Blockchain games made on Ethereum by MinerGate Mining Pool

Digital collectibles games have been around for years, even though they were often hard to trade, and almost impossible to transfer between games. Coin based games have been around since before 2014 though dwarfed by PC and game console communities. Collectible games have been the foundation for the concept of earning “coin” to pay for great cool stuff, keeping gamers invested and interested. Before blockchain existed, it was all too easy to have your stuff stolen, copied, or hacked. Over time, the number of gamers has swelled.

Then fast forward to an era where mobile/tablet/desktop gaming can happen on the go, the number of gamers has grown to 2.3 Billion. Ethereum blockchain has helped fuel the expansion, providing a more secure environment (which can prevent stealing and being copied), coupled with quicker transaction processing times and lower fees than BitCoin. Is it any wonder that Ethereum games have exploded?

CryptoKitties

Didn’t you just love CryptoKitties when it launched? It was the best blockchain game out at the time and went viral. The Ethereum network was effectively halted due to the swell of players on CryptoKitties in late 2017, and even now up to 500 players are live on the game every day.

Gamers make money too! In May one of the CryptoKitties creatures was sold for the equivalent of $140,000. Not a bad return for a bit of time spent playing games which most of use to pass the time creating kittens.

CryptoKitties is the poster child for the blockchain games industry. Game developers and creative gamers are looking to emulate that success, getting a part of the Ethereum blockchain value in return – about US$32M transacted at end April 2018. With the announcement of the KittyVerse ecosystem starting with 30 third-party projects in June 2018, the demand for Ethereum will grow as gamers create, buy and sell their creations.

UnicornGO

UnicornGO, who wouldn’t want to own their very own unicorn and take pictures of it on their travels? Gamers can buy one using Ethereum or a token called Candy Coin, which is an amalgamation of the value of many different tokens. UnicornGo integrates with the phone camera to place a unicorn onto the shot you take with the camera.

Like trading cards, UnicornGo has dimensions which gamers can select, ensuring they get the unique creature they desire for their Ethereum or Candy Coin. Breeding / siring your Unicorn to make another unique creation, again using Ethereum or Candy Coin can create new Unicorns to sell or use in tournaments.

UnicornGO also offers lands for sale which provides additional rights, like voting and growing candies, and helping unicorns recover after tournament bouts or siring. These features keep gamers coming back to their blockchain, investing more Ethereum, and through the active fan base creating value for their tokens.

Best of all, should the gamer not have time to play, unlike the Tamagotchi, their Unicorn won’t die for lack of attention, and its value is supported by the community of blockchain gamers.

Dragons – from eggs to “real gaming”

Dragons as well have swooped in on the digital collectible market, capitalizing on the popularity of dragon adventures from and moving collectible blockchain games into the world of real gameplay. All the elements of the genetics from other Ethereum game collectibles are included. And for those looking for the classic fighting challenges, they can be found on some soon to be released games like Dragonereum.

Marketplaces have developed to enable trade between game creations and either cash or cryptocurrencies, including Ethereum. Some games have established their own tokens, providing an on-going basis of currency, and making it easy for gamers to buy quickly and get back to their favorite games.

Adding a further dimension of real gaming to anything dragon related is going to be popular for many years to come.

Beyond Collectable Ethereum games

Game developers are looking for opportunities to exploit Ethereum blockchain to create new, innovative, and perhaps most importantly, extremely addictive games. You can already find a range of games from warfare to gardening to sports to crypto punks. Whether they will become runaway successes or not depends on how willing their fan base is to get on board, help it go viral and stay active.

How easy it is to transfer gamer’s digital purchases and creations will also be a factor. Blockchain technology provides some security, increasing the likelihood that your stuff won’t get stolen (though you might get hacked). We expect to see more this in the future, which will give gamers and creators alike more confidence to buy or mine Ethereum for transactions.

And of course, every new gamer will need Ethereum to sign up for most games, and more for those important initial purchases which make it fun from the start.

Summary

When games and the crypto world collided, a new breed of game enthusiasts was formed. Being first to market doesn’t always lead to runaway success, but CryptoKitties viral explosion effectively halted the Ethereum blockchain after its launch in November 2017.

Most people love their games, and loyal to their favorites and the switch to blockchain is becoming almost painless and seamless. Spending on blockchain games will grow per person as this develops – helping gamers make use of wasted time to earn so that they can enjoy their games in their free time.

And now many gamers are looking to profit from blockchain, and all of them will need Ethereum or the collectible’s own tokens/coin to buy new in-game goods, progress, etc. making it a smart choice for ether mining or trading. Gamers and creators alike will continue to look for easier ways to move their digital assets from one project to another.

Gaming is big business, worth over $107 Billion in 2017. With a whole generation already used to the concept of owning and valuing digital goods, based the game’s “coin” on Ethereum blockchain provides a measure to compare against when trading. Collectible games are considered to be a cottage industry – the only question is how big can those “cottages” grow?