Blockchain-based gaming is the latest hot trend in the cryptocurrency space. 2021 has set the stage for more capital inflow and expansion of the sector as major players continue to hop in. French gaming giant Voodoo, best known for its hyper-casual games, plans to invest $200 million in 2022 in new studios developing blockchain-based games.
Voodoo Powering Blockchain-based Gaming Sector
As the company announced, its investment in the sector will be deployed to fund early-stage gaming studios and create 20 internal branches over the next year. The platform already has ten studios, internal and external, that are exclusively involved in building blockchain games and features.
Alex Yazdi, the chief executive of the Paris-based company, believes blockchain technology will disrupt gaming, as players are already used to purchasing digital assets.
By giving them true ownership of their digital assets, and creating “deeper interactions” between players in the form of collecting, trading, selling in-game digital currencies and game assets, blockchain will enhance the experience and increase “fun and engagement.” While talking about the objective behind the move, the exec added,
“This will also enable players to make a profit from their assets, opening up a new “play-and-earn” model. Our vision is to bring the blockchain paradigm to more casual and mobile users and to help any young or promising studio reach success in this segment.”
Voodoo’s financial investment will also be accompanied by its full-stack platform to enable other projects to build, test, and launch games, in addition to tech tools, data analytics integration, and analysis support.
NFT Games Generated Over $2.3B Revenue in Q3
The booming video game industry witnessed a paradigm shift with the inclusion of blockchain, crypto, and NFT this year. The French unicorn’s investment in the space shows that blockchain gaming is the industry’s new darling.
According to the latest report by Blockchain Game Alliance (BGA), NFT-powered games spawned $2.32 billion in revenue in the third quarter this year, thanks to the tremendous consumer growth participation.
Meaning, around 22% of the collective NFT trading volume across the industry this quarter originated from blockchain games. From 29,600 at the beginning of 2021 to 754,000 in Q3, the number of wallets associated with gaming has surged by an astonishing 2,453%.
NFT games developed by Vietnamese studio Sky Mavis, Axie Infinity continued to reign supreme for the first half of the year with a trading volume reaching $2.5 billion in September.
