the early 2020s was not yet well defined but those developing the nascent technologies recognized that a financial system would be tied to these systems. Avoiding the pitfalls of prior game currency systems, the development of cryptocurrency-based games and systems that used decentralized blockchain technologies started to grow in popularity. These blockchain games were frequently based on the trading of non-fungible tokens that players created and improved through the game, mimicking how metaverse content would function. Some video game companies have expressed strong support for using blockchain and NFTs in their games, such as Ubisoft, but there has been generally negative feedback from players and game developers that consider cryptocurrency and NFT a scam. Regardless of these developments, interest in the metaverse had led to a large number of major acquisitions in the video game industry at the start of the 2020s as large publishers gathered more studios and other publishers within their folds as to be able to offer their properties within the parent's version of the metaverse, diversify their offerings, and preparate for futures where gaming platforms shift away from traditional systems. Tencent Holdings has gained stake in numerous video game developers since the 2010s, including full ownership of Riot Games and minority ownership of Epic Games. Epic Games themselves have also used Tencent's investment and further funding to acquire numerous additional video game developers and middleware developers in the 2020s as part its goal to build out its version of the metaverse using its Unreal Engine. Embracer Group also launched a large series of acquisitions leading into the 2020s as to broaden its portfolio, including Gearbox Software. Other major acquisitions in the 2020s in support of the metaverse includes Take-Two Interactive's purchase of mobile game publisher Zynga, Sony Interactive Entertainment purchase of developer Bungie for supporting live-service games, and Microsoft's purchases of ZeniMax Media (including Bethesda Softworks) and Activision-Blizzard. See also Chronology of real-time strategy video games Chronology of real-time tactics video games Game On (exhibition) International Center for the History of Electronic Games References Further reading Day, Walter. The Golden Age of Video Game Arcades (1998) – A 200-page story contained within Twin Galaxies' Official Video Game & Pinball Book of World Records. Video Game Invasion: The History of a Global Obsession (2004) (Documentary. Press Release, IMDb) External links Brief history of Video Gaming, University of Nevada Thomas Dreher: History of Computer Art, chap. VII.1 Computer-