A fault line has started to emerge in the gaming world and of course, right now not many people see it. But this line will now start to dominate even the app store and it's a very simple question. “Will you start accepting crypto NTF?”
The rise of Non-Fungible Tokens or NFTs in particular as one of the most powerful drivers of online gaming has been incredible. And it’s not hard to see why. NFTs have helped us to use the power of the blockchain to create unique digital objects that can be transferred from one person to another safely.
This has created new frontiers of digital art and more so, new possibilities in the world of gaming. For once, the NFTs are allowing players to make money directly from their gameplay.
But this NFT surge has been limited to web-based apps only. We have not seen this surge in mobile-based apps. But as many experts predict, it's only a matter of time before app stores get in on the act. But despite this, there is of course some resistance.
For example, Steam, one of the biggest stores of gaming apps, has already said that apps that allow users to exchange NFTs or cryptocurrencies will not be allowed on the platform. Steam has over 120 million users and as such, this move could hamper the spread of NFT and blockchain technology in gaming.
But others like Epic Games are taking a different view of the matter. Epic Games is a rival to Steam and it said that it is open to considering NFT-based games.
The move came as a huge surprise since a few weeks earlier, Tim Sweeney, the CEO of Epic Games, has written in a tweet that the company was not even thinking about NFT-based games. Sweeney said that at the moment, the industry was filled with an “intractable mix of scams.”
This is why the sudden about-turn by the gaming company came as a huge surprise. But even with these statements, it doesn't change the fact that blockchain is here to stay. Innovations around NFT and Blockchain have been coming out each day and they have all been attracting a lot of funding. This puts gaming stores in a very tricky situation.
No doubt NFT is still something new and there is still a long way to go before the industry becomes dominant. But as with the case for Steam, if a gaming app store says no to NFTs, it creates a window for a rival to say yes, the same way Epic Games did.
This then creates that fear of missing out. Nonetheless, the big question is how do you integrate NFTs into the whole gaming equation. After all, the user experience is key for any gaming, especially interactive adventure games.
The last thing users need is a situation where NFTs are used to buy an advantage over other players. But even with this in mind, NFTs will be hard to subdue in the gaming world.
