2022: The Year of “GameFi”- A New Solution of Poverty, Unemployment and Medical Care
It is said that GameFi and NFT Games (aka “blockchain games”) will rapidly thrive in 2022. We can see this clearly by comparing the market capitalization of well-known NFT game crypto assets with the market capitalization of the world’s top gaming companies. It may be a year of renewed supremacy in the gaming industry.
This also indicates that there are some problems the GameFi industry should overcome. So this article shows the following:
- Why will it be “the Year of GameFi” in 2022?
- What kind of problems does the GameFi need to tackle?
After reading this article, you’ll get how the GameFi market is like.
Why are investors so excited about GameFi?
The cryptocurrency market used to be regarded as speculative activity, and it was targeted at those who were open to it.
However, the “Play to Earn” model makes more people get cryptocurrency for the first time, so this market is expected to grow several orders of magnitude bigger.
GameFi: A new solution of poverty, unemployment & medical care
GameFi and Play-to-Earn also attract attention as an opportunity to create jobs in virtual reality; the worlds separated from the real world.
NFT games went viral for the first time in the Philippines, one of the developing countries in Southeast Asia. In 2021, two-year lockdown made it hard for many people to gain incomes there.
Arianna Simpson, a General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, stated this phenomenon as follows:
Right now there is a largely untapped economic opportunity in emerging markets to provide jobs by building a virtual economy in the digital world. The way we define a “job” is quickly evolving because of crypto and gaming, and we think we’re just starting to glimpse what’s possible in this realm.
If the GameFi economic zone expands more, it can also lead to easing poverty and inequality. Some gaming guilds in developing countries even purchased a lot of NFTs to create thousands of jobs through the “scholarship” system.
This movement can also happen in Japan; Using the same method, it’s highly possible to support single mothers and low-income students.
Moreover, GameFi can create new medical solutions. Metaverse, which is compatible with GameFi, is expected to be combined with various medical technologies, such as telemedicine, virtual care, and holoportation.
For example, “EndeavorRx,” a video game treatment for ADHD children, received approval from FDA.
Challenges GameFi needs to solve
GameFi sounds awesome, but there are some negative comments as well. In fact, it still faces tons of challenges to tackle.
There are the following four challenges pointed out frequently:
- Scalability
- Game Quality
- Usability
- Legal Problems (e.g. betting laws)
Scalability
The first problem is “scalability.” When we trade NFTs or currencies, the processing speed is still slow, and exchange fees are very expensive. Those haven’t kept up with rapid expansion of the GameFi market.
This problem was improved a lot in 2021; Some cryptocurrencies grew bigger in terms of market capitalization because they significantly contributed to tackle the problem.
Crypto Ranking: In 2021, “Ethereum killers” such as BNB, SOL, ADA, DOT, and AVAX, emerged the market. This resulted in the big change of its market capitalization ranking. Scalability is still a key factor this year. Considering the rapid growth of Decentraland and Sandbox after Nov. 2021, we can’t keep eyes off Metaverse-related coins!
Game Quality
Here is another simple problem: NFT games are not fun.
Most current NFT games are not more than so-called “clicking games.” Some people point out that NFT games don’t contain complicating scenarios.
However, this can be solved very soon, as you can see the trailer of “Illuvium” below.
Usability
Poor usability is another problem; It’s still inconvenient to play NFT games due to some complicating words like “MetaMask” or “Google Chrome Extensions.”
Dapper Labs, which is famous for “NBA Top Shot,” currently takes an action to tackle this problem.
Legal Problems
And we can’t avoid the problem of “betting laws” in Japan.
RMT (Real Money Trading) refers to buying and selling characters or accounts. RMT is legal in Japan, but it has been banned due to the industry’s self-regulation.
So if we can get NFTs for a charge and sell them, it is possible that gambling crime lies.
The gambling law in Japan is different from the regulations of online casinos in the world. So some NGT games are regarded as “inappropriate” in Japan, even though they are allowed to play outside of Japan.
While it is necessary to discuss this topic carefully, there is a concern that Japan may miss the wave of NFT games.
Despite those many challenges, it’s unlikely that the wave of GameFi will stop; Rather, more and more people will pay attention to GameFi with a question, “Which game company will take a control of GameFi?”
As a Japanese, personally I hope Nintendo, Sony, SquareEnix, Konami and Bandai Namco will create many fun NFT games.
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