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Heard of GTA, NFS, FIFA, etc.? These are some of the best-selling titles in video game history. It wasn’t until the early 2000s that gaming culture dominated. Fast forward to 2022, the gaming industry is in a phase of unprecedented growth and India is home to many people who are gaming as a career. The eSports industry is new to the Indian market, and the rise of the market is directly related to the emergence of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds or commonly known as PUBG. Multiplayer games became the starting point for competitive games to win cash prizes. A notable difference between games and esports is that players compete against each other, rather than against an artificial intelligence embedded in the game.
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Esports is a digital form of interactive content that has seen a massive rise in the COVID era. It allows viewers, especially millennials and Gen Z, to interact with like-minded people and give them a sense of belonging during difficult times. The audience base exploded, as did the number of players, creators, agencies, tournament organizers, and more, constantly experimenting with new avenues in esports.
According to FICCI and EY Esports Report 2021, eSports will generate over INR 30 crore revenue by 2025 and games promoted by esports tournaments will generate in-app purchase revenue of over INR 140 crore by 2025. Subsequently, the revenue of the Indian e-sports industry is expected to more than quadruple to INR 11 billion by 2025. The industry is growing at a compound annual growth rate of 46%, attracting the attention of domestic and foreign investors.
“The ever-growing esports market presents an opportunity to build a platform for fans, game creators and esports players to collect, play and interact with their favorite esports influencers, gain access to gaming-related collectibles, earn rewards, and more. Gamers are almost always first movers in terms of technological advancement. Web3 and Metaverse are making gaming look different. At UniFarm, we recently partnered with Sportzchain-World’s First Engage to Earn platform, Gameyoo, Battleverse, Legion Network, DCD Cooperative Ecosystem and Wizardia. Blockchain enhances the experience by giving you digital ownership and earning rewards for your in-game interactions,” said Tarusha Mittal, Unifarm Co-Founder and COO.
The gaming and esports industries have also witnessed the participation of the crypto industry. Crypto is gradually making forays into the esports industry. However, encryption has been a polarizing topic, especially for the Indian market. The federal government has been somewhat hesitant to embrace the crypto industry. Despite the hesitation, Indians are actively buying and trading cryptocurrencies. Due to the sharp decline in the cryptocurrency market, cryptocurrency trading has stopped, not to mention the taxation of the profits of the federal government.
The cryptocurrency market is in turmoil as the prices of different cryptocurrencies drop sharply. The Federal Reserve FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) announced the launch of “tapering” in November 2021. Crypto experts generally agree that the curtailment will affect the price of Bitcoin. Experts say the taper means marginal dollar liquidity is reduced by fewer bond purchases.
The sharp drop in cryptocurrency prices hasn’t stopped them from venturing into esports. The adoption of cryptocurrencies and crypto tokens in gaming and esports has increased as more esports companies start accepting crypto sponsorships, push creator-based NFTs, or invest time and resources in Web3-based games .
E-sports is a digital space, ensuring that the possibilities of NFT in e-sports far exceed traditional sports. Crypto is touted as making NFT transactions easier, providing creators with a transparent and secure system to monetize their content.
inevitable partnership
Gaming and cryptocurrencies have an affinity. Games have had their fair share of controversy and criticism. When the gaming industry emerged in the late 80s, it was criticized for making kids lazy and fat, and accused of not developing social skills. The department also became a scapegoat for the infamous Columbine High School massacre, as the shooter was believed to be addicted to violent video games. It took about 50 years for the gaming industry to become profitable and accepted worldwide. The crypto industry is following a similar path to the cryptocurrency launched in 2009 when Satoshi Nakamoto discovered Bitcoin. It has been criticized and threatened with ban. However, the cryptocurrency may or may not follow the same trajectory as the record-falling game.
“There are many avenues for the cross-pollination of these two industries – whether it’s adopting in-game crypto payments (crypto in games) or creating Web3 games (crypto games). These two industries are largely driven by experimental, tech-savvy and high-stakes individuals who are open to the idea of merging these two trending spaces and taking full advantage of them. The whole idea of crypto payments is to make the payment process easier, safer, more transparent and independent of cross-border currency exchange rates. Integration In-game crypto payments will see more users make in-game purchases without having to worry about the aforementioned factors. Also, it will be a unified payment system for game developers, which they have to build into their games, making it easier for them ,” said Rohit Agarwal, founder and director of Alpha Zegus, a next-generation marketing agency focused on the gaming and lifestyle space.
One thing that keeps coming up is the adoption of crypto tokens for in-game purchases. Much of the funding for the Million Dollar Prize comes from crowdsourcing and a small subscription fee. Cryptocurrencies are designed to make it easier to generate localized tokens for games themselves or for a large number of games with interesting lineups. The adoption of cryptocurrencies will make it easier for international players to get paid without having to deal with issues in currency exchange.
“One of the things to appreciate about both the token and esports industry is that both are limitless in terms of opportunities and are not defined by any particular calendar or any competition, event. They can continue to be replenished at a faster rate The way each other grows. When esports teams and sports teams adopt their tokens, this will take off quickly,” said Piyush Kumar, Founder and CEO of Rooter.
A tech-savvy future
The crypto industry, despite its downturn, is still one of those with huge potential if it takes off. This sector combined with gaming will be a faster and more efficient payment alternative to currently deployed fiat currencies.
“Due to the large number of fans on both sides, esports and cryptocurrency companies have entered into cooperation agreements to help each other develop in the right direction. With the scale of marketing, the brand influence of both parties is much greater.” Esports Cryptocurrencies have a special connection thanks to their high level of competitiveness and rapid adoption. Since 2021, companies like Coinbase and Uniswap have aligned with alliances and major teams to capitalize on the opportunity to converge the market,” said Kumar Gaurav, Founder and CEO, Cashaa.
Gaming and esports are slowly making their way into the blockchain and metaverse. Many online games are already Web3 enabled. There are many partnerships between global cryptocurrency companies and esports teams. It is only a matter of time before cryptocurrencies start to play a significant role in the gaming and esports ecosystem.
