“There are [NFT] projects that come out every day, and a lot of these projects are quite frankly just trying to make a quick buck. People are already starting to get fatigue from those kinds of projects, and so I think we’re gonna see less of those over time.”
Recent data would back that assertion, with research from crypto news outlet Protos indicating the NFT market peaked in May and has seen close to a 90 per cent collapse since.
Loading
The market for art in particular appears to have dried up, with 2215 active wallets making transactions in the space at its peak day in May, versus just 382 as of Monday last week, according to Protos.
But collectibles are by far the strongest NFT market currently, according to the data. Lau sees a future where the current game model of paying real money for virtual goods is replaced by tokenised goods that have history attached, and are actually owned by players.
“I think the NFT space is still really early, and there’s a lot of growth opportunity in gaming. It’s going to be widespread and common, but players won’t have to deal with the friction of getting a blockchain wallet, going to an exchange like Ethereum, trying to understand what all that is,” he said.
“They’ll understand ‘hey I can own this thing, I can trade it, I can track who’s owned it before, oh wow it’s been owned by this famous streamer before, and they used it to win this tournament’.”
Loading
John Henderson, a partner at major Australian venture capital fund Airtree, said using NFTs for in-game collectibles was one of the key areas he believed the technology could gain widespread adoption.
“It’s just so obvious,” he said. “Digitally native fashion in the gaming environment is exactly what you want, and teenagers in 2021 are spending as much time in those environments as physical environments.
“To me, that should have been the number one use case for NFTs.”
Mr Henderson said he didn’t believe that many people purchasing in-game assets, such as those who invested in Guild of Guardian’s NFT sale, were expecting them to appreciate in value.
“Most of them probably aren’t looking at it as an investment, they’re looking at it as a flex or a status symbol for when they’re hanging out with their friends,” he said.
Get news and reviews on technology, gadgets and gaming in our Technology newsletter every Friday. Sign up here.