As cryptocurrency continues to become a global phenomenon, industries around the world are looking for more ways to incorporate this frankly revolutionary technology into their core products and services. Online gaming, in particular, has become a hotbed of exciting innovation in the sector. Developers are inventing new ways to use cryptocurrencies to buy and trade in-game products, cosmetics, unlock characters and more.
Video games have come a long way in the past few decades. In fact, the global gaming market was worth $173.7 billion in 2020 and is projected to reach $314.4 billion by 2026, with a cagR of 9.64% from 2021 to 2026. Some of the biggest video game companies include SONY, Tencent, Nintendo and Microsoft, with more than $10 billion in gaming revenues each. SONY topped the list with a whopping $25 billion in revenue. Electronic Arts (EA Games), Sega Games, Konami Holdings Corporations, and Gameloft are among the most prominent game studios in the world.
While 2020 saw several economies collapse due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the video game industry was one of the few sectors to experience an unexpected boom. As several countries imposed nationwide lockdowns, it was natural for people to seek entertainment at home during successive rounds of restrictions.
Several major game makers, including Activision Blizzard, Epic Games and Electronic Arts, reported significant growth in sales and active user bases for 2020. The surge in active users is also reflected in increased in-game purchases.
Support game and NFT growth
When dissecting the three major blockchain industries in detail, we can again support the argument that use is driven by games and NFTs. Most of the attention has been on this side of the chain since the games money making movement and the NFT space started heating up in early July.
To get a more concise analysis, focusing on the most important areas of blockchain, we grouped users by each area. This way, we can determine trends based on audience behavior.
Following July's trend, we are seeing a continued increase in interest in blockchain games. In addition, there has been great interest in NFTs support, and nfTS-driven traffic has been increasing regularly since July. We can also observe a marked decline in the previous dominance of DeFi.
In May 2021, 55% of DappRadar's audience interacted with DeFi Dapps, while the other 45% was split equally between NFTs and games. Fast forward to August, and the numbers have changed dramatically. DeFi Dapps now account for about 18% of traffic, compared with 45% for games and nearly 41% for NFT.
Blockchain games have a lot of overlap with the NFT space, as projects and even playable characters in blockchain games are represented by these unforgeable tokens. Therefore, analyzing the NFT space adds another layer of analysis to the game's perspective.
August was the best month ever for NFT space. The United States, the country most interested in NFT, has also seen its NFT audience grow by a large margin. The United States represents one of the most important markets in the world, with a huge demand for sports, collectibles and souvenirs. Thailand, India and the UK rounded out the bottom of the list. The Philippines is also one of the leaders, with most of its traffic coming from Axie Infinity.
All in all, observing global trends helps us understand the big picture. In this context, blockchain games and NFTs get a lot of attention. As game Dapps reinvent their respective projects, we may start to see other types of economies and regions get involved in this space.