In the Metaverse, 34 percent of players are interested in transacting in cryptocurrencies, although only 16 percent had previously bought NFTs, as per Globant.
The results of a recent study show that one-third of players have expressed interest in adopting cryptocurrency in the Metaverse, with strong resistance from a loud segment of the gaming community.
And the majority of players think that the Metaverse will improve gaming.
Globant, a provider of institutional software, released the survey on Wednesday. 1,000 adult PC, console, and/or mobile gamers participated in the YouGov survey last month, and 34% of respondents said they would be interested in transacting in cryptocurrencies in the Metaverse.
Gamers generally agree with the idea of play-to-earn (P2E) in the Metaverse; 40% of respondents said they were “interested in exploring a combination of both the ‘playing’ and ‘earning’ parts of the Metaverse.” While 49 percent said they were solely interested in playing, 11% said they were more interested in making money.
Fifty-three percent of respondents said they would be content to work in virtual gaming worlds if they could get paid in virtual cash for their efforts.
NFTs are non-fungible tokens, and 16 percent of players said they had bought at least one of them in the past. It wasn’t apparent whether they were NFTs connected to gaming, though.
A majority (41%) of gamers believe the Metaverse will have a positive impact on the video game business (compared to 25% who disagree), and more than half (52%) of gamers expect it will revolutionize the industry.
Notably, just one blockchain-native platform entered the list of the most recognizable Metaverse businesses, despite 40% of respondents associating blockchain technology with Metaverse.
The most well-known brand is Meta, with 73% of the market share, followed by Epic Games, who made Fortnite, at 27%, Roblox, at 21%, The Sandbox, which runs on Ethereum, at 15%, and Niantic, who created Pokemon Go, at 10%.
Numerous ardent gamers have stated their dislike of cryptocurrencies and NFTs, usually in response to the announcement of such integrations into the product lines of sound firms and brands.
They criticize the technology’s effect on the environment and claim that it degrades the gaming experience. Still, their primary justification seems to be the notion that businesses are merely out to make money, much like the contentious in-game microtransactions.
Recently, during Brazil’s International Games Festival, video game developer Mark Venturelli attacked NFTs in a presentation titled “Why NFTs are a nightmare.”
Venturelli suggested that the addition of speculative economic activity via NFTs will ultimately destroy the experience for those who just want to play games for fun, as “organised organisations” will take control as they try to profit at scale.