Blockchain gaming continues to grow and dominate the nonfungible token (NFT) space with a share of roughly 22% of all NFT trading volume in the third quarter of 2021, according to a report released by the Blockchain Gaming Alliance, or BGA. The report showed that NFT games accumulated $2.32 billion in revenue between July and September.
Metaverse-related activity was also highlighted in the report. It showed that virtual land sales reached $42.6 million while the total market capitalization for virtual world decentralized apps reached an all-time high of $4.6 billion at the end of November.
Additionally, the report mentioned that there is a “6,566% increase in daily unique active wallets.” These are wallets that interact with smart contracts connected to games.
The report also cited significant investments in blockchain gaming companies this year. Hong Kong-based game software company Animoca Brands raised $88 million in May, $138 million in July and $65 million in October, doubling its valuation to $2.2 billion.
Additionally, Cryptokitties developer Dapper Labs shocked the world with $230 million in sales on its NBA Top Shot project. Meanwhile, Pokemon-inspired NFT battling gaming Axie Infinity currently holds the record as the highest NFT sales with almost $4 billion all-time sales.
DappRadar co-founder Dragos Dunica believes that this growth will continue as everything comes together toward the metaverse. According to Dunica, the user growth of blockchain games will lead to something bigger and “potentially all-encompassing, the Metaverse.”
The metaverse has been described as more than a game, but less than the real world.
As our interactions become more virtual, NFTs appear to be a pivotal factor in accelerating the metaverse's development. https://t.co/iE0pAlWkux
— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) August 29, 2021Related: We saw mainstream adoption for NFT art kicking off in 2021, says NFT.NYC co-founder Cameron Bale
As the metaverse becomes more popular, major companies are jumping into the fray. In China, despite warnings from the government about NFTs and virtual assets, companies embarked on a race to register metaverse-related trademarks. More than a thousand companies applied to register 8,534 metaverse trademarks by Sunday.
