How Blockchain is Transforming the Gaming Economy

3 min readJul 24, 2021

The transparency of blockchain technology is set to take the entertainment industry and gaming economy to a higher level as the power gap closes between developers and players.

Gaming in the olden days

Atari, pioneers in arcade games, kickstarted the computer games era with Pong in 1972. Revenue was earned by selling consoles to arcades and, shortly after that, software for home computers. Space Invaders, Pac Man and Donkey Kong followed. By 1982, arcades were making more money than the music industry and cinema box offices.

Between 1985 and 2000, Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) took the technological race to the next level. Along with Duck Hunt, Excitebike, and Mario of Super Mario Bros, the console market thrived.

Nintendo continued to dominate the market, introducing the Game Boy handheld and the Super NES. Sega entered the fray with enhanced processing power in 1988 with Genesis and then Game Gear handheld.

Playstation by Sony in 1994 using CD-ROMS became the first console to sell 100 million units. Microsoft, not wanting to miss out on the console market, brought out the Xbox

From 2001 until today, with the internet and mobile technology, the gaming industry grew from tens of billions to hundreds of billions. Microsoft’s Xbox Live was offered a monthly subscription. In 2004 Blizzard launched the first Massive Multiplayer Online (MMO) World of Warcraft, peaking at 14 million monthly subscription users.

The transition of gaming to online platforms was led by Apple’s iPhone, with Android hot on its heels. App Store paved the way for developers to create accessible, paid, and pay-per-feature games that are appealing to an ever-growing mass market.

In 2020, mobile technology accounted for 50% of the US$165 billion gaming industry revenue, and gaming companies are trying to consolidate to increase their cut of this market.

The turning point

In 2019, Epic Games Fortnite was shut down for a “black hole” event when the world’s leading game Battle Royale introduced a new location and chapter for users.

When accounts were frozen, there was a collective “light bulb” moment. Users realized they did not own their online acquisitions such as skins, currency, and other items. They had no property rights despite their expectations.

A user’s only right is to use the item within the limitations created by the end-user license agreement buried within the terms and conditions agreed to when registering.

Gaming — the future

The popularity of online gaming has not been affected by a few bumps in the road. Far from it, developers have recognized the potential of the virtual economies emerging around gaming.

Enter blockchain technology. Virtual resources within games are providing users with real-world money earning potential. The decentralized, secure properties of blockchain protect assets in this complex new virtual world. Blockchain will improve user experiences with secured ownership and globalization as developers add new games or in-game advancements.

Next Earth is a virtual asset platform based on a replica of the earth itself. Virtual land purchase accessible through blockchain aims to build a fully digital world.

Ownership of assets, land or other, is decentralized, eliminating a middle man, i.e., authorities, banks, and developers, with transactions between buyers and sellers.

Next Earth citizens will hold non-fungible tokens (NFTs), digital assets like Ethereum or Bitcoin. NFTs are part of crypto-world technology and store unchangeable transparent ownership data.

Next Earth includes gaming in its economic future

Next Earth’s NFT technology is being used in virtual gaming, where assets purchased as NFTs are undisputed. Assets are traded and collected and, depending on demand vs. supply, have the potential to rise in value.

The 2018 movie Ready Player One was a fictional snapshot of what the future held for virtual land ownership and gaming. Three years later, that future is now. NFTs have made virtual assets a natural phenomenon. The virtual economy is set to boom.

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