Market Research

Analysts estimate the global NFT market was worth $2.5 billion in the first half of 2021, up from just $13.7 million in Q1 and Q2 of 2020. This means more and more developers are eager to build their blockchain gaming projects now that NFTs have joined the spotlight.

We expect this current trend to continue and blockchain gaming to become the next big crypto use-case and the new disruptive element in the gaming world. Estimates for the year 2020 state there are over 880.000 unique wallets that interact daily with gaming-related smart contracts, a 10% increase from the July numbers.

This year (2022) the number of gaming-related interactions increased by over 100%, showing a significant gain in traction for the gaming trend as more and more developers tackle blockchain gaming projects. We truly believe that blockchain gaming has a tremendous potential and analysts back our claims - gaming business is anticipated to reach $314 billion in value by 2026, a huge increase from just #173 billion in 2020. Online gamers clock in at around 1 billion people, and numbers are still rising - that is nearly 1 out of every 7 people on the planet.

Analysts estimate GameFi had a dramatic gain in popularity in 2021, surpassing 1 million unique active wallets, growing over 300% in Q3 alone. We noticed that even though early 2021 was not looking great for gaming in the crypto space, the increase in unique wallets interacting with GameFi surpassed that of wallets using DeFi exclusively by the end of the year.

GameFi accounted for 40% of total blockchain users for the year 2021, an even more impressive feat when we take into consideration the existence of DeFi and Exchanges. Even though BSC and WAX are the winners in user numbers when it comes to GameFi, we see the potential of Polygon to become a central player in this space. GameFi is responsible for more than 70% of all transactions across all networks, outperforming DeFi - a 98% increase from the pre-GameFi era, clocking in at around 68 million weekly transactions.

As we can see from the chart above, not all games are being tracked or promoted. Games encounter difficulties when trying to reach new crowds and are struggling financially. While well-known games thrive, new, up-and-coming projects get left behind. Below we can see the top games for year 2021 on Polygon. We plan to help all projects grow, no matter how popular or early they are.

The ROI in GameFi was also extremely high, with an average of approximately 1100% in Q4 2021.

Some projects offer token sales - ICO/IDO. Almost all of these sales take place on decentralized platforms as IDOs (Initial DEX offerings). Because of the high potential ROI, many investors rush to buy GameFi tokens through public sales.

When it comes to financials we cannot ignore revenue from NFTs. GameFi projects sell in-game assets in order for them to raise funding - even Bianance hosted its first IGO (initial game offering) in November 2021. These sales have proved to offer a great way to raise funds, however the true surge in user demand for these items happens when games become popular.

Another important aspect when it comes to GameFi is user numbers. As of December 29th 2021, there were more than 4000 guilds around the world with about 60% based in Asia. The high demand for play-to-earn gaming in Asia is understandable due to relatively low income - there has also been significant growth in the traditional gaming market in Asia as giants like Tencent and Konami gradually increase their market share.

As seen above, localization and community orientation is very important. Collectivism, region and chain loyalty is key in Asian countries, increasing revenue and adoption for games in those regions, most notably South East Asia.

We truly believe in the future of GameFi and Polygon, therefore it is only natural for us to try and position ourselves at the heart of GameFi development on this chain.