There was a time when making money from games was only possible by posting videos of your games online. Then came Twitch, live streams and finally e-sports, which is the sport of playing video games in a competitive manner. Since last year, many realized that thanks to blockchain, players could simply earn money by playing. After the conquest of Warner and the record industry, the meeting between play-to-earn and e-sports seems obvious.
P2 and the metaverse to conquer gamers
Play-to-earn (P2E) business models are growing and the adoption of blockchain in e-sports is becoming more common. Video game analytics firm Newzoo predicts that by 2022 P2E models will become more viable. All video game companies are indeed trying to adopt blockchain lately.
Moreover, the report shows that metaverse-related games could also become more prevalent. Younger gamers are already frequenting existing “proto-metaverse” games, such as Fortnite, Animal Crossing and Minecraft.
Newzoo also predicts that “the brand gold rush for virtual real estate is just beginning. Indeed, companies are beginning to see the potential opportunities of metaverse-related games. In fact, Ubisoft recently announced a partnership with The Sandbox. More capital is likely to be invested in virtual real estate in the coming months.
For now, Axie Infinity continues to be at the top of the blockchain gaming ecosystem. However, experts report that other P2Es such as DeFi Kingdoms or Splinterlands have the potential to dethrone it.
Between play-to-earn and play-and-earn, there’s e-sport
The need to diversify revenue streams may lead e-sports organizations to turn to blockchain using non-fungible tokens (NFT). New e-sports business models involving blockchain technology are actually starting to emerge. According to Newzoo, more play-to-earn developments are expected in 2022.
Most users are familiar with one or two facets of financialization in gaming. In Axie Infinity, for example, you can earn and cash in rewards by completing in-game quests. However, there are several other methods that have yet to be explored by most users in the burgeoning new GameFi market.
So, would play-to-earn be suitable for e-sports? Since 2020, the e-sports organization OG has partnered with a blockchain-based gaming company DMScript. In hindsight, it must be said that this partnership has been beneficial to both parties.
Indeed, it allowed DMScript to better understand the needs of the e-sports industry. As a result, DMScript developers have developed new ideas. High-value solutions and products that improve the quality of life of gamers have since been offered. On the other hand, the partnership has helped OG to develop and grow by leveraging the technological solutions provided by blockchain.
It should be noted that these partnerships vary in nature. E-sports streaming platform Theta has worked with the Ludena protocol, for example, to reward players for streaming content in cryptocurrencies. In addition, Verasity (VRA) has signed a long-term contract with Counter Strike player agents. There are even CS:Go tournaments where fans can bet in VRA tokens.
E-sports and blockchain have forged a closer relationship in recent years. More and more companies in the industry are looking at the benefits that blockchain can offer. As a result, we can easily envision e-sports adopting play-to-earn en masse in the coming months. Adopting blockchain doesn’t just mean integrating NFTs into a game, as it might soon be the case in GTA.
