Skip to content 
The gaming industry is highly prone to disruptive evolution. The global gaming and blockchain market collectively is expected to reach $413 billion by 2028 and the e-sports industry is expected to have of around 572.2 million players by 2024. The various ways in which cryptocurrencies can be used resulted in blockchain being pushed as the most transforming technological advancement in recent years. Flexibility of gaming and e-sports industry identifies a shift to blockchain for better user interface and superior gaming experience.
However, with great innovations comes great responsibilities. Guarantee of technology to provide fidelity and security of recorded data results in the need for a revolutionised IP regime. A blockchain is a decentralised database shared across a computer network where information is stored electronically in digital format.
On the other hand, e-gaming can be categorised into online casual games, e-sports and fantasy sports. Online casual games can be games of probability in which the result is based on chance, or a game of skill requiring mental and physical strategies to win. E-sports are games played professionally by individuals or teams. Fantasy sports games enable users to create a team containing players from real sports teams.
The online gaming market generated approximately $21.1 billion in revenues globally in 2020, which was a 21.9% growth from 2019. There are approximately 1 billion gamers around the world predominantly in China, South Korea or Japan. The gaming audience is projected to surpass 1.3 billion people and bring with it $132 billion by 2030.
Blockchain games use NFT’S to trade assets through games whereas cryptocurrencies may be used for the purchase of in-game assets allowing gamers to purchase in-game currency etc. This incentivises gamers to spend time and increase their skill in a specific game.
Intellectual Property is very prevalent in the gaming world. IP rights exist in all aspects of a game such as the music, coding, name, title, logo artwork etcetera. The patent protection would be more to do with the creativeness and technical innovation of the game.
IP rights are at increased risk due to complex gaming interfaces. The sale of copyrighted NFT’s may contain legitimate and counterfeit artwork. The purchase of such virtual products may result in trade mark infringement and the creation of virtual or physical equipment may result in patent infringement
Despite improvised experiences covered by the integration of NFT’s, e-gaming blockchain coupled with an increase of users means competitors with unlimited innovative possibilities require gaming platforms to retain validity and secure IP rights virtually and through the current regime.
Written by Zohaib Tahir, an LLM student at Solent University
