The article was originally published on On-Chain Media.
The GameFi has been growing at a dizzying rate throughout 2024.
With new technologies and evolving player expectations, the landscape is shifting fast, paving the way for game mechanics that are more immersive, more rewarding, and more connected than ever.
The crypto gaming market undergoes fundamental shifts, and more changes are foreseen.
This article gives a sneak peek into what’s next for this hybrid industry. Market penetration, accessibility, P2E – they are just a tip of an iceberg of what is prepared for GameFi.
According to the “Web3 Gaming Market Size” report by Global Market Insights, the GameFi industry is projected to be over $125 billion by 2032.
Two key drivers come into play: increasing awareness and a more accessible GameFi experience.
The decentralised model, which allows players to truly own in-game assets and even earn while playing, seems to get a distinct appeal. This can be traced to the success of Axie Infinity and The Sandbox – crypto games that both engage customers into non-fungible tokenised in-game artefacts and trophies. Which, by the way, convert into a real value.
However, as the factual state-of-things reveal, the play-to-earn model is not at the heart of the crypto games. What players valued more is accessibility.
A vast majority of blockchain gaming pioneers used to require a whole bunch of boring routine action just to start playing. Conversely, new projects are getting rid of such steep learning curves and sparing no effort in streamlining the gaming process as straightforwardly as possible.
At its utmost, the tendency fairly emerged thanks to The Open Network (TON) and the facilitated utility it delivered. Many TON-built projects sought success – especially Notcoin and Blum with its DOGS token – thanks to simplicity and accessibility.
Crucially, blockchain gaming is expected to get a broader acceptance within mainstream gaming. According to Coinbound, GameFi is expected to capture up to 10% of the global gaming market by 2032, rising from about 3% in 2024.
Crypto gaming projects are steadily implementing community-driven governance.
While community has always been a centrepiece of each and every Web3 product, Telegram-based applications emphasised this approach. By embedding community engagement directly into the gameplay and platform design, these games are fostering a different kind of loyalty – one rooted in shared experiences rather than just economic incentives.
This approach isn’t just about numbers; it’s about building a dedicated fanbase that feels integral to a product and to the industry by and large. Importantly, it opens a door for long-term engagement with the product, as games basically operate as a funnel.
Such strategy did the trick with Blum – a TON-based cryptocurrency exchange, which attracted a great part of its audience via a simple and rewarding clicker.
Many crypto companies followed in Blum’s footsteps, like Binance, Bybit with its Coinsweeper game, or WhiteBIT’s Bull Run. The latter one integrated a factual incentive for users to connect into its gameplay, which is based on Bitcoin price movements predictions.
Crucially, by 2024, community engagement in GameFi projects is expected to become more prominent, with over 50% of projects incorporating community-driven governance models.
Since the early days of the industry, GameFi competed with full-fledged, highly-tiered games. That did not work.
Eventually, GameFi became addressing accessibility across devices. By 2024, over 70% of GameFi experiences are expected to be mobile-friendly, a shift that democratises access to blockchain gaming.
With smartphones outpacing other devices in terms of global penetration, mobile-first design enables GameFi platforms to reach players wherever they are, without the technical barriers often associated with blockchain on desktop interfaces.
Simultaneously, GameFi is addressing accessibility on a different front: blockchain. GameFi projects seek to break down the boundaries between the chains.
Cross-chain interoperability shift allows players to move digital assets, such as in-game items, characters, or tokens. Furthermore, it promotes a more dynamic GameFi economy and allows for a larger pool of participants, more fluid trading markets, and access to a broader range of blockchain features.
Together, these trends – cross-chain functionality and mobile accessibility – underscore a broader vision for GameFi. This is evident – with predictions that at least 30% of new GameFi projects will offer cross-chain functionalities.
\The Play-to-Earn (P2E) model remains a cornerstone of crypto gaming. However, it has evolved significantly from its early focus on financial incentives alone.
While gains remain an attraction, today’s P2E games are embracing a deeper, more complex approach by creating in-game economies that mimic real-world financial systems.
Result: players are no longer just passive earners but active participants in robust economic ecosystems. Through crafting, trading, and developing virtual properties, they engage in a dynamic marketplace where the supply and demand of resources impact pricing and rarity, adding layers of strategy and competition to the gameplay experience
By evolving beyond mere financial incentives, the P2E model now offers players a richer, more immersive experience. The shift clearly elevated P2E from a profit-driven model to one where players derive value from the depth of their engagement – and this will keep up.
GameFi is carving out its place in both gaming and finance. This is what makes its path challenging, but its achievements even more appealing.
The future of GameFi is bright, complex, and positioned to transform gaming into a dynamic bridge between play, economy, and community.
As of mentioned above, the perspective of GameFi taking over the gaming industry is becoming even more realistic.
