The gaming industry has always been at the forefront of new technologies and business models. With the rise of blockchain and artificial intelligence, we are experiencing a significant transformation. Web3 gaming, sometimes called Decentralized gaming, is an aspect of gaming that empowers players by granting true ownership of in-game assets and creating numerous monetization opportunities for creators, developers, and players. This has led to rapid user engagement and revenue generation for all parties involved. Web3 gaming creates an ideal scenario where players from anywhere in the world engage in games with each other without geographical, currency limitations, or server segregation based on location (borderless play).
In this article, we will go deeper into the challenges the gaming industry has faced, how Web3 gaming solves this conundrum by fostering borderless play, and Gaimin’s role in this “evolution”.
One of the most persistent challenges game developers have faced is striking a balance between creating a game that players love and ensuring it remains profitable and sustainable. Traditionally, the relationship between developers and gamers has been one-sided, designed to favor developers and often leading to economic inequality. This dynamic dates back to the early 1970s, when arcade games first gained commercial momentum and economic models took center stage in game development. To manage rising production costs, developers began relying heavily on a monetization strategy known as microtransactions, where players spend small amounts of real money within the game. However, this approach offered only limited relief, as development costs continued to rise. It soon became evident that the traditional one-time purchase model was no longer enough to sustain game studios. In a developer-controlled in-game economy, players can only obtain items through direct purchase or by completing specific in-game achievements. This model eliminates any form of secondary trading, allowing developers to retain full control over revenue. For example, if Player A purchases a $10 weapon and Player B does the same, the developer makes $20 in total, without any opportunity for exchange between players. While profitable for developers, this system can be financially demanding for players. The introduction of open markets, where players can freely trade items, shifted this dynamic. Though it reduced direct control for developers, it brought substantial benefits, most notably, higher player engagement and a more vibrant, interactive community. It created a social ecosystem where trading, bargaining, and collaboration complement the gaming experience. This is the essence of borderless play: breaking down barriers to bring players closer together and promote more game engagement for the game developers.
Web3 gaming, powered by blockchain technology, is revolutionizing ownership by enabling players to truly own in-game assets as NFTs or tokens, contrasting sharply with developer-centric models where control remains centralized. In 2021, the NFT market exploded, with sales surpassing $10 billion across various sectors, with current sales over $69 billion, according to data from aggregator CryptoSlam, reflecting a growing acceptance and integration of NFTs as central elements of gameplay and monetization strategies. In player-driven economies (PDEs), players determine asset value through trading, crafting, and market dynamics, fostering collaboration and strategic depth. This player-centric model empowers diverse playstyles—traders, crafters, and speculators while mirroring real-world economic principles like supply and demand. Unlike static developer-set prices, PDEs create a dynamic, immersive ecosystem where players directly influence value, enhancing engagement and long-term retention. The more control players have, the more games they want to play, and the more games developers can create. It creates a balanced, mutually beneficial system.
The Web3 gaming market is experiencing rapid growth, with projections suggesting it could reach $183 billion by 2034, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19.2%, according to precedence research, with Mobile gaming being a key driver of this growth. To put in perspective, several blockchain-based games have reported significant increases in daily active users, with over a 330% increase in the number of active blockchain wallets from June 2024, according to data from Glassnode as of the time of writing, a growth many believe is potentially driven by actual asset ownership and earnings.
In the context of Web3 games, interoperability enables players to utilize their digital assets, identities, and achievements across different games and platforms without losing their value or functionality. This means that a player's avatar, items, or in-game currency can be transferred from one Web3 game to another, resulting in a continuous and integrated gaming experience.
Web3 platforms and protocols are the backbone of interoperability in Web3 gaming, enabling players to own, trade, and use assets like NFTs across multiple games and ecosystems. By leveraging blockchain standards, decentralized systems ensure assets remain portable, secure, and verifiable, breaking down isolated gaming environments. This engineers the player-driven economies, where assets retain value beyond individual games, and cross-platform interactions become seamless. Decentralized governance and open protocols also empower collaboration among developers, ensuring shared frameworks continue to meet industry needs. Without such infrastructure, Web3 games risk fragmentation, limiting creativity and player freedom.
Cross-chain technology allows different blockchains to communicate, which is crucial for transferring these assets between chains. Without it, each blockchain is isolated, but with it, Players, irrespective of regions, could trade assets easily, facilitating a global marketplace and an interconnected gaming space. It enables gamers to transfer in-game assets and NFTs across several gaming platforms, encouraging players from different platforms to communicate, building a strong positive spirit between gamers as they are not restricted to one platform. Some web3 gaming platforms like GAIMIN are working to employ this cross-chain technology. With this, players in GAIMIN can transfer their in-game assets or NFTs across several other platforms they are on, thus increasing the value and utility of the asset.
The need for change comes at a critical time. A change that is needed by both developers and players. Developers face rising player acquisition costs and intensifying competition, so maintaining sustainable revenue streams to keep their games running becomes increasingly difficult, and players often spend on games without financial return. Web3 gaming offers additional monetization opportunities for gamers and developers alike. The concept of play-to-earn (P2E) fundamentally alters the gaming economy by allowing players to extract real-world economic value from their time and skills. However, Play-to-earn mechanics vary. Some games reward players with native tokens for completing objectives, while others allow asset farming, staking, or forming scholarship guilds that distribute earnings between asset owners and players. On the other hand, developers can monetize their games through various avenues, including in-game trading, premium memberships, sponsorships, and native token sales. They can also benefit from royalties on NFT secondary market transactions by charging a small fee for in-game marketplace transactions.
GAIMIN, for example, has crafted a dynamic ecosystem where gamers, creators, and enthusiasts can monetize their passion for gaming in multiple interconnected ways. Below is a structured breakdown of these opportunities, ranging from direct gameplay to community-driven contributions:
Web3 gaming is gaining traction faster and will continue to grow, but it faces a major problem: scalability. This issue must be addressed to drive adoption. In a recent GAIMIN interview by Blockchain Game Alliance (BGA), the CEO of Gaimin, Nokkvi Ellidason, addressed the issue of scalability as thus:
“Scalability is always a concern in decentralized systems. We often get the question, “Are gaming PCs enough”? But that’s where our model shines—remember, we are talking about an industry with an estimated global hardware value of over $50 billion, according to Statista. GAIMIN is positioned to snap up a huge share of this market to supply the global demand for computing, and thus, the GAIMIN network will keep growing with the gaming industry itself. As more gamers join and monetize their hardware through GAIMIN, the network’s capacity for computing and storage increases.
We’re building sophisticated orchestration layers to ensure that large datasets are broken down, replicated intelligently, and routed through optimal paths. We’re combining the best of Web2 performance with the principles of Web3 decentralization. And because gamers’ PCs are mostly online, plus they upgrade their hardware regularly, this network naturally improves over time, giving us a rare combination of affordability, scalability, and top-notch performance.” – Nokkvi Ellidason, CEO, Gaimin.
Scalability remains central to the growth of decentralized gaming and borderless gameplay. As we continue to embrace a gaming culture without centralized or regional control, advancements in layer two scaling, smart contract optimization, and cross-chain functionality will be vital for mass adoption. Overcoming these limitations will allow Web3 gaming platforms to offer seamless, immersive, and rewarding experiences, attracting more players and advancing the industry; GAIMIN is taking the right steps towards leading this revolution. To learn more, check out our resource page and start exploring the exciting world of Web3 gaming today.
