Is There A Potential For NFTs To Develop Further In Video Games?

Over the past few months, game publishers have been spreading the idea that the gaming industry is about to change. One that is bound to happen as we get closer and closer to a new kind of internet experience is called "Web 3.0."

 

Cryptocurrency. Blockchain. Metaverse. There is no doubt that you've seen people using these words to talk about the technology used when the world moved to Web 3.0. But the term "NFT" has been used the most, making many people on social media crazy and angry. NFT is a new type of data that, in theory, could help users by making digital assets less centralized.

 

But NFTs have gotten a lot of bad press, from many digital scams to the huge amount of energy and data needed to store NFTs using blockchain technology. Despite this, gaming companies like Team 17, Konami, and Ubisoft have tried to sell NFTs at least once, only to quickly regret their decision and change their minds after getting a lot of negative feedback.

 

It's easy to conclude that NFTs will never work in gaming and end the conversation there, but for those who aren't so quick to hate, there may be one benefit to having NFTs. But is that one benefit reason enough to put this technology in all video games in the future?

 

NFTs in gaming

 

Many game publishers try to get people to buy NFTs by telling them that players can earn them by playing their games and then selling them on the market. This is called "Play-to-earn" gaming.

 

CryptoKitties is one of the most notable NFT games. It's a virtual pet game where users may adopt and sell kittens. Axie Infinity is another NFT game. It is an RPG like Pokemon, where players can get unique monsters to fight with and then trade or sell them in the game's market.

 

Even though playing games to make money sounds appealing, it also gives the impression that NFT-based games only exist for players to make money, and most gamers don't like the idea of turning their hobby into a second job. Especially now, earning a job from video games is considerably more respectable and accepted, thanks to living broadcasting and esports contests.

 

Still, the idea that you can play games and make money from them is not new. A prime example is the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive skin market, where gamers have amassed and traded virtual weapon skins that can only be used in-game and are exchanged for thousands of real-world dollars.

 

Additionally, long before CS: GO skins were a thing, gamers of various MMORPGs would trade real-world money for obscene quantities of in-game gold. The morality of buying gold in MMORPGs has been questioned for years since illegal gold farming methods like hacking tools or exploiting human labor are usually involved.

 

Is There A Potential For NFTs To Develop Further In Video Games?

How NFTs can be useful

 

So, what could players do with their NFTs if they don't want to make money from them? There is one way that NFTs could be useful in the real world, but this might only work in theory. For instance: Say you were playing a popular looter shooter FPS game like Borderlands and got a unique and rare assault rifle.

 

It looks cool, has great stats, and has good passive abilities that make it hard not to use. But what if you wanted to use the same weapon you got in Borderlands in another loot-and-shoot game like Destiny 2? If both games were remade to work with blockchain technology, both games and the user's digital cryptocurrency wallet could be linked.

 

This user could take their assault rifle between games and use the same stats, design, and abilities. Again, though, this is only true in theory. The underlying issue is whether or not game publishers would agree to cross-play across their titles in the first place.

 

All the problems

 

Even though the idea of being able to bring weapons, equipment, and other items from one game to the next sounds great, most users could probably see the problems that could come up with such a system. First, it would be challenging to coordinate between several development teams to make blockchain technology function. Designing numerous blockchain games with comparable code in mind would be necessary to manage swappable and interchangeable goods.

 

Second, each NFT item would need to look the same when swapped between games, just like how 99% of the playable characters in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate look the same even though they all come from games with different art styles. After all, bringing a weapon with you that looks different in one game than in another wouldn't be very interesting.

 

Lastly, there would need to be a lot of talks between companies about how much money these NFT items make and how they are legal. No game company would want to talk about sharing profits with a competitor developer or publisher. Even so, since a few big publishers like Microsoft, Sony, and Tencent are buying up as many game development studios as possible, it's not impossible that many popular games could all be made by the same publisher.

 

Of course, we shouldn't forget users' most common problems with NFTs, like they create a lot of data and require a lot of energy to store on the blockchain. Some game companies are trying to add this technology to their games, but there's a reason why the few games that already have it are very simple in terms of how they work and how they look.

 

Conclusion

 

Taking everything into account, do you think that NFTs have a future in gaming? The technology is still young, though. Currently, many problems make it hard for technology to catch on with the general public. It is also illegal to swap digital items between games.

 

To make NFTs an important component of the gaming industry, game producers would need to be receptive to the notion of decentralizing digital goods and cooperating. Instead of promoting NFTs as another easy way for businesses to make money. Many players may rest easy knowing that their favorite games are unlikely ever to be contaminated by Crpytopunks or Bored Apes.