>"Abstract. The purpose of this article is to highlight the critical role that decentralization and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) play in gaming’s transition to the metaverse. The structure seeks to breakdown the following: (Part 1) the significance of the creator economy in relation to gaming, (Part 2) the foundations of the metaverse, (Part 3) the current state of the gaming ecosystem, and (Part 4) the transition of gaming’s ecosystem into the metaverse through NFTs."