Blockchain gaming survey: 7 investors discuss regulation, opportunities and NFT hype

techcrunch.com:

The video-game industry has always been on the bleeding edge, but blockchain gaming is still widely viewed as emerging technology.

In October 2021, Valve banned all blockchain-related games from its Steam platform. Meanwhile, within Axie Infinity, an NFT-based online game, new players are paying hundreds of dollars to acquire mythical pets and love potions.

There’s still a haze of uncertainty surrounding blockchain games, so we reached out to several active investors in the space to get a clearer picture of where opportunities exist today and what they see on the horizon. We asked them to share the advice they’re giving their portfolio companies, along with their thoughts on how future regulation might impact the industry.

Interestingly, at least one investor noted that growth wasn’t a key consideration: “We tell our companies to really think about the missing pieces, particularly in gaming infrastructure,” said Banafsheh Fathieh, head of investments, Americas at Prosus Ventures. “What are the pain points we can alleviate for users and builders? Growth is less of a focus now, utility is incredibly important at this stage.”

We surveyed:

What was your initial reaction on hearing about Steam’s ban on blockchain games?

It was not an entirely unexpected move from Steam. Incumbents tend to be more wary of adapting new business models and gaming is no different. As a fledgling space, NFTs are beridden with projects of varying quality and we believe Steam wants to do some quality assurance and wait until the situation stabilizes before allowing blockchain games en masse. Interestingly enough, at the time of writing (Nov 14) MIR4, a crypto-enabled MMORPG on Steam, is running at 88,000 concurrent users. Seems that there’s still a gray