As much as many big-time gaming companies such as Ubisoft, Square Enix, and Konami are taking the NFT plunge, it still doesn’t mean NFTs have totally taken over the gaming industry. Most of the gaming population and even game developers are not interested in NFT gaming and crypto payments.
It has been making the rounds on social media that the idea of incorporating best nft games is done because of the type, and the potential profit that it could bring for the companies, not necessarily because it benefits game players.
According to a survey conducted in the Game Developers Conference (GDC), it was discovered that out of 2,700 developers, 70% were not interested, 21% were somewhat interested, 7% indicated a keen interest and 1% admitted they’ve already started building NFT-based projects. Click here to look up for new crypto project games.
As much as there are NFT games that have generated millions of dollars in revenue for game companies and even for players, there are still problems that confront the gaming industry with the incorporation of NFTs into games.
Here are some of the reasons why gamers and developers are against NFT gaming.
THE SUPER ENERGY-INTENSIVE NATURE
NFTs are stored and run on blockchain which is decentralized and uses a great amount of computing power. This equally implies the amount of electricity needed to make this a possibility. For instance Open Sea is an NFT marketplace that is powered by the Ethereum blockchain and it gives off 7.70 metric tonnes of CO2 yearly.
Terrible right? This is one of the terrible downsides of NFT gaming and this has a negative effect on the environment. Video games already have high electricity consumption. Adopting NFTs on a large scale into the gaming industry will incredibly skyrocket energy consumption.
Think about this. NFT games will definitely incur huge financial costs. And for the record, an NFT transaction takes up to 48.14 kWh of energy. This is more than enough to power an average American household in one day.
To remedy this energy-intensive problem that comes with NFT gaming, companies such as Ubisoft are making plans to store and run their NFTs on blockchains that feature the Proof of Stake system (PoS) (the less popular one).
PoS uses less energy than Proof of Work (PoW). Many traditional gamers and developers aren’t prepared to go into such situations.
THE UNSUSTAINABLE ECONOMIES OF PLAY-TO-EARN GAMES
The economies of the vast majority of play-to-earn NFT games are unstable right now. The regular trend is the release of tokens, an incredible pump, and a drastic dump. The mint ratios of tokens get out of hand and this causes an excess supply which is problematic.
THE ENTRY BARRIER TO SOME OF THE PLAY-TO-EARN NFT GAMES IS HIGH
This is one of the financial consequences that come with many play-to-earn NFT games. Isn’t it terrible to spend up to $1,500 to own some in-game assets? More so, there’s a high possibility of that investment plummeting by a significant amount over time.
NFT gaming comes with such costs, and potential losses (even if there’s the tendency of making profit). Before making profits from play-to-earn NFT games, you must have recovered the money your initial investment and there’s a possibility you may not be fortunate enough to go up the profit ladder anytime soon.
ENJOYING NFT GAMES IS ONE THING, PROFITING FROM THEM IS ANOTHER
One of the expectations that some people have about NFT gaming is that you’ll DEFINITELY make a return on your investment, but that’s not always the case. Even after enjoying some NFT games you bought, you may never make any profit from it.
Truth be told, many in the NFT gaming space are failures. Game developers are looking to build something sustainable rather than building things that may endure for a short while. Undoubtedly, NFT games have the potential of earning you some money.
However, not everyone will be that fortunate. Some may be fortunate enough to buy a game token during a private sale or when it just got minted. And with a parabolic move gathering the interest of many gamers and investors, they can make a lot of money for themselves.
But all gamers in the NFT gaming space won’t be able to get this. It’s dicey.
LEISURE IS NOW LABOR
With the coming of NFT games into the axie gaming, the shift from leisure to labor in playing games has occurred. Play-to-earn games are now played solely with the aim of profiting rather than leisure or luxury and to progress, you must make profit.
For instance, Axie Infinity has up to 2 million users and up to 95% play to earn SLP and then convert to fiat currency or PHP. They may not find the game enjoyable, but they are doing it for the money.
However, play-to-earn NFT games are designed in such a way that playing comes before earning. This poses quite an economically unstable situation and P2E games will need to keep updating the gameplay as it takes the enjoyment out of gaming entirely.
TRADITIONAL GAMERS HATE CRYPTO AND NFTs
For the NFT gaming space to thrive, it must find a way to win traditional gamers over. Why? That’s where the bulk of gamers in the gaming industry reside. Most of traditional gamers use labels such as “eco-terrorists,” “Ponzi schemes,” “pump and dump” and “scammers” to describe things related to NFT gaming.
More so, crypto mining has led to microchips and video cards taken away from traditional gamers and this has made it quite difficult for them to accept anything crypto or NFT-related.
Given the fact that a very low percent of gamers and developers in the gaming industry embrace NFT gaming, it may take a while before NFTs thrive in the gaming industry. Hopefully with the regular improvements of NFT games and the NFT gaming space, a considerable amount of traditional gamers may come to see it as worth embracing.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
As much as these are the problems that NFT gaming brings into the gaming industry, there’s still a bright future for NFT games. There are lots of potential benefits NFTs can provide. Many of the problems will hopefully be looked into and remedied.
However, look before you leap into the NFT gaming space. Invest and build carefully.