Cryptocurrency Evolution In Video Games
Cryptocurrencies at their essence are just limited entries in a database that no one can change without fulfilling specific conditions. Besides this being the exact definition of what a regular currency is, cryptocurrencies are currencies on steroids and they are more popular now than ever. Despite the fact that Bitcoin fell in price by roughly 20% in a mere seven-day span, it hasn’t affected the interest from people to form part of the cryptocurrency world.
Another shift is that eSports and virtual gaming have now been considered to go hand in hand with cryptocurrencies. That’s because they come from similar tech cultures and complement each other. The two worlds have a similar underlying psychology, to level up, users need to either generate more cryptocurrency or earn more virtual coins to unlock new worlds.
Cryptocurrencies became prominent with the introduction of Initial Coin Offerings (ICO) in 2013, which is also known as “token sales”. ICOs are an effort from startups to create investment opportunities. By releasing their own currency or token, startups can now fund their unique ideas with investors from all over the world. The tokens sold by the company are typically purchased with Bitcoin, even when traditional fiat money is sometimes provided as well.
Cryptocurrencies are a great options for video gamers and companies in the gaming industry. This is because cryptocurrencies offer a decentralized way of exchange that’s more transparent and solve the problem of having to deal with more than 20 different currencies and their own regulations. The advantages of cryptocurrency for the game industry are clear: they break barriers of participation across the entire world and return some of the power to people.
The first successful IPO was launched by Mastercoin in 2013, with Ethereum following with an even bigger crowdfunding effort the following year. eSports and video game ICO’s have seen a huge success so far in 2017. Unikrn, an eSports platform, raised $30 USD million in October 2017. Also, NEVERDIE, a company that has been in the virtual reality space for many years, is now trying to create a cryptocurrency coin/token that could be used for transactions in the virtual reality world as well as for eSports prizes. NEVERDIE’s ICO ended August 1, 2017, with coins available on the Ethereum Blockchain, over $2.1 million were raised, including $50,000 from a single investor. It is obvious that it was a matter of inevitability that cryptocurrency would make their way into the eSports and video game sector.
While the absence of regulations is increasing in the use of cryptocurrencies, the added benefit is that it allows people in areas of the world where eSports and video games are more heavily regulated, to participate in the industry. Skincoin, a skin gambling platform for games like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2, have an open secondary market for their in-game cosmetics. Skincoin recently finished its token pre-sale, selling over $2 million worth of coins; they are not surprisingly another popular alternative to real-money gambling for eSports.
Jon Jacobs, NEVERDIE CEO, added his opinion that “eSports is a great way for gamers to earn meaningful income and digital currency makes perfect sense for the purse.” And that “betting is really one of the most important ingredients for turning eSports into spectator sports,” hence; the launch of NEVERDIE Coins on the Ethereum Blockchain. Obviously, Videogames and Cryptocurrencies are the new found love birds, it’ll be matter of time until the majority of games and eSports have their own cryptocurrency.