Gaming is the entertainment sector that has seen the most growth, exceeding Hollywood. The $200 billion industry has reigned supreme for decades, unifying more than 40% of the world’s population. But the GameFi sector, which is emerging now, has a major impact on the game business.
GameFi leverages blockchain technology and has recently altered the course of gaming’s history. Online gaming has taken on new meaning thanks to the interactive experience it offers. NFTs as well as the metaverse have made it more powerful and interesting, such that SocialFi is now a part of the online gaming paradigm.
SocialFi is a combination of Finance and Social. New social economies are powered by Blockchain technologies like NFTs and crypto. The creators of social change can directly monetize them.
The Gaming Evolution: From entertainment to earning
Videogames have existed since the early 1970s. This was before the advent of consoles. The Sega Dreamcast was a significant technological breakthrough. This was the initial significant advancement in this area.
Gaming’s original purpose was to bring friends and families together for a good time. Gaming became more fun with internet gaming. This allowed gamers to increase their global competitiveness. This led to the birth of some of the earliest eSports Leagues.
Next came smartphones, which disrupted gaming. Smartphones revolutionized gaming and many other activities. This boom had such a significant impact that 52% of global gaming revenue now comes from mobile devices.
We’ve arrived at the latest gaming iteration. Play-to Earn games combine gaming with blockchain technology. You can earn cryptocurrency and real world value. Axie Infinity, a great example, is an ideal example. Within a relatively short period, the company was worth $3 billion.
SocialFi has become the New GameFi
GameFi’s growth is rapid. As of February 20,22, its market value had risen to $55.38 million. The market value of the product is expected to increase tenfold over traditional gambling by 2025.
However, the trend is gradually shifting from GameFi to a more efficient model—SocialFi. The relevance of social networks in today’s world and the engagement aspects of GameFi form the foundation of this new paradigm.
Decentralized social networks are emerging that offer users great flexibility and many benefits. SocialFi is a reliable model for blockchain technology with features such as data transparency, robust privacy and fair monetization. The long-term benefits of incentivizing users with digital assets, such as NFTs, are even more compelling for the end-users.
While numerous projects offer various flavors of SocialFi, only some have successfully and robustly combined GameFi and SocialFi. One of them is Superhero NFT Wars. This is one of three top SocialFi projects, and it’s a great example of how to build a network that connects NFT-oriented communities through platform-level social media services. The project combines social media and cross-IP engagement with community building and value creation into one umbrella.
Although the main focus of the project is building a SocialFi environment, there are many other features such as a staking table, central IDO marketplace for NFT trading, NFT trading front office, and nightclub ballroom. SNW will have a platform for NFT traders and buyers. Beyond that, SNW’s social metaspace will host social events to explore the community engagement aspects.
The platform will launch with its NFT collections — SNW-CB and SNW-X. A movable, evolvable membership card is the goal to make the platform an industry-first layer-0 social tool. NFT utilities provide a unique avatar for the metaspace and Discord access. They also include $SNW token airdrops. Furthermore, owning these NFTs will enable participation in game development and voting on the game’s DAO governance.
SocialFi’s Future
Even though SocialFi platforms may still be in the early stages of development, certain efforts already show great promise. Superhero NFT Wars is an example of genuine innovation within this sector with its metaspace.
SocialFi could be the DeFi summer 2020, and we may even see it as the 2022 SocialFi. So it’s only about time when users move in flocks, away from Twitter and Instagram, towards blockchain-powered SocialFi platforms.