Pocket Gamer Connects – Europe's leading mobile games industry conference – is heading to Seattle as we bring an array of incredible speakers, industry experts, and unparalled networking opportunities to the US west coast on 9-10 May 2022!

You can check out our speaker lineup, but to give you a teaser for what you can look forward to, we spoke with our speakers to share a little of what they'll be speaking on, and their thoughts of the mobile games industry.

Alun Evans, CEO of Freeverse.io, will be detailing the impact of NFTs in 2021, surpassing $20 billion in sales, and the rise of the “play-to-earn” model. However, turning gamers into gamblers does not make long-term sense for the wider industry, as it depends on a never-ending supply of new gamers at the bottom of the pyramid, and Evans will be detailing Living Assets – NFTs that can change and evolve based on how they are used in-game, thus, their market-value is based on how the gamer has played with them.

PocketGamer.biz: What is your biggest aspiration/goal in mobile gaming?

Alun Evans: To see content that is bought in one game appear seamlessly in another.

What do you think the next big disruptor in mobile games will be?

The metaverse, and the key role that digital ownership will play in it. Beyond fancy headsets and AR technology, the core component of the metaverse is how users will define themselves within it – and the expectation that they can bring that identity, and everything belongs to it, to every corner of the metaverse, regardless of the company that created that corner.

What role do NFTs play in the future of games?

NFTs will play a huge role as gamers realise, and begin to demand, that their digital content can and should be able to ‘travel with them’, across games and platforms. That said, NFTs will only begin to become truly relevant when gamers value them for their utility, and not just speculation as to their future value.

Tell us your thoughts on play-to-earn games

The current interpretation of play-to-earn – where gamers buy a rare item hoping to sell it on in the future – will forever be limited, as it relies on an endless (and thus impossible to achieve) feed of new users willing to buy second-hand items. The viable long-term model for play-to-earn is where NFTs are evolved according to how they are used in-game – allowing gamers to earn money for the effort that have spent in playing the game, as opposed to simply sitting on a rare item and hoping that somebody will pay for it.

Can people get in touch with you at the event? What sort of people would you like to connect with?

I would love to have a chat with anybody who is interested in the future of metaverse, NFTs, and digital ownership within games.

Don’t miss out on attending our west coast conference this May – you can secure your spot now.