Providing Transparency In Gaming Through NFTs

The global video gaming industry is on an unprecedented growth trajectory, with no signs of slowing down. From 2020 to 2027, the global video game market is predicted to increase at a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 12.9 percent, up from $151.06 billion in 2019. With tech proliferation and innovation in both hardware and software being the major drivers of this massive growth, it’s also the increasing adoption of internet services that has boosted market growth prospects in the future years.

And now, blockchain technology, which was initially considered to host cryptocurrency as its only major use case, is changing the face of the gaming industry. Until recently, gaming was a largely centralized activity, with all data, assets, and in-game currencies typically restricted to the game from which they originated and the developers maintaining complete ownership of such items. The integration of blockchain paves the way for a completely decentralized gaming future, where objects won or purchased in one game can be transferred and utilized in another, giving digital in-game assets real-world worth.

Without a doubt, the distributed ledger technology of blockchain has the potential to rebuild the entire industry, overthrow the dominant console market, establish a multiverse, and make games more engaging and realistic than ever before. It can also provide transparency in gaming — through NFTs. How so? Let’s find out.

NFTs and Gaming

NFTs are key players in the revolution that the gaming industry is currently experiencing. For the uninitiated, NFTs are intangible digital art such as images, movies, music, clip art, and other digital assets. An NFT is typically made by minting digital assets on a blockchain. They are all the rage in the crypto space these days, and unlike cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, where you can exchange one Bitcoin for another, an NFT is unique and, as the acronym states, “non-fungible.”

The universal craze for NFTs is mostly fueled by the recent increase in overall awareness and popularity about them. From high-profile musicians and celebrities to business leaders and others, everyone is jumping on the NFT wagon. Additionally, the number of new people and demographics turning to video games is also significantly increasing due to the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns in various nations.

Because of the current centralized nature of video gaming, players don’t actually own the in-game items they’ve earned; if a gamer’s account gets stolen, disabled, or even if the user moved on to another game, all of their money would disappear entirely. This model has persisted because there was no viable alternative — that is until NFTs arrived.

Thanks to NFTs, players can now own and manage what they buy, acquire, or craft through in-game items. It’s about more than just proving your character’s new accessory is unique; it also means these items may be purchased and sold on secondary marketplaces, transported between games, with players getting to keep the value they invested in them in the first place.

NFT Gaming — Transparency, Security, and more benefits

From ownership of digital assets to transparency in gaming, NFTs offer several benefits. Here are the important ones.

• Ownership of in-game assets: Players in NFT gaming have complete ownership over their assets and can even earn cryptocurrencies. The issue of item theft due to hacking and the sale of phony in-game assets is also addressed by blockchain-based NFT gaming, which provides immutable ownership of in-game assets.
• Passive income stream: NFTs enable a new in-game economy for developers to monetize their content, in addition to the standard in-app purchase or advertising revenue model. Physical ownership provides additional incentives to play a blockchain-based game and can potentially serve as a regular source of income.
• Establishes trust: Employing a decentralized distribution network, these games also aim to restore trust between game developers and distributors by recording sales on a blockchain.
• Transparency & proven rarity: NFTs work on the principle of rarity or scarcity, as we already know, and the blockchain aids in the transparency of digital transactions. It also serves to establish the asset’s uniqueness, which results in high returns in exchange for the asset.

Altura for the win!

Altura is a next-generation gaming NFT platform that enables game developers to create, distribute, and trade Smart NFTs that represent in-game assets. Smart NFTs are NFTs that have dynamic qualities that change depending on the circumstances.

Loot boxes are virtual treasure chests that hold unknown objects that can be used in video games. Chests, crates, and card packs are common examples. Altura strives to be as transparent as possible by allowing users to examine the probabilities and code to verify what is going on. Furthermore, even though loot boxes are a common element of many online games, they have recently come under fire for employing predatory tactics to encourage users to spend money while playing.

The gaming industry has progressed dramatically in the last three decades, from pixelated sprites to immersive graphics and gameplay. But, up until now, games had just served as a kind of entertainment. The possibilities are infinite now that technology has been gamified and games have been technologically enhanced.

To learn more about Altura, check out the official website.