GameFi——Game+NFT+DeFi

The GameFi concept was introduced in 2019, initially defined as Game Finance, i.e. with elements of financial attributes in games. in September 2020, Andre Cronje, founder of Yearn.Finance, posted a related tweet to the effect that DeFi development at that time tended to be mainly traDeFi (transaction type of DeFi), while in the future DeFi attributes will tend to be more game-oriented.

GameFi concept took shape after February 2021, and GameFi was defined as a comprehensive concept of Game+NFT+DeFi, which presents the value of decentralized finance and NFT (non-homogenized digital assets) with games through the distributed structure of blockchain. On the one hand, it makes the game have the concept of buying and selling investment with financial attributes, and on the other hand, it makes GameFi assets have the uniqueness and tamper-evident attributes to make guarantees for the safety of participants' assets.

After March 2021, starting from Southeast Asia, some blockchain games of GameFi concept successfully attracted a large number of followers, and the number of GameFi concept blockchain games rose rapidly from more than a dozen to 863 in 7 months. deFi fever leveled off and the popularity of NFT provided a survival ground for GameFi, making the market performance of many GameFi projects more positive and quickly formed a standalone field, ranking alongside DeFi and NFT as the hottest blockchain field in 2021.

The rapid developments in the GameFi space can be broadly categorized as follows:

Rapid development of related industries due to the global epidemic

The epidemic has led to dramatic changes in the way people produce, live, and play throughout 2020 and the first half of 2021. People are finding it more important to meet, work, shop, and play in a non-contact virtual environment. So, for low-income people, GameFi is more like a real "paradise", a beautiful and futuristic world.

GameFi's Unique Incentive Mechanism

GameFi's incentive mechanism is different from traditional games and the blockchain digital asset market, unlike traditional games that promote "consume to get entertained" and the blockchain digital asset market that uses "work to get rewarded", GameFi's incentive mechanism is more The incentives of GameFi are more participation-oriented. In many GameFi games, there is a certain threshold for participation, but once you participate, you can pretty much let go of the game and wait for its coins and digital assets to appreciate as the game gains more and more users. This type of incentive appeals to a large portion of players who are "afraid of trouble".

Play-to-Earn Economic Model

The core of the GameFi field is the Play-to-Earn economic model. Unlike the Free to Pay model in the traditional game industry, players in blockchain games can earn real money through crypto assets, and players involved in virtual economy construction and games earn rewards through their participation, which can then be sold in the marketplace for revenue. The shift in identity between the two parties makes the original player spending money to play the game into playing the game as a kind of work, and the blockchain game player can instead demand returns from the market through the game. Players are more like working, giving their time and labor to earn income for their families.