Vietnam among global top 5 most popular NFT gamers

Vietnam took fifth place out of 26 countries and territories in the adoption of non-fungible token (NFT) games, involving nearly one in four people in the country.

Roughly 23% of respondents in Vietnam say they have played NFT-based “play-to-earn” (P2E) games, while 9.6% say they plan to, according to a survey published last week by Finder, a Sydney-headquartered research firm whose website allows people to compare financial products.

NFT gaming is most popular in India, where 34% of respondents say they've played a P2E game. The next highest percentage of P2E gamers is in Hong Kong, the UAE and the Philippines with 29%, 27% and 25%, respectively.

Notably, Vietnam, scoring 0.3% higher, has surpassed Singapore, a major cryptocurrency hub in Southeast Asia.

Sample sizes range from 1,000 to 3,800 people and are directly proportional to population size, according to Finder.

Adoption is relatively lower in developed countries, with 9.4% in the U.S. and 7.6% in the U.K. saying they have played such games.

In some regions, the popularity of NFT games matches that of NFTs. Along with Vietnam, the Philippines, UAE, and Hong Kong are all among the top 10 locations for NFT ownership, according to another survey published by Finder in November 2021.

Some of the world's most popular NFT games include Axie Infinity, an in-game economy using ethereum-based cryptocurrencies, developed by Vietnamese blockchain startup Sky Mavis, The Sandbox, known for its virtual land sales, and STEPN, in which players walk or run to collect NFTs featuring trainers.

An NFT is a unit of data stored on a digital ledger, called a blockchain, which can be sold and traded.