Current state of NFTs and blockchain-based gaming in 2021

2021 was a good year for crypto assets, but one could argue that NFTs and NFT-based games went from zero to one this year. From Beeple's NFT selling for $69 million to celebrities donning CryptoPunks and Bored Apes to Visa buying a CryptoPunk to large art auction houses like Christie's and Sotheby's embracing NFTs, multitudes of events in 2021 brought NFTs into the zeitgeist.

With many themes in the background, two larger themes stood out that propelled the rise of NFTs. Firstly, the market agreed that NFTs are much more than "right-click and save." It started putting a price on authentic ownership of digital collectibles. Secondly, the gaming business model that allows players to own and freely trade their game assets enables game developers to earn a fee even from secondary market trades. This activity was otherwise a part of an opaque grey market from the developers' perspective.