Crypto gaming may be on the cusp of fresh growth

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Are we really about to see the takeoff of GameFi?

It might be slightly too early to tell — though I hosted an hour-long X Spaces the other week that ended up primarily focusing on gaming — but I gotta say it looks far more promising this cycle when compared to the last time around.

We’ve previously written about Off the Grid, but I want to zoom out and look at GameFi as a whole. Right now, the sector is facing a “pivotal phase of expansion,” according to a report from Nansen and Slice Analytics.

I caught up with Slice co-founder Tim Conrad on gaming, given the attention bump it received from not only Off the Grid but announcements from huge players like Ubisoft, which are angling for exposure through their own releases.

Although, the recent shift in popularity hasn’t come without its hurdles.

“So last cycle, you had the hype phase of the curve, and nobody had enough time to invest the money and time to build a really good game. I think Axie infinity was probably well above its time, and that’s probably why it drew so much attention,” Conrad said.

“But it still really lacked that AAA kind of gameplay and experience there … I think that that [the bear market] was the best thing that could have ever happened in the GameFi space. It allowed these triple-A games … to spend that time building, and now we’re seeing the fruits of those labors. And I think it’s drawing a lot of attention.”

A report from Grand View Research estimates that the sector could hit $301 billion by 2030.

Conrad explained that the figure may not be that far off. He said it’s “basically” based on the “acceleration that we’re seeing from 2021 and the kind of investment that we’re seeing, in addition to the teams joining, the amount of games that are launching — all that combined, looking into a projected outcome.”

It all depends on a few things, including communities.

“I think that’s really important to build that community, especially with gaming,” Conrad told me.

“We’re seeing the Epic Game store start working with Web3, this is all fantastic. One thing we took a closer look at is what type of community all these games are really growing. And one of the biggest challenges [was] when a new game that hasn’t even launched yet has like a million followers on [X]. It’s a little suspicious, and it makes you realize that a lot of these metrics really need to be scrutinized further,” he explained.

“Metrics can be changed like that, but we have to do our best to kind of filter through that noise and really evaluate what is a real metric, and what is something that we shouldn’t put so much weight into.”

Now as to what metrics matter the most, well, that might all be figured out once there’s a bit more maturity in the space.