Blockchains are rapidly disrupting the gaming industry with the goals to make games more secure, establish trust, reduce costs, and protect intellectual property. In this article, we focus on the largest and fastest-growing gaming ecosystems in blockchain today. 

Since the 70s, the gaming industry has been a force to reckon with in the entertainment industry. However, it’s in the 21st Century that gaming has truly been embraced due to the increase in gaming devices and smart appliances. As of today, the gaming industry is the largest entertainment sector with an estimated $165 billion in revenue in 2020 – dwarfing the movie and music industries combined.

For the past half-century, gaming has captivated its audience – whether in arcades, on consoles, mobile, PCs, or handheld devices. Lately, the gaming world has become immersed in virtual reality (VR), cloud, and blockchain gaming ecosystems that target a futuristic way of gaming, both socially and economically. 

Blockchain gaming, the youngest of the three, is witnessing massive growth in demand and popularity as users move towards decentralization. This field allows gamers “true ownership of their in-game assets,” revolutionizing gaming for players who had previously thought their assets would be locked up in games forever. 

Top blockchain gaming companies to watch

Over the last decade, several blockchain gaming ecosystems have emerged, aiming to grab a piece of the ever-growing market. Our focus is on the biggest and fastest-growing ecosystems in blockchain gaming today. 

Mythical Games

Mythical Games, a blockchain-based game technology studio, leverages blockchain technology to avoid common pitfalls in user’s gaming experience. The Los Angeles-based firm is building a digital economy based on digital assets, cryptographic trading methods, and scarcity with the goal of driving consumer adoption of distributed ledger technology through games. Over the past three years, the firm has raised over $19 million to develop its blockchain gaming ecosystem.

Mythical’s top game, Blankos Block Party, has raised $75 million to integrate character non-fungible-tokens (NFTs) into the game, allowing users to earn, buy, and sell characters.

Animoca Brands

Animoca Brands raised capital totaling US $88,888,888 (approximately A$113,500,000) in May 2021. The capital raised will be used to fund further acquisitions, develop new products, continue to make strategic investments, and secure additional licenses for popular intellectual properties. Animoca Brands has been ranked in the Financial Times list of High Growth Companies Asia-Pacific 2021 and is recognized as a leader in digital entertainment, blockchain, gamification, and artificial intelligence. 

Animoca Brands is integrating NFTs into their gaming products. Current game products include F1-Delta Time and The Sandbox, which feature tokens (REVV and SAND) to be earned and exchanged through game play. These tokens can be traded like other cryptocurrencies on exchanges and used to purchase NFTs in their respective games. 

Announced on June 3, their subsidiary nWay has partnered with the Olympics to release NFT versions of collectible, tradeable Olympic pins. From their official press release, “Collectors can obtain unique and officially licensed NFT Olympic Pins in three ways: 1) by purchasing assorted packs on nWayPlay.com; 2) by purchasing specific pins directly from other collectors on the nWayPlay Marketplace; and 3) by earning them free of charge by playing a real-time Olympic-themed competitive video game connected to nWayPlay and to be launched in the lead up to the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022.”

Robby Yung, CEO was recent featured on Bad Crypto Podcast Episode #523, June 13, 2021

Gala Games

Gala Games, one of the world's largest independent node networks and operator of the globe's largest blockchain gaming ecosystem, is home to top games Mirandus, Town Star, and Fortified. With a portfolio of 20 games expected to be announced by the end of 2021, Gala Games aims to leverage blockchain technology to secure the in-game assets and manage the use of tokens for in-game purchases. The platform was founded by Eric Schiermeyer (the co-founder of Zynga and gaming legend) and continues to attract industry legends.

Gala Games allows users to be a node operator, earning daily rewards points to accumulate additional game features. The platform includes a native token, GALA, which provides extended features for gamers allowing them control over their assets and game accounts and helps to govern the Gala Games roadmap. When users invite friends to join the Gala Network, they and their friends can earn more GALA, unique NFTs, and other game assets.  

Decentraland

Decentraland, launched in 2017, is an Ethereum-based virtual world that allows players to interact and participate in concerts, art shows, land offerings, etc. Additionally, the game allows you to buy virtual land and build houses (similar to Minecraft) in user-generated environments. An important feature of this platform is, again, the idea behind user-owned, decentralized content where users can exercise their voting rights to control the policies of the space.

Splinterlands

Splinterlands is a digital collectible trading card game platform where users can buy, sell, and trade digital assets via blockchain technology - akin to Magic the Gathering and Hearthstone - and records are public and immutable via the Splinterlands ecosystem. Blockchain records integrated into the game take the benefits of previous physical card trading and transfer them to digital assets, creating distribution control and elements of scarcity for those assets. Splinterlands’ Jesse Reich was featured on The Bad Crypto Podcast in June 2020; check out episode #413 here.

The growth of blockchain gaming is set to continue with the demand ecosystems increasing by the day. 

Other top ecosystems include the TAP Project, which is a gaming platform featuring the ability to transfer in-game earned achievements and currency into game tokens. The user can then transfer value spent in one game via Tap Coins (TTT) and trade them with other gamers or trade for other tokens on decentralized exchanges. In addition to earning Tapcoins for game play, The Tap Project offers the ability to transfer NFTs across blockchains and reduce the gas fees subject on the Ethereum blockchain. In-game achievements and game currency thus become fungible across games and exchanges.