2023 New Changes in the GameFi Ecosystem: From "Play to Earn" to "Fun to Earn"

Original Title: “as video games evolve in 2023 gamefi will introduce a new economic model”

Source: Bitcoinist

Translation: ODAILY Planet Daily

As early as the 1940s, video games made their debut as a novelty technology at a science exhibition and gradually evolved into one of the largest and most profitable entertainment industries in the world.

With the rise of internet connectivity and mobile gaming devices, this industry has become integrated into modern life, with almost no one having not played video games.

The creator of the world's first gaming machine could never have imagined the incredible impact his device would have on the modern world.

In 1940, Dr. Edward Uhler Condon introduced an early electromechanical game machine called Nimatron at the New York World's Fair, based on the ancient mathematical game "Nim."

It was reported that approximately 50,000 people played Nimatron in the six months following its launch, with over 90% of the games being played.

This record is hard to break today, and since then, the concept of "games being popular" has continued to this day.

Other early gaming machines include the computer version of Tic-Tac-Toe, OXO, invented by British professor A.S. Douglas in 1952, which was included in a paper he wrote at Cambridge University.

The PDP-1 platform was an advanced machine installed at many universities in the United States at the time, and based on this platform, the game "Spacewar!" was created, which was a computer space combat game that could be played on the PDP-1 platform and was the first video game that could be played on multiple computers.

The World's First Game Console

These early efforts inspired what is now widely regarded as the first video game console. The "Magnavox Odyssey" was a prototype for a multiplayer gaming system that could be connected to a television to play various simple games.

Released in 1972, the "Odyssey" produced a total of 28 games, one of which served as the inspiration for the iconic Atari arcade game "Pong."

The success of Pong meant that Atari quickly became a household name. It launched its own game console, the Atari 2600, in 1977.

At that time, it completed innovations such as joysticks, interchangeable game cartridges, and color graphics, making it a groundbreaking gaming console.

By the late 1970s and early 1980s, the video game industry was booming, with other notable milestones in the gaming world including the release of the popular arcade game "Space Invaders" in 1978, the founding of the world's first third-party game developer Activision in 1979, and the subsequent releases of popular games like "Pac-Man" and "Donkey Kong."

Nintendo & Computer Games

The 1980s saw a surge of competing game consoles and systems, with the most successful being the Nintendo Entertainment System, which debuted in 1985.

The NES system not only introduced excellent graphics, sound, and gameplay but also spawned the first wave of video games, such as "Super Mario Bros." and "The Legend of Zelda."

Around the same time, game developers began creating their first games for personal computer systems like the Commodore Vic-20, Commodore 64, Apple II, and Spectrum Sinclair ZX.

These early computers were clearly cheaper and more powerful than their console competitors, leading to more complex and exploratory games like "Bubble Bobble," "Dropzone," and "Turrican."

More powerful game consoles quickly followed, with Nintendo launching the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, while its competitor Sega released a 16-bit console based on its earlier Master System, sparking the first real "console war."

Driving this war were nearly continuous releases of updates and more advanced games on both machines, including new franchises like "Mortal Kombat" and "Street Fighter."

Next-Generation Game Consoles

In the mid-1990s, a new generation of game consoles emerged, ushering in the so-called 3D gaming era.

The world's first 32-bit home console, the Sega Saturn, made its debut, with games installed on CDs rather than cartridges.

The Sega Saturn was praised for its powerful capabilities, but it was quickly surpassed by Sony's first console, the PlayStation, which was priced $100 lower and rapidly built a large game catalog.

Although Nintendo released the Nintendo 64, Sony's PlayStation, with its strong third-party support, became the most successful next-generation game console to date.

The Sony PlayStation platform hosted many iconic games, including "Ridge Racer," "Gran Turismo," "Resident Evil," "Metal Gear Solid," "Crash Bandicoot," "Silent Hill," and "Final Fantasy VII."

Sony's rise completely dominated the video game industry and maintained its lead for nearly a decade. The PlayStation 2, released in 2000, could also play games from the first-generation PS console, becoming the best-selling console of all time.

At this time, Sega finally conceded defeat. It had hoped to challenge Sony with the Dreamcast console in 1999, but that console was widely regarded as a failure.

Instead, Microsoft launched the Xbox console in 2001, which became Sony's biggest competitor.

The Modern Gaming Era

Sony's PS2 and Microsoft's Xbox continued to compete until 2005, when the new generation of consoles, Sony's PS3, Microsoft's Xbox 360, and Nintendo's Wii, were all released, marking the beginning of the high-definition gaming era.

While Sony's PS3 could support Blu-ray disc games, the company faced fierce competition.

Microsoft's Xbox 360 was praised for its realistic graphics and powerful game engine, but what truly gave it an edge was its online gaming ecosystem.

Meanwhile, the Nintendo Wii introduced the concept of motion sensors, which helped make gaming more active and attracted a broader audience. Despite its weaker graphics processing capabilities, the Wii dominated in sales.

At the same time, the growing popularity of smartphones and tablets ushered in a new era of mobile gaming, with games like "Angry Birds" becoming a global sensation due to their easy-to-learn gameplay.

However, what truly shaped the modern gaming era was the concept of online gaming.

Through online stores like Xbox Live Marketplace and Wii Shop Channel, Microsoft and Nintendo created a new model for game sales, with regular software updates bringing new features.

Additionally, people could play games with strangers over the internet, and Sony's PlayStation Network helped elevate gaming to a new, more competitive level.

The internet made video games a shared entertainment activity for millions, giving rise to a new era of massively multiplayer games like "Warhammer" and "Minecraft."

Meanwhile, online "deathmatch" games became an integral part of the gaming experience, with games like "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare," "Fortnite," and "PUBG" allowing millions from around the world to compete against each other.

The popularity of some of these games led to the rise of gaming "guilds," which are organized player groups in multiplayer games. These organizations range from a few friends to highly developed groups with thousands of members.

Today, there are many platforms that rank different guilds and allow them to meet online and organize battles.

Play-To-Earn: A New Economic Model

So far, gaming has been about fun, with players needing to pay for enjoyment.

With the rise of the new generation of "play-to-earn" games, all of this is set to change, as these games utilize new technologies like blockchain, Crypto, and NFTs to introduce a brand-new economic model.

For decades, one of the greatest dreams of thousands of teenagers around the world has been that one day they might be rewarded for playing their favorite games. P2E games make this dream a reality.

In P2E games, video game characters can be represented by NFTs, which are unique digital tokens representing identity, with ownership recorded on the blockchain.

Players first receive an NFT that can be upgraded and improved, then use this tokenized character to compete with others or complete daily challenges to earn Crypto rewards for their efforts.

In 2021, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, many players were stuck at home, and the popular P2E game "Axie Infinity" began to gain global attention.

Reports indicated that some players could earn thousands of dollars per month by playing this game. Other popular games like "Splinterlands," "Gods Unchained," and "Alien Worlds" also emerged that year.

The main attraction of these early P2E games was undoubtedly the earning potential.

However, many loyal players quickly discovered that the actual content of the games had many shortcomings, with graphics resembling 1990s console games, and gameplay that soon bored many players.

"Fun-to-Earn": The Next Gaming Revolution?

While the popularity of "Axie Infinity" and other early P2E games has begun to decline, the emergence of a new generation of more playable games has made Fun-to-Earn a topic of community discussion while retaining the P2E economic model.

These games feature better gameplay and graphics, and their developers understand this principle—unless they can combine the potential for rewards with more enjoyable gameplay, their games will soon be forgotten.

To this end, they have improved gameplay and the P2E model, offering a unique three-token economy designed to nurture an entire in-game business ecosystem, preferring players to spend their rewards in-game rather than cashing them out, creating a circular economy that retains wealth to attract new players.

Today, one of the important factors in the popularity of video games is the social element, where players not only build but also socialize, trade, and participate in challenges and adventures with others.

These innovations strongly indicate that the P2E model is becoming popular and increasingly favored among traditional video game players.

As we have seen throughout the history of video games, people primarily play games for enjoyment, with everything else being secondary. They want to have fun and make new friends, so the ability to earn money in the process only enhances the appeal of enjoyable games.

With the realization of this model, NFTs and Crypto have become part of game rewards, multiplayer gameplay has become more addictive, and with clear graphics and engaging social elements, the video game industry is rapidly moving towards the new concept of "Fun-to-Earn."