Today, video games are not what they once used to be. You are not really wasting time if you invest 1000’s of hours into getting good at games. The eSports industry is worth Billions today and it’s going to keep on growing. eSports is estimated to have a global audience of hundreds of millions, featuring a wide range of age groups ensuring that it is here to stay. The Crypto Industry, on the other hand, is also looking to find its place amongst other mainstream industries.
While these two industries might seem completely disconnected, the growth of esports and gaming can lead to the growth of crypto and blockchain industry as well as the two industries have now started to collide in many ways.
The Role of Family Offices
Despite reports of huge investments, a majority of institutions are not actively involved in the crypto sector. However, there is no doubt that everyone is keeping their eyes on the industry regardless of how skeptical they are about it.
David Nage, a principal at the cryptocurrency investment firm Arca, recently laid out the reason on Twitter handle claiming family offices are the reason for the rise of gaming and esports industry. According to Nage, 17% of the $4.5 billion dedicated to eSports in 2018 were from family offices.
David Rubinstein, the founder of Carlyle Group and American billionaire Ted Leonsis are few big names who have invested in eSports and other Gaming Companies like aXiomatic Gaming.
Here’s where things get interesting. Take any mainstream game in the market you’ll find crypto-esque in-game currencies. Whether it is PUBG’s Battle Points, Rocket League’s Keys, Fortnite’s V-Bucks, every online based game today seems to have one. However, these are not necessarily decentralized or backed by blockchain but they are pretty much the centralized version of cryptocurrencies.
Nage Adds:
“V-Bucks and BP are digital natives, in many cases non-fungible currencies; hundreds of millions of teenagers and young adults now buy and/or acquire them.”
Now if family offices can come to terms with Esports being a huge industry, it won’t be long until they start finding acceptable use cases for cryptocurrencies and blockchain. Even if it starts as part of video games, it might be the potential kickstart which the crypto Industry needs to go mainstream.
Blockchain and Games
As you start to understand in depth of how both these industries work, you’ll start finding potential use cases. Video games can use a decentralized backend to store data of its in-game currencies. Some of these in-game currencies can be traded into real-world currencies too (Rocket League’s Keys for example). Having a backend similar to Cryptocurrencies can ensure the transparency and security of these digital currencies as they start to grow more and more in value.
According to a recent report, Ubisoft, a hugely popular video game company behind titles like Rainbow Six, Assasins Creed, Far Cry, and other classics like Prince of Persia, has started a dedicated team for discovering potential blockchain applications in gaming for a number of months.
Ubisoft is reported to use the Ethereum blockchain for improving the way in which their digital currencies are stored and also to potentially enable trading of in-game items between users. However, it is doubtful whether the Ethereum platform is strong enough to handle the huge userbase of Ubisoft. A potential Consortium Blockchain might just be the solution that Ubisoft has in mind.
However they end up implementing the technology, this is a hugely positive step for both the Gaming and Crypto Industry. The future looks bright as both of these industries start to develop a revolutionary symbiotic relationship.
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