Right from the early start in the 80s, video games had a strong social bond. People would get together in Arcades and play games vs each other or in teams. Even though in a nascent stage at the time, gaming was sending all the right signals that it would become a dominating global industry. Just how big gaming is these days?
We’ll get to that shortly. But not before carrying on with how gaming became so big in the first place. In the beginning of the 2000s, the expansion of broadband internet really paved the way for online multiplayer games and gaming guilds. LAN parties were a big thing and professional gaming became a reality on a global scale. High paying tournaments were bringing together the best eSports teams and players to battle in games like Counter-Strike, DOTA 2 or StarCraft Broodwar. The scene was well underway with tech giants already involved with sponsorships, high cash rewards for the finalists and a global community with its eyes peeled to the screens.
But it was nothing like it is today. In the last ten years, gaming has become one of the industries that spectacularly skyrocketed and is not slowing down. In 2021, the gaming industry took home $180 billion. Just how much is that? Know this — it’s more than the film and music industries’ combined revenue.
What Makes Gaming Special?
Gaming might not be on the forefront of mainstream media (although that is bound to change), but it is home for 2 billion people world-wide.
About 26% of the global population is involved with gaming. The best pro gamers today have salaries and sponsorship contracts that rival the professional sports and Hollywood contracts. Those numbers speak for themselves.
But beyond that, what really makes gaming so powerful today is blockchain technology. The fact that people from all over the world can gather in gaming guilds (or clans), play and earn money together on a daily basis is a… well… gamechanger! It’s the play-to-earn mechanism that is turning gaming into a truly profitable endeavor on a large scale. The Web3 space is now offering the perfect medium where playing games can be monetized. Something that is not entirely possible with traditional gaming, where you only win money if you place well in competitions.
All over the world, gamers young and old are acting together in gaming guilds and venture deep into the Web3 space, creating vast worlds in platforms like Decentraland or The Sandbox. Some gaming guilds have become true investment societies where players can earn money in a number of ways:
- Building original no-code games inside the platforms and earning crypto tokens as other people are playing their game
- Designing in-game items and artwork and selling those as NFTs on the marketplace
- Buying and selling land — in-game real estate
Today, blockchain based gaming is offering never-before seen economic models and opportunities to invest and earn money. On platforms like Unique Venture Clubs, gaming guilds can act to the best of their ability and profit from the New Internet just like an investment club would profit from any financial market. And even better.
Gaming Guilds — Playing, Investing & Earning
It turns out that a lot of people find more interest and are managing to make money by getting involved in the virtual investment space, as opposed to the stock and forex markets for instance. In reality, being part of a gaming guild brings some advantages and opportunities that can not be found in other sectors.
On platforms like Unique Venture Clubs — a Solana based dApp, gaming guilds can be established fast and secure and members have various options in how they want to organize their club. The platform offers several governance models, having specific formats for all kinds of DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations) and gaming guilds. Members can easily pool money together and manage the treasury in a transparent way. Everybody can vote on new proposals — buying a new in-game asset, or perhaps selling a piece of land — in-game real estate — for cryptocurrency that can be exchanged for real money.
What is fascinating at gaming guilds these days is that they can accommodate a lot of players with various interests. In some venture clubs, certain players can focus on the actual play-to-earn system and invest their time in actually playing the game — which in return will earn them crypto tokens.
Others might have a more investment oriented approach and they might be scouting the marketplace for valuable NFTs to include them in their portfolio, while earning money selling the items their guild has in possession.
From a design and creator’s perspective, blockchain based gaming offers endless opportunities. People can design and create their own in-game items and assets. They can personalize the guild’s virtual space and try their best at monetizing their craft.
The Gamification of Blockchain
At this point, it’s really hard to tell if gaming is the one shaping the blockchain industry, or the decentralized technology is the one who is actually breaking new ground in the gaming space. The answer is somewhere in the middle, but the result is what gets everybody excited.
Blockchain technology, Web3 space and gaming guilds are offering new economic models that are not so much impacted by the price of oil, inflation or global turmoil. In the virtual space, opportunities can be created and found, bought and sold for profit, without the need for third-party middle men, bureaucracy or stiff protocols.
Gaming guilds in the Web3 space gained traction during the 2020 pandemic. As the world was being shut down and the economy was stalling, a lot of people were making money on the play-to-earn platform Axie Infinity. The game is rewarding players with their native token — AXS, which gained significant value due to more and more players joining the game.
Some of the biggest gaming guilds, like Yield Guild Games (YGG) have grown into colossal venture clubs. YGG has a market capitalization of $420 billion and around 74,000 members on their Discord. The huge guild is actually a coming together of several other smaller guilds, growing up into an investment giant that is rivaling others on Wall Street.
What blockchain really brings into the gaming and investment space is accessibility, inclusion and opportunity for all people, regardless of their profile and economic status. On platforms like Unique Venture Clubs, gaming guilds can be easily organized and managed and people can take advantage of play-to-earn platforms and digital investment with ease. The next 10 years will see gaming shaping up as an independent financial landscape where value is being circulated freely and people can monetize their participation. It is already happening and it is here to bring more value into our lives.
