While we are, at Token Gamer, focused on the role blockchain has to play in gaming, so much around gaming informs the topic. For blockchain to play a fundamental role in the gaming industry — as we are so confident it will — there needs to be the right infrastructure and support to facilitate its success.
You can look at the current situation in a number of ways. On the one hand, we haven’t moved particularly far in the last few years when it comes to the integration of blockchain into gaming. After all, there aren’t many (arguably any) AAA developers using the technology, and there are only a handful of games from indie developers where you can play and the technology is integral. On the other hand, however, we have laid the foundations and we can already see the magnitude of potential that blockchain offers. There are some serious success stories that we cover regularly here at TG. Nevertheless, there is one area we have only touched on previously, and it underpins everything: the various blockchains for gaming.
It’s no secret, I am a fan of Enjin. Its conception was intrinsically linked with blockchain gaming from the get-go, and it hosted some of the earliest projects, several of which have been excellent and ambitious. For example, I’d like to give a quick nod to my friends at MyMetaverse, and then to some great blockchain gaming examples like Lost Relics and Age of Rust. These are games that aren’t trying to quickly cash in on the buzz around blockchain; they see the future and they want to get in at the ground floor. But it isn’t Enjin I want to talk about today, it’s a blockchain that also has gaming at its core, but regardless of what people might say, I do not see it as a rival to Enjin. When it comes to the success of blockchain gaming, the emphasis now needs to be on an enduring and mass-adopted blockchain. To that end, I look to Enjin and WAX. Enjin soared into the mainstream in the last year or so, with its price reaching dizzying new heights for the project. But WAX’s success isn’t obvious if all you care for is the current price, and if you do, you’re missing a gem.
The WAX Blockchain: Worldwide Asset eXchange
WAX dubs itself the King of NFTs (a title it can now wholly support, too) and it is focused on its marketplace, as well as dApps and games. There have been some high-profile collaborations between WAX and famous brands — as well as celebrities — in the form of NFT drops, but the truly staggering feat of WAX is what the title of the article lays out: it is the most active blockchain.
Blockchain gaming on any real scale is going to require a blockchain that can handle an ungodly number of transactions, and without costing a fortune in gas fees or melting the planet as it goes. WAX is demonstrating that they can do that with aplomb. As you can see in the above graphic, at the time of writing this, there have been nearly 12 million transactions in the last 24 hours, and that’s down 28% over the last 7 days. This volume is primarily down to the brilliant AtomicHub marketplace, which incidentally, is the number one decentralized marketplace.
As you can see, WAX has two marketplaces in the top 5, in first and second no less. This is calculated on users and it is worth noting that while AtomicMarket eclipses famous marketplaces like OpenSea on the number of transactions and users, it’s some way behind on financial volume.
One of the primary boons of blockchain’s integration into gaming is that the ownership of items and characters enables a free and complex, player-driven market to emerge. Presently, the sale of skins and items for games is made up of mostly shady, gray markets. With true item ownership, this problem would grow exponentially, and so an ironically central marketplace is essential from the very beginning.
WAX unambiguously has incredible groundwork in place to allow the games industry to utilize their blockchain, but with a few downsides. The largest hurdle for WAX games currently is the lack of an SDK. Enjin, for example, has an SDK for Unity, and the process for using blockchain with them is approaching plug-and-play with how easy it is. But WAX being the most active blockchain is significantly harder to achieve than a proficient integration system for developers and could work as a basis to build more exposure for the risk of blockchain games. WAX has achieved far more than its price reflects and they are likely to be an integral role in blockchain’s future in all things gaming.
Lead image by Davidstankiewicz and used under Creative Commons.
