NFTs in gaming is not limited to blockchain-based games like Axie Infinity and Decentraland.
Several mainstream gaming platforms have started adopting marketplace mechanisms within their ecosystems.
The reason is that savvy gamers have identified the true potential of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in the gaming industry.
In response to this, many popular gaming platforms tiptoed into white-label NFT marketplaces.
So, let’s explore what they are and why they are so important to the gaming industry.
What are white-label NFT marketplaces?
NFT marketplaces are online platforms for buying and selling NFTs. These exchanges convert digital assets into non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
In such a system, participating in a white-label NFT marketplace benefits both creators and investors.
In fact, white-label NFT marketplace solutions provide ready-made solutions to launch NFT platforms for creating, minting, buying, and selling digital assets. They are similar to well-known platforms such as OpenSea, Rarible, Foundation, etc., and they’re custom-tailored according to every business need and niche, making them unique.
Popular firms making inroads into NFT marketplaces
Ubisoft
Ubisoft, the company behind multi-million-dollar games like Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry, launched an NFT platform called Quartz in early December, where it sells in-game items like guns and helmets from the video game Ghost Reckon Breakpoint.
Gamestop
Gamestop partnered with ImmutableX (a layer-2 platform) to launch an NFT marketplace. The Immutable X-powered NFT marketplace will open later this year. The two businesses have established a $100 million grant fund in Immutable’s IMX tokens to help developers launch their game NFT projects on the platform.
Fractal
In December, Twitch co-founder Justin Kan announced Fractal, a Gaming NFT Marketplace on Solana. The platform will function both as a primary and secondary marketplace, allowing players to purchase non-fungible tokens from game businesses for usage in-game and a secondary marketplace for peer-to-peer trading.
What’s the need for gaming-specific marketplaces?
With the trade volume on NFT gaming platforms like Crypto Kitties, Axie Infinity, and Crypto Punks, it’s safe to assume that gaming-specific NFT marketplaces will emerge shortly. The trade volume is too large to rely on a single platform for very long. It’s also possible that, as gaming NFTs improve, OpenSea will no longer be the ideal venue to sell them.
The characteristics and architecture of game-specific NFT marketplaces are still being developed. However, because of the large amount of money and time people spend playing online games, a dedicated NFT platform is needed. Gamers are looking forward to it because they believe that it will mean lower costs, more prizes, and cross-chain compatibility.
It’s not the first time NFTs and Blockchain have come together. While GameStop’s involvement lends credibility to the notion, several blockchain games embrace the play-to-earn model by tokenizing in-game assets using NFT technology. The tokens can then be traded for other tokens or sold on marketplaces for real-world money.
Multi-chain compatibility is a must
At the moment, gamers buy their assets within a single game. Because the asset is exclusive to that gaming ecosystem, you also exit the asset when you leave the game. Considering how the lines between gaming, investment, and trading are blurring, this is a terrible waste of resources.
It means that NFT trading and investment must be extremely efficient, the polar opposite of what happened with Crypto Kitties on the Ethereum network. It is for this reason that new games are being developed on blockchains with lower gas costs.
Developing new games that incentivize NFTs will require white-label NFT platforms that are gaming-specific and compatible with various blockchains. The success of gaming NFTs depends on interoperability, tradable assets, etc.
Propelling gaming industry in Web3.0
Gaming is a massive industry, and NFT trading is one of the ways to profit from it. In a larger sense, games can be compared to entire economies or even Metaverses in their own right. There are NFTs, and then there are the native tokens within the platform, then there are more speculative and third-party approaches.
A decentralized player-driven economy drives the gaming industry’s foray into the web3.0 environment. Traditionally, gaming platforms were centralized and driven by powerful ecosystems.
Would you fancy facilitating this trend?
In spite of the looming uncertainty surrounding NFT and crypto, investments in NFT-based products continue to soar. If you’re an entrepreneur reading this article, building a white-label NFT marketplace will pay you dividends. All you need to do is connect with a proficient NFT gaming platform development company to proceed.
