players in a style reminiscent of Pokémon. Axie Infinity's NFT feature stems from the fact that the characters, land, and in-game cash are all stored on the blockchain. Each Axie is a non-financial token (NFT) with market values ranging from $100 to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Axies may be bred (and hence have a higher market value) with AXS and SLP tokens, which can also be purchased on most cryptocurrency exchanges. The catch here is that the value of each of these items is dependant on the particular market for them, which is directly tied to the price of Ether, which is related to the overall status of the crypto market. Gaming NFTs are essentially a sort of utility NFT that provides for the transferable ownership of in-game assets.
Read Also: What exactly are NFT Games?
Top NFTs for Gaming
When comparing different gaming NFT projects, it is critical to evaluate the chain on which the project will operate. Different chains have different transaction prices, with Ethereum's gas fees currently being very expensive. As a result, even if the initial investment is higher than that of an Ethereum-based project, projects on Solana, Polygon, or Layer 2 chains will be less expensive to interact with in the long run. Which projects are the most well-known?
Axie Infinity: As previously stated, Axie Infinity is the largest gaming NFT project currently under development. Axie Infinity, created by the Vietnamese gaming studio Sky Mavis, lowers transaction costs by utilizing Ethereum with an Ethereum sidechain called Ronin.
To begin playing Axie Infinity, you must first acquire three Axies in order to assemble a squad. Building a competitive team may cost up to $750, which is why Axie Scholarship schemes (in which a sponsor pays for Axie fees but receives a percentage of revenues) are popular, particularly in underdeveloped nations. Earnings in Axie Infinity may be obtained by either playing the game or holding or breeding Axies to sell to other players.
Star Atlas: Star Atlas is a space-based grand strategy metaverse game designed with Epic Games' Unreal Engine 5 and features its own currency, ATLAS, on the Solana blockchain.
The second component has the advantage of Solana's ecosystem's extraordinary speed and cheap transaction costs, which bleed over into Star Atlas' accessibility and scalability as the metaverse possibly grows. Because Star Atlas is built on Solana rather than Ethereum, you'll require SOL tokens, which can be acquired on most cryptocurrency exchanges.
Cool Pets: Cool Pets is a quest-based NFT project that blurs the line between NFT art and games by incorporating aspects of evolution and interactivity into a profile-picture NFT project. Every NFT starts with an egg. Eggs cost 0.5 ETH and go through several phases of growth, hatching and developing into unique heroes that reflect the user's interactions with the pet.
The ecosystem features a token, MILK, which can be obtained through missions and used to purchase things, the consequence of which influences how a certain Cool Pet matures.
Read Also: What exactly are NFT Games?
How to Purchase NFTs for Gaming
With knowledge of the most exciting initiatives and concepts in the sector, here's how you can dip your toes into the gaming NFT space.
- To purchase Ethereum, use a cryptocurrency exchange. - To connect with Ethereum-based projects, you'll need ETH (or SOL for Solana-based projects), which you can buy with fiat cash at any centralized exchange (CEX). Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ: COIN), Voyager, and Gemini are three of the most popular CEXs.
- ETH should be transferred to a cryptocurrency wallet. - To accomplish anything with these tokens, you must have direct control over them by creating and utilizing a browser-extension-based cryptocurrency wallet that lets your browser to connect with Web 3 sites and protocols. MetaMask is one of the most popular solutions, while Tally and certain browsers, such as Opera and Brave, have their own built-in wallets.
- Purchase something. - Once you have complete ownership of your tokens, you may acquire the NFTs linked with your preferred game or project. The platform of choice for this depends on the project or blockchain in question, however if the project's main page isn't Web 3-enabled, and there isn't a native marketplace, the project is most likely on OpenSea. The cost of entry is entirely dependant on the project at hand, with transaction fees being defined by the blockchain that the project employs.