Game developers are still skeptical of blockchain, cryptocurrencies, and NFTs

The play-to-earn gaming space has become increasingly popular in recent years. However, traditional game developers remain skeptical about the potential of blockchain technology and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in gaming. A recent survey by Game Developers Conference 2023 (GDC) concluded that the use of blockchain in the modern gaming world should not be overestimated.

Game developers are still skeptical of blockchain and NFTs

Despite the harsh bearish sentiment that rocked the cryptocurrency sector in 2022, the blockchain gaming sector emerged strong as it continued to attract new funding. However, the sector’s main challenge is skepticism from the traditional gaming space.

The recent survey by GDC included more than 2000 leading game developers. The survey questioned these developers on various issues, such as business models, technical opportunities, monetization strategies, and the platforms they prefer to use for their products. The survey also assessed the opinions of developers on the adoption of blockchain technology in gaming.

The survey results demonstrated that traditional game developers are yet to be convinced about the potential of blockchain gaming. 75% of the participants in this survey noted that they were “not interested” in cryptocurrencies, NFTs and Web3. 16% of the respondents were “somewhat” interested, while only 7% showed interest in this emerging technology.

However, only 2% of the survey participants admitted having already integrated blockchain technology into their offerings. Additionally, it appears as if the bearish sentiment that rocked the cryptocurrency industry in 2022 might have made blockchain gaming less interesting, as the positive attitude toward the sector has declined by between 15% and 20% in the past year.

The survey assessed the change in opinion on integrating blockchain technology in video gaming over the past year. Over 50% of the participants said they were still as opposed to blockchain technology as they were a year ago. 5% noted they had become more pessimistic about the sector.

Game developers believe blockchain has no use case

The participants in this survey also criticized blockchain technology, saying it lacked any real use cases. They noted that the technology was only being used to power cryptocurrencies, with the latter being tools for “enabling finance fraud.”

On the other hand, the participants less skeptical of blockchain noted that the technology had no use case now but could find new use cases in a decade. However, at the moment, developers believe that distributed ledgers serve the same purpose as databases in gaming.

Regulatory and ethical concerns are some of the main hindrances to the adoption of blockchain technology. Moreover, the volatility of digital assets also shed a negative outlook in the sector. The poor performance of the cryptocurrency market in 2022 affected all related industries.