After non-fungible tokens (NFT) exploded into popularity, the NFT fever took over brands, companies, and celebrities alike, pushing this craze to new heights. The popularity of NFTs saw their application in games, leading to GameFi becoming the highlight of the year and surpassing decentralized finance (DeFi) in adoption. With so many content creators and influencers talking about GameFi, what are the top GameFi influencers to watch in 2022?
Thanks to their ability to be unique, NFTs allow for provable digital ownership, and their addition to the gaming world has opened up new monetization opportunities.
Gaming platforms have been following the same business model for decades where players don’t get the opportunity to be a part of the company’s revenue. But the new gaming model promises to give them a share of the income.
NFT gaming, or GameFi, or Play-to-Earn (P2E), call it whatever, but this new breed of games that fuses game and finance is here and ready to take over the world.
The new trend in gaming gained traction after the success of games like Axie Infinity and Sandbox, which are witnessing growth and broad adoption.
By allowing players to share value in the games by monetizing their time in the growth and giving them rewards for completing tasks, P2E has welcomed millions of users. With GameFi becoming such an important part, the role of influencers in the space is also becoming critical as they share insights and educate the masses about the latest developments, news, trends, latest technologies, hottest games, tutorials, and new arrivals, and much more.
Let’s look at some of the most critical voices in the GameFi space based on their reach, knowledge, and activity in this space.
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Dom Hofmann
Best known as the co-creator of video-sharing app Vine, which has since been shut down, Dom Hoffman has shifted his focus to NFTs.
He actually launched his own “adventurer’s gear” series, Loot, which was a huge success and inspired Bloot, which replaces the medieval treasure of Loot NFTs with memes lifted from Crypto Twitter, Reddit, and 4chan.
Hofmann is currently working on Blitmap, a community-crafted sci-fantasy universe, and NFTs-powered video game Supdrive.
Pranksy
An NFT investor, Pranksy was actually one of the top NFT earners on the leaderboard of blockchain analytics firm Nansen at one point. He is simply an NFT pro.
This pseudonymous account has an extensive collection of NFTs, including several NBA Top Shots. He is the co-founder and owner of NFTBoxes, a monthly box containing expertly curated NFTs from Pranksy.
Gary Vaynerchuck
Known as Gary Vee online, Vaynerchuck is the CEO of media company VaynerMedia, which also recently turned to NFTs.
He has launched his own NFT series called “VeeFriends,” which comes with perks including gift boxes, mentorship sessions, and conference tickets.
But his interest in crypto goes beyond just NFTs, as Vaynerchuck is also an investor in Twitter and crypto exchange Coinbase.
He also helped fund NFT platforms Candy Digital, Mythical Games, and NFT-driven fantasy soccer game Sorare.
He has his own YouTube channel with 3.83 million subscribers, where he talks about NFTs being the future of the creator economy.
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EllioTrades
Elliot boasts 692.5k followers on his Twitter account and 589k subscribers on YouTube, where he covers crypto, NFT, GameFi, and new projects entering the space. He also hosts live AMAs to get your questions answered directly.
Elliot is the co-founder of Impostors, an NFT-powered Play and Earn Social Deduction Metaverse.
He is also co-founder of SuperFarm, a cross-chain DAO protocol allowing anyone to deploy DeFi and NFT farms among the investors who burned a Banksy artwork back in March and then sold its associated NFT almost five times its prior value.
Farokh
The luxury goods Instagram influencer Farokh Sarmad Tehrani transitioned to the NFT space in early 2021 and hosted Clubhouse talks with celebrities and artists about their product launches.
He is also the presenter of Rug Radio, an NFT-centric talk program on Spaces that comes with its own NFT membership pass. He regularly shares insights with his over 272k followers on Twitter.
Alex Becker
Late in 2021, Alex Becker, along with Elliotrades, devised the idea of the Neo Tokyo Identities NFT, which has over a million subscribers.
Along with his work on the Neo Tokyo Identities NFT and game project, Alex Becker also has a YouTube channel where he talks about finance, cryptocurrency, taxation, securities, and commodities trading with his 1.28 million subscribers.
When it comes to GameFi, he takes a deep dive into the coding, team, and management.
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Coin Bureau
From news, latest developments, sources of information, and wallet reviews to different blockchains, marketplaces, and security tips, Coin Bureau’s YouTube channel covers it all.
It is run by “Guy,” a well-informed crypto advocate who has a dedicated team and reaches a broad audience thanks to its 2 million subscribers.
The videos mainly cater to beginners and can help you gain a lot of knowledge on crypto, NFTs, and GameFi.
On Chain Gaming
Jake Browatzke, aka the On Chain Gamer, is an investor, crypto enthusiast, and gamer with his own YouTube channel with over 100k subscribers.
And through his YouTube and Twitter, he educated his audience about the new in-game economy. He provides detailed videos and How-To videos where he illustrates how to get started with various blockchain-based games.
KSI
The crypto investor and gaming influencer who works in the music industry, KSI is a crypto influencer on Twitter and a firm believer of NFTs.
He has a pretty strong following on Twitter, with over 414K followers, and it can be an excellent way for a P2E gaming project to partner and reach a wider audience.
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Final Word
While GameFi has been gaining much traction lately, with Axie Infinity, DeFi Kingdoms, and Decentraland being the most prominent names in the space, it is still in its early stages of development.
The industry is yet to achieve milestones and make substantial inroads for the future of P2E.
So, if you are someone who believes in the future of crypto and NFT gaming and wants to go deeper in the space, following these GameFi influencers will help you keep informed of what’s going on while avoiding the noise.
