The Impact of Blockchain on the Entertainment Industry

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28 May 2024

Like many other industries, the entertainment world is being affected by blockchain. According to research by Custom Market Insights, the global market size of the entertainment industry was $29.86 billion in 2022. The valuation is estimated to reach $49.56 billion by 2032 at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 11% in that forecast period. With its core principles of decentralization, transparency, and security, blockchain technology is reshaping how we experience everything in the traditional entertainment scene. From music to gaming to gambling, blockchain is changing how we have fun and relaxation.

Blockchain in the Entertainment Market Size was $254.9 million in 2021. The industry is projected to grow from $395.6 million in 2022 to $11.7 billion by 2030, exhibiting a CAGR of 52.8%. However, the impact of blockchain goes beyond just entertainment consumption. It empowers creators and artists by giving them more control over their work and potentially fairer compensation. Imagine a world where musicians receive royalties for their songs directly or artists sell limited edition digital artwork directly to their fans. This is a potential win-win situation that Blockchain technology can create for both creators and consumers, which will promote a more sustainable and equitable entertainment industry.

In this article, we discuss how blockchain technology impacts the entertainment sector and the important roles privacy and scalability play.

Interactive Storytelling

Blockchain and virtual reality, by their very nature, are designed to have interactive storytelling shape the narrative of the space. The technology and industry provide an ideal platform for creatives to experiment with different storytelling techniques to help captivate and engage audiences. This is especially important in this nascent stage of the industry.

Because storytelling has proven useful and has been shown to successfully onboard users onto Web3, the lines between entertainment and participation have continued to blur. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have played a pivotal role in casting a different lens on storytelling in the industry. They've enabled the tokenization of characters and shaped entire story arcs. Each NFT available on a platform has become a small piece of a narrative that can be owned and traded between community members.

Lussa game is capitalizing on this by offering a whole new level of audience engagement, where the lines between player and storyteller become fluid. The platform provides a groundbreaking interactive storytelling experience set in a dystopian future. With a choose-your-own-adventure style, the platform empowers players to directly influence the narrative with their decisions, impacting the fate of humanity within the game's universe.

Interactive storytelling mode encourages audience engagement in the development of the game's story. Different cadres of players (for example, token holders) may influence the direction of the narrative, improving a collaborative and dynamic process. With NFTs and each token representing unique ownership, players can establish direct connections with the game's creator, reducing plagiarism concerns. Leveraging the power of blockchain technology and its tenets to ensure transparency and the immutability of player choices, viewers can now actively participate in shaping the story in real-time.

Casinos Redefined by Blockchain

At $711.4 billion in 2020, the global online gambling market is expected to reach a staggering $876 billion by 2026, at a CAGR of 3.6%. This estimation isn’t a surprise as the blockchain gambling industry continues to grow. This growth has seen the rise of the term GambleFi, coined to describe the fusion of crypto-based gambling seamlessly integrated with the innovative features of Decentralized Finance (DeFi).

This concept encompasses online gambling activities like sports betting, lottery-themed entertainment, and casino games. Crypto casinos have seen a surge in popularity due to the blend of anonymity and transparency on these platforms. With the blockchain as the underlying technology, casinos ensure the immutable public record of every action, improving trust among players. This transparency and respect for user privacy addresses concerns about data security and fairness.

Cryptocurrency cranks up the thrill of casino experiences. This is the vision behind BetRoyale, a platform that merges the luxurious world of traditional casinos with the cutting-edge technology of blockchain. Players can expect a fair gaming environment, secure crypto transactions, and even own exclusive NFTs representing rare in-game items or experiences.

Entertainment on a Scalable Blockchain

With blockchain entertainment platforms in the gaming and gambling niches, scalability is vital. The scalability of blockchain platforms like these is the ability of the networks they are built on to support an increasing load of transactions and increase the number of nodes in the network. This is important as it decides how a platform handles increments in activity levels, ultimately determining how the platform grows.

Ethereum processes around 12-15 Transactions Per Second (TPS), and Bitcoin averages about 6-8. This is not ideal for a gaming dApp. Layer-2 scaling solutions like Polygon, built on top of Ethereum, offer significantly faster speed (up to 7,000 TPS), but transaction speeds can be better.

Scalability is an issue in the industry, and platforms like Arthera are providing solutions. Arthera addresses this challenge with an EVM-compatible Layer-1 blockchain designed for high transaction throughput. This innovative platform utilizes a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) based Proof-of-Stake consensus model, known for its efficiency and scalability. It boosts native subscriptions that facilitate the seamless integration of subscription-based services within the blockchain ecosystem.

Innovative approaches like this pave the way for a future where blockchains can seamlessly integrate with even the most demanding entertainment applications.

Building a Decentralized Oasis for Online Privacy Protection

While we revel in the many entertainment options on the internet and the blockchain, concerns about online privacy continue to grow. It is difficult to enjoy the gaming and gambling niches if there are no adequate security and privacy measures in place. The blockchain industry is still relatively in its development phases, and there are still loopholes bad players can exploit to cause damage to end-users. Blockchain is celebrated today because of its transparency and general robustness, but these qualities pose unique challenges in protecting data privacy.

A notable example of challenges in protecting data privacy is the Zynga data breach. This exploit saw hackers steal the login information (usernames, email addresses, and passwords) for players of Words With Friends and Draw Something. It was one of the most significant data breaches ever, as over 172 million accounts were affected.

ATOR is tackling this head-on by building the world's largest decentralized network for internet privacy. The platform leverages a globally distributed network of relays, where users can easily contribute their bandwidth, computing power, and services to earn ATOR tokens. In essence, users become participants in a secure and anonymous internet infrastructure. This not only empowers individuals to take control of their online privacy but also creates a robust and censorship-resistant network.

Conclusion

These four niches and example projects discussed in this article represent a mere glimpse into the future of entertainment on the blockchain. From secure and transparent online casinos to decentralized privacy solutions and scalable blockchain infrastructure for next-generation applications, the possibilities are boundless. As blockchain technology continues to improve, we can expect even more innovative and immersive entertainment experiences that redefine how we play, engage, and interact with the digital world.