Web3 gaming exploded during the lockdowns of 2019-2021 and sparked the metaverse and bull run. However as soon as things started to open back up and go to "normal" life it was clear that the demand for the metaverse and gaming for money started to fall and boy did it fall in an epic way.
It's easy to make money during the bull market including running a business because any decision you make seems like a raging success. However when the hype is high and the bull is in full charge you could legit throw poo at people and they would buy it up. It's a trap many businesses and people fall into over and over again.
Through all of that however strong foundations survive and those businesses which are able to quickly adapt and figure out what made them successful in the first place are able to survive the bear market and prime themselves for the next bull run. This is something I personally feel the Hive blockchain game Splinterlands
Web3 Gaming Is Heating Up
It was clear that when gaming companies first tried to implement crypto and NFTs into their games they got heavy push back. That's because the way these companies went about it was a clear cash grab on the hyped trend and the general community of gamers called them out. This caused gaming industries to pull back and rethink things to the point of where we are now seeing direct wallet connections into systems which I wrote about yesterday here Crypto Wallets On Entertainment Systems
This shift is now allowing gamers to become true owners of the assets they buy in a decentralized community.
These web3 games take a number of things into consideration.
They use the blockchain - Feeless systems often perform the best
Smart contracts - The blockchain must support smart contracts
Governance with Community driven development - Now players can "own" a part of the game and hold vote weight. This gives players a voice instead of just hoping the devs hear them and their ideas. It allows players to bring ideas forward and have the rest of the community vote on them to be adopted into the game. We see this as a clear example with again Splinterlands
Hubs and Esports
We are also now seeing the creation of Hubs and esports not only in betting on esports but also a place for gamers to come together and put on tournaments.
These tournaments often bring in large sponsors, large cash (in this case) crypto prizes and more. It not only gains popularity and exposure of the game but it opens up multi streams of revenue for these compeditive web3 games. These games also once blocked on steam are now allowed as long as the game puts forth it's not a cash grab. One of the hottest titles for this so far is called "The Unfettered"
I don't believe it will be long before we see dynamic NFTs from games for sports etc, new crypto tokens and economies and major push for adoption in this area which will honestly be one of the fastest and easiest ways to onboard people into the crypto world and actully owning assets.