Anyone who hasn’t been living under a rock is probably aware that the gaming industry has been on an absolute tear. It’s one of the industries that has benefited from the COVID-19 pandemic in a big way. That said, the average investor might not be aware of the following growth figures: The global gaming market is currently worth $180 billion — the fastest-growing form of entertainment globally. For reference, the global film industry is worth $100 billion and all North American sports combined are $73 billion in terms of annual revenues. Experts predict that the number of online streamers of …

Nonfungible token-based projects like Loot and The N Project have helped spike interest in the Metaverse to an all-time high, raising hopes again that blockchain will finally break through to the masses. Will it, or is history doomed to repeat itself? The problem is that the very things that capture the imagination of the public are the very same things that ultimately degrade the performance of the underlying platforms and raise barriers to entry higher than ever. In this article, I’ll explore the fundamental issues responsible for creating this dynamic with the goal of helping address these issues once and …

Some of blockchain’s biggest venture firms have spearheaded a new investment fund dedicated to Web 3 gaming, also known as GameFi, potentially opening the door to a highly lucrative industry that sees cryptocurrency and blockchain merging with the traditional gaming sector. On Friday, Solana Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners and derivatives exchange FTX announced the launch of a $100 million GameFi ecosystem fund. The funds will be used to invest in gaming studios, technology companies and other projects “at the intersection of blockchain and gaming,” the companies said. Lightspeed Venture Partners executive Amy Wu described gaming as a massive opportunity to …

Crypto leaders are divided over whether Mark Zuckerberg should lead Facebook into the Metaverse, with Hodl Asset’s Jenny Ta saying he needs to resign if Meta is to succeed while Animoca’s Yat Siu says Zuck is the only one who can drive the company forward. Ta is the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of nonfungible token (NFT) platform developer Hodl Assets, and said that Zuckerberg needs to head off lawsuits and protect the company’s image by relinquishing his role as CEO. But the co-founder and Chairman of blockchain game and virtual property developer Animoca Brands, Yat Su said that Zuck is …

While the Ethereum blockchain has the community advantage, the competition with Solana is heating up thanks to the rise of blockchain-based play-to-earn games, which is now simply called GameFi. Founded by Scopely and Glu Mobile veterans, game developer and publisher Faraway announced that the studio has raised $21 million in a Series A funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and major crypto exchange FTX. Along with the $8-million seed round, Faraway now has $30 million in total funding from renowned crypto ecosystem investors a16z, Sequoia Capital, Pantera Capital, Jump Capital and Solana. The company is developing its flagship title, …

Wider adoption for nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and play-to-earn games appears on the horizon as one of the biggest names in the gaming industry sees both as the future of the industry. Speaking at an earnings call, Andrew Wilson, the CEO of the major video game company Electronic Arts (EA), said that NFT and play-to-earn games are the gaming industry’s future even though it’s still early to figure out how that would work. Widely known as a business-oriented company that utilizes the pay-to-win model in several games, EA has not yet tried its hand at the play-to-earn games. However, EA hinted …

The blockchain gaming ecosystem has seen explosive growth over the course of 2021 as nonfungible tokens (NFT) and the play-to-earn gaming model helped create new income opportunities for people around the world while also ushering in a new cohort of users to the cryptocurrency sector. One project involved in gaming and the building of the Metaverse is The Sandbox (SAND), a blockchain-based virtual world where users to create, build, buy and sell digital assets in the form of a game. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that after hitting a low of $0.70 on Oct. 27, the price …

It's no secret that video-game streaming platforms, such as Twitch, have made it possible for players to earn money by broadcasting their gaming experience to an audience of gaming enthusiasts. But now, the tokenomics of blockchain-powered digital games like Axie Infinity have made it possible for users to make money by simply playing the game. At time of publication, Axie Infinity has over 360,000 concurrent players. Based on data from ActivePlayer.io, while the U.S. ranks third in terms of active Axie Infinity players, all other countries on the list are developing nations. An estimated 40% of players are based in …

Twitch Rivals, an esports tournament host featuring Twitch streamers and pro gamers, has onboarded crypto trading platform Crypto.com as a global marketing and cryptocurrency platform partner. The multi-year partnership will see Crypto.com as an official partner of Twitch Rivals in the Asia-Pacific region, aiming to increase local crypto adoption in the esports landscape. According to Kris Marszalek, co-founder and CEO of Crypto.com: “With well-over 1 billion gamers worldwide, fans of gaming and esports are digital natives, for whom cryptocurrency is inevitable.” The deal also entitles Crypto.com to have category exclusivity, in-stream branded segments, media placement, and activations at Twitch events, …

U.S. tech giant Microsoft is taking the plunge into the Metaverse via updates to its Teams and Xbox gaming console services, along with a new product called “Dynamics 365 Connected Spaces.” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced the firm’s Metaverse plans for Teams and Spaces on Nov. 2 during the Microsoft Ignite conference. “The Metaverse enables us to embed computing into the real world and to embed the real world into computing. Bringing real presence to any digital space. What’s most important is that we are able to bring our humanity with us, and choose how we want to experience this …

During bull markets, altcoins tend to accrue gains when Bitcoin price consolidates and at they run in tandem with BTC price during breakouts. This dynamic appears to be at play today because multiple altcoins went parabolic at the same time that BTC made a run at $64,000 and Ether (ETH) hit a new all-time high above $4,500. According to data from Messari, 31 tokens have established new record-highs in the past 24-hours and the total cryptocurrency market cap increased from $2.619 trillion to $2.732 trillion overnight. Let's take a closer look at the motivating factors behind the rallies in LCX …

Video game publisher MetalCore Foundation has unveiled a new open-world game that incorporates nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, into the gaming experience, highlighting the continued innovation underway in the GameFi sector. On Tuesday, the foundation unveiled MetalCore, a massively multiplayer combat game that combines traditional gaming with the GameFi features of blockchain technology. Developed by Studio 369, the game allows players to collect rare weapons, cosmetic meshes and skins that can be used in battle and traded as NFTs in an open market. MetalCore players will have the opportunity to earn in-game rewards and become virtual landowners, through which they’ll be …