Despite billion-dollar investment, why GameFi is failing to woo Asians?

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Crypto industry is betting big on the GameFi industry with billions of dollars invested, but in the Asian market, the segment is likely to face a stiff and severe challenge, thanks to strict and rigid regulations in multiple countries. The existing laws and regulations are quite hostile for GameFi. Countries like South Korea and China have had laws about converting in-game tokens into fiat currency for nearly 15 years. In South Korea, gaming is a serious industry and has its own regulatory code — strictly prohibiting speculative acts, gambling and free gifts. Its laws prohibit converting game tokens into cash.

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Market experts argue that GameFi is not gambling. It refers to the financialisation of video gaming and could transform gaming business models and power the digital economy, they say. Obasi Francis, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, DeSpace said that GameFi can be defined as the combination of video games (gaming) and decentralised finance (DeFi). The People's Bank of China has put a blanket ban on crypto trading, whereas Japan is convinced enough to consider it as gambling. In India, the Supreme Court has questioned the government to clear its stance on the legitimacy of cryptos. Anndy Lian, Chairman, BigONE Exchange said that GameFi is not Defi. Playing hard to earn in the game and then allow it to turn into coupons so that you can buy some food is not gambling. «There are games that are tokenised but not listed on any exchanges and only able to redeem very specific things and not cash directly,» he added. «They are only doing it in their own ecosystem.» Crypto gaming has grown in popularity as it