Hong Kong NFT gamers among the world’s most enthusiastic, only behind Indian players: survey

Hong Kong ranks second out of 26 countries and regions in the adoption of play-to-earn NFT games, a Finder survey found
The city is only behind India in the adoption of NFT games, and it leads the United Arab Emirates and the Philippines

NFTs

Xinmei Shen

Published: 6:00pm, 30 May 2022

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Hong Kong took second place out of 26 countries and regions in the adoption of non-fungible token (NFT) games, with more than one in four people in the city having played them, according to a survey published last week by Finder, a Sydney-headquartered research firm whose website lets people compare financial products.

Roughly 28.7 per cent of respondents in Hong Kong said they had played NFT-based “play-to-earn” games, while 55 per cent said they did not know what a “play-to-earn” game is, the survey found.

NFT-based games are commonly dubbed “play-to-earn” games because they encourage players to trade in-game NFTs and cryptocurrency tokens for returns. Some of the more popular examples include Axie Infinity, which hosts an in-game economy using ethereum-based cryptocurrencies; The Sandbox, known for its virtual land sales; and STEPN, in which players walk or run to collect NFTs featuring trainers.

People using their mobile phones to play Axie Infinity, an NFT game where players earn tokens that can be exchanged for cryptocurrency or cash, in a neighbourhood alley in Malabon, suburban Manila, the Philippines. Photo: AFP

As these games became more popular along with the explosion of NFTs last year, critics argued that play-to-earn NFT games sacrifice well-designed gameplay for moneymaking mechanisms.

They also said these models are unsustainable because players are more motivated to cash out their winnings rather than spend money in the game. Others accused these games of exploiting players in developing countries, who play to make a living.

The adoption of NFT games in Hong Kong was only behind India, where 33.8 per cent of respondents had played them, according to the Finder survey. Hong Kong is followed by the United Arab Emirates and the Philippines, where 27.4 per cent and 25 per cent, respectively, had experience in play-to-earn NFT games.

In both Vietnam and Singapore, more than 20 per cent of survey participants had played NFT games. Adoption is relatively lower in developed countries, with 9.4 per cent in the US and 7.6 per cent in the UK saying they had played such games.

In some places, the popularity of NFT games matches the popularity of NFTs. The Philippines, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam and Hong Kong are all among the top 10 locations for NFT ownership, according to another survey published by Finder in November.

Hong Kong collectors of Degenerate Ape Academy, an NFT project on the Solana blockchain, rented out an ad space in Central, Hong Kong to promote NFTs. Photo: Handout

In the financial hub Hong Kong, major advocates of blockchain-based assets are continuing to push for a technological future founded on cryptocurrencies and NFTs, despite a recent market crash that wiped hundreds of billions of dollars in market value from popular tokens and inflicted heavy losses on investors.

The biggest game tokens have all been sliding in value. Apecoin, a cryptocurrency launched by Yuga Labs, the creator of well-known NFT collection Bored Ape Yacht Club, was trading at around US$6.20 on Monday, a third of what it was worth in late April.

The price of Sand tokens, used in The Sandbox, shrank from a peak of around US$8 in November to around US$1.30, whereas GMT, the token used in STEPN, is trading at just above US$1, a quarter of its price in April.

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