Why Crypto Gaming is Undervalued

Video Game Economics 

Almost every popular video game on the market has an in-game currency and virtual assets that hold real value. Gamers spend millions of dollars each year acquiring these assets, but what happens when they want to cash out? They can’t. Despite investing significant time and money to earn in-game items, players have minimal control over what they can do with those assets.

CS:GO has stayed at the forefront of gaming for many reasons. One of the most overlooked is its thriving economy, which lets players cash out in-game items for USD. Most games don’t offer this, leaving gamers stuck with valuable items they can’t monetize in the free market.

Enter crypto gaming, the next wave of video games. Putting games on the blockchain turns in-game currencies into cryptocurrencies and assets into NFTs. If you accumulate a lot of currency, you can sell it on the open market. If you find a rare item, you can auction it off to the highest bidder. This gives players full digital ownership of their video game assets.

The Lagging Sector 

Crypto investors have understood the value proposition of crypto gaming for several cycles, but the sector as a whole has drastically underperformed. You might have made money trading Sandbox or Decentraland during the peak of the 2021 bull run, but long-term holders got crushed.

So why haven’t we seen a successful crypto gaming token? The games aren’t fun. That’s the only factor that really matters in gaming investment. Until developers figure that out, no amount of marketing or tokenomics will save a project. So far, most crypto games have been built by crypto bros who assume they can learn how to make a fun game. That’s the wrong approach. Creating a best-selling game is incredibly hard — it can’t be an afterthought.

Gamers care far more about having an enjoyable experience than about a perfectly balanced crypto economy. A good in-game economy is a bonus, not the foundation. Until a crypto game is genuinely fun for the masses, the sector won’t take off in any meaningful way.

A Path Forward 

What’s the solution? As a crypto community, we need to make it as easy as possible for Web2 game developers to port their games over to Web3. The beauty of gaming is that fun games spread fast. Palworld sold over 1 million copies within eight hours of launch. Once a single crypto game achieves mainstream success, the entire sector could 5x overnight as investors rush to speculate on the next big hit.

Subsectors to Look Into

I'm a firm believer that crypto gaming will have its moment. The best way to play it, in my view, is by investing in infrastructure and incubators. Every game in the sector will need infrastructure, making it one of the safest bets. I also prefer backing incubators over individual games because it increases the odds of hitting a winner. When you invest in a single game, you get one swing at the plate. But when you invest in an incubator building 100 games, you buy one coin and get 100 swings.

Conclusion 

Crypto gaming is poised to go zero-to-one soon. The sector is extremely undervalued, and it’s only a matter of time before a crypto game breaks into the mainstream. Every major studio is exploring the potential of blockchain games. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Pack your bags accordingly.