Metaverse Trends in 2022: Prepare for More Gaming and New Virtual Experiences with NFTs

cryptonews.com:

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While ‘non-fungible token’ (NFT) may have been Collins Dictionary’s word of 2021, there’s a good chance that ‘metaverse’ came a very close second (Collins did indeed mention the word in its blog commemorating NFTs). Because ever since Facebook changed its company name to Meta and announced a new focus on developing its own metaverse, the word has been on the lips of pretty much anyone even vaguely interested in new tech.

While it’s yet to be determined just how profitable Facebook’s pivot to the metaverse will be for the social media giant, it has already been highly lucrative for a number of blockchain-based platforms that have been able to get a headstart on the Menlo Park-based corporation. From the Sandbox (SAND) and Decentraland (MANA) to Axie Infinity (AXS), and DeFi Kingdoms, numerous metaverse projects have witnessed their native tokens reaching all-time highs in 2021.

And for several metaverse figures speaking with Cryptonews.com, the blockchain-based metaverse will continue to grow healthily in 2022, even with growing competition from non-crypto firms. And while they expect gaming to remain the biggest part of the metaverse sector, they also see the growth of NFTs, virtual experiences, and decentralized communities as being a defining feature of 2022.

If you look at the top three ‘metaverse’ tokens by market capitalization, you’ll see that they are all gaming-related. This is Axie Infinity, the Sandbox, and Decentraland, and for most figures operating within the crypto industry and the metaverse sector in particular, gaming will continue to be the dominant trend.

“The leaders so far (Axie, Splinterlands, etc.) have done well enough to convince significant new capital to flow in -- pretty much any