NFT is a relatively new trend but it seems to have great potential. In January 2022 NFT’s trading volume rose to $6.86 billion and which is more than twice bigger as the trading volume in December 2021 ($2.67 billion). Now it penetrates all kinds of gaming.
NFT (a non-fungible token) is a digital identifier of a digital object. It is recorded in a blockchain so it cannot be copied or substituted. It turns out that every NFT object is unique. A person can reproduce an NFT picture, for example, but it wouldn’t be the same object and it is easily defined. The originality is proven by the token. In gaming, NFT is closely connected with the play-to-earn model.
According to Finder's NFT Gaming Adoption Report, NFT gaming is already well-adopted in India, the UAE, The Philippines, Nigeria, Singapore, and Hong Kong. A relatively high level of adoption is in Brazil, Peru, Argentina and Colombia.
The report data allows making optimistic predictions even for those markets that demonstrate a low level of adoption at the moment. For example, only 9.4% of respondents in the US played NFT games and only 7.1% are going to play. But it is about half of those who have at least heard about NFT games. 69.6% know nothing about it yet.
The technology has already caught on in online poker. Let's review how can you use it.
NFT Collection
You can release a collection related to your project. NFTs are unique so they are collectibles. Therefore their price can be quite high. For example, World Poker Tour released an NFT collection of the best moments at tournaments.
You can even create a marketplace within your project. But keep in mind that your NFTs are unlikely to interest players if they are just some content that doesn't affect the gameplay. To gain the maximum success you should do your best in marketing creativity.
NFT Avatars
The most simple and obvious way to use the technology is to let your players upload NFT as their user avatars.
NFTs have limited runs and such an avatar is quite unique. Players will feel special and the opportunity to show their specialness to everybody is very attractive. As a result, user experience and retention will increase. Emojis and various throwable objects can also be NFT.
Most often, NFTs are images. But the technology can be used in different types of digital objects. For example, in the ICE Poker metaverse, players buy special NFT items that can be worn by their avatars and it gives them access to special events.
Special Events
Encourage buying NFT by organising special tournaments or other events for exact NFT owners only. It would be better if other players can watch such tournaments. It will increase their motivation to purchase.
Last year, the NFT platform Ethernity released a collection of playing cards images. At the same time, they announced a challenge of collecting a royal flush. So, a person should buy five NFTs to get it. Everybody who got the royal flush had an opportunity to play poker at the same table with the famous Phil Ivey.
The starting price of the Ten Cards was $199 ERN (Ethernity Chain cryptocurrency). It was equal to $1,399 USD at the exchange rate on the day of the announcement. The starting price of the Ace Cards was $4,000 ERN ($28,120 USD).
Additional Income
NFTs will be much more valuable if they increase players' income directly. There are two main ways to provide it:
- higher rakeback,
- percentage of room's income.
The first way is obvious — players owning the exact type of NFT get more rakeback than others. In the second case, ownership of the NFT is like owning a share of the poker room and the player gets some percentage from the income of the table. It turns out that NFT can give a passive income and buying it is a kind of investment.
NFT Trading
It's a good idea to let players resell NFTs in your marketplace. It is an additional opportunity for them to earn money. You earn too because you get marketplace commission in every deal.
Players owning NFTs that give access to special events or other features can rent them instead of selling them. And it is another way to get passive income.
Eventually, if you successfully grow this line in your project you will attract customers specialising in trading. Probably, they can't even play poker but they will earn in your NFT marketplace and bring money to you.
Conclusion
The industry is still seeking different ways to use NFT to increase business effectiveness and there isn't some established best practice yet. But NFT seems to have a quite big potential in iGaming and online poker in particular.
Contact us if you are interested in the implementation of NFT or crypto payments in your poker project. EvenBet Gaming poker platform supports such features as NFT avatars, sharing table income and players segmentation for tournaments by owning an exact NFT. Also, we regularly expand the support of NFT and we will be glad to discuss your project if you have some special vision.