Rumors of Blockchain Gaming's Death Are Greatly Exaggerated; Survey Finds Gamers Are Generally Positive About the Benefits of Play-and-Earn Gaming and Integration of In-Game Crypto Assets

ZEBEDEE Survey Reveals 67% of Gamers Would Be More Likely to Play Free Games if They Provided Opportunities to Earn Cryptocurrencies as Rewards

HOBOKEN, N.J., Dec. 14, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- ZEBEDEE, the leading Fintech and next-generation payment processor for the gaming industry, announced today the results of a study surveying over 1,000 U.S. respondents who play a minimum of one hour of video games per week to gauge their feelings toward blockchain technologies, NFTs and cryptocurrencies being integrated into video games.

Blockchain / NFT gaming companies have raised more than $3B in investments during the first three quarters of 2022, but the space has often encountered negative sentiment. The 2022 ZEBEDEE Blockchain Gaming Survey was conducted to shed light on the overall perception that gamers have toward emerging blockchain-gaming technologies such as NFTs and Play-and-Earn Bitcoin gaming, as well as to better understand their awareness of and sentiment toward cryptocurrencies in general.

Despite perceived negative sentiment regarding blockchain integration with gaming, the survey found that the majority of U.S. gamers are supportive or neutral about web3 technologies that make in-game assets transferable for exchange or sale with other gamers. It also clearly showed not all cryptocurrencies are perceived equally, with more established assets, especially Bitcoin, showing significantly higher appeal than newer tokens and NFTs.

Findings include:

• The majority of gamers (67%) would be more likely to play free games if they provided opportunities to earn cryptocurrencies as rewards.
• 45% of respondents believe having the ability to easily sell or trade video game characters and items with other gamers would be beneficial compared to 23% who believe it may have a negative impact their experience. 32% said they currently have no opinion on the subject.
• Gamers are five times more interested in earning Bitcoin (27%) than NFTs (5%). This indicates that the gaming industry has it wrong by focusing primarily on NFT rewards.
• Only 10% of respondents have a negative view about the integration of web3 technology into games (19% feel it's driven by business interests).
• Although the majority of U.S. gamers do not own any cryptocurrencies (55%), Bitcoin is the dominant cryptocurrency of choice among gamers that do (25%), followed by Ethereum (18%) and Dogecoin (14%);
• The majority of gamers (64%) have never played Play-and-Earn games with financial rewards, indicating large potential for future growth for these types of games.
• 38% of U.S. gamers say they don't know anything about cryptocurrencies, NFTs and blockchain technologies being applied to gaming.

The survey also found that gamers who play more frequently tend to be more aware of web3 technologies and cryptocurrencies, and are more likely to own cryptocurrencies. The survey reveals that 60% of gamers who play 15 hours or more per week hold some crypto assets compared to 56% of those who play 10–14 hours per week, 46% of those who play 5–9 hours per week, and 32% of those who play less than 4 hours per week.

These statistics are in stark contrast to the popular belief that gamers are largely anti-crypto.

"What struck us most from the survey findings was that there's clearly a misperception about gamers and their resistance to crypto integration, as most gamers actually have a positive-to-neutral opinion on crypto rewards in games. Further, despite the bulk of industry attention being focused on NFTs, we found that Bitcoin stands out as the most popular decentralized asset among gamers when compared against other cryptocurrencies, including NFTs," said Ben Cousens, Chief Strategy Officer at ZEBEDEE. "However, the majority of gamers have not yet encountered Play-and-Earn gaming with real financial rewards. The findings suggest that gamers are overall more open to seeing these technologies integrated into games, which presents an opportunity for the industry to educate, engage and attract new gamers to the Play-and-Earn ecosystem."

The ZEBEDEE Blockchain Gaming Survey was conducted in late September 2022 and included responses from 1,041 U.S. residents who engage in regular gaming activities. To learn more about ZEBEDEE and Play-and-Earn gaming, visit zebedee.io.

ZEBEDEE is the leading FinTech and next-generation payment processor for the gaming industry, backed by global VCs and gaming studios including Initial Capital, Lakestar, Kingsway Capital, The Raine Group and Square Enix. Its sophisticated tools enable developers to create real economies in video games for players and communities. ZEBEDEE erases the boundaries between real and virtual worlds by powering instant global payments of any size for any game, site or application through the Bitcoin Lightning Network. Learn more about ZEBEDEE and the benefits it brings to developers and gamers alike at zebedee.io.

ZEBEDEE: Jure Grahek, (928) 248-2810, [email protected]

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SOURCE ZEBEDEE