How the crypto bull run can impact Web3 gaming beyond play-to-earn

December 13, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Mainstream approval critical for blockchain games — Gaming execs

November 27, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Three gaming executives believe mainstream audiences will play a factor in the overall success and future of Web3 games.

Web3 game developers have been battling to gain the attention of mainstream audiences for years, and according to three former gaming executives, that market is essential for the industry’s future.

Video games have become a favorite pastime for a lot of people all over the world and have even evolved into a sport. Overall, there are more than three billion Web2 gamers worldwide as of 2023, according to Exploding Topics. Most are considered casual gamers who play regularly but rarely invest significant time.

Jennifer Poulson, who has worked in the gaming industry for 18 years, including at Web2 gaming companies Bandai Namco (Tekken, Elden Ring, PacMan) and Riot Games (League of Legends), believes mainstream audiences are “absolutely” important for the future of Web3 games.

Speaking to Cointelegraph, Poulson, who is currently vice president of game partnerships at Immutable Games, said in her mind, “Bringing mainstream players into the Web3 space will be essential in the coming years.”

“However, it isn’t so much that we need to entice mainstream players to take the leap into Web3; rather, we need to be building games that are fun to play and will appeal to all gamers,” she added.

Mainstream gamers aren’t particularly fond of crypto, especially when nonfungible tokens (NFTs) are involved.

Blockchain entertainment firm Coda Labs released its Global Web3 Gamer Study in 2022 and found traditional gamers were not fans of crypto or NFTs. Respondents rated their feelings about them at 4.5 and 4.3 out of 10, respectively.

Poulson believes working with mainstream publishers and studios will be crucial for the future of Web3 games.

Because “it’s less about attracting mainstream audiences, and more about working with publishers and studios to understand how and why to integrate Web3 elements into their games.”

“The reality is that these are all just games. Some have Web3 elements, and some don’t; as long as they are fun to play, this is what, in essence, determines whether a game is successful or not,” Poulson added.

Web2 gaming companies have also been hesitant to adopt Web3. According to a Nov. 13 State of Web3 Gaming report released by Game7 — a decentralized autonomous organization dedicated to accelerating the adoption of blockchain technology in gaming — six out of 10 Web3 games are being excluded from mainstream distribution platforms.

However, the report found some progress in marrying the mainstream with Web3 and blockchain games. Video game digital distribution service Epic Games Store has been listing more Web3 games every year, peaking at an all-time high of 69 in October 2023.

Could Web3 games survive without a mainstream audience?

Mainstream audiences are important for the future of Web3 and blockchain games, but if the bulk of those players don’t ever make the switch, Poulson believes they will survive and likely “continue as they are today.”

However, she thinks that eventually, all games will have elements of Web3, whether gamers are aware of them or not.

“More than likely, the underlying technology will morph into the mainstream gaming world where the average gamer can finally realize the benefits it offers, especially when it comes to ownership of in-game digital assets,” Poulson said.

“Eventually, gamers will not know they are even playing a blockchain game; the Web3 elements will be so seamlessly integrated into gameplay that it will be a similar experience to what playing a game is today.”

Daniel Paez, a former senior manager at major gaming company Blizzard (Warcraft, Diablo, Starcraft), also thinks mainstream audiences are critical for the future of Web3 games because of the sheer size of the player base.

According to an Oct. 9 report from CoinGecko, over 800,000 people play Web3 games daily, regardless of market conditions. However, on average, the Web2 game Minecraft has over 11.9 million daily players.

Paez, the current vice president and executive director for the Web3 card game Gods Unchained, told Cointelegraph that while mainstream audiences are necessary for Web3 and blockchain games to thrive, he is not convinced they are required to survive.

According to Paez, the key to longevity for Web3 games will be to focus more on the player experience instead of blockchain elements.

“This, of course, puts them into direct competition with thousands of other games, but the benefits greatly outweigh the cons,” he said.

“The market for gamers is significantly larger, and you begin to build out communities of players who share the game experience with each other, as opposed to communities of users who hold assets from the same game.”

Paez says Web3 games in search of “longer lifespans” will need the mainstream audience long term because selling content and experiences to players is the foundation of the games industry.

“The challenge for blockchain games is figuring out how the blockchain element can really improve the perceived value a player has of the game,” Paez said.

“The payoffs from figuring this out are huge!” he added.

According to the online data gathering platform Statista, the traditional gaming market is projected to generate over $400 billion in 2023. It is expected to continue growing and reach $584 billion by 2027.

In contrast, the Web3 and blockchain game market has yet to come close to such lofty heights. According to data from market intelligence firm Grand View Research, it was valued at just over $4.8 billion in 2022, with projections predicting growth in the coming years.

Ultimately, Paez believes there will always be room for more “GameFi-esque type games,” however, they will be at the mercy of the crypto markets, which are notoriously volatile.

GameFi, short for game finance, allows players to earn rewards in the form of tokens or NFTs. Players can then use these rewards to purchase in-game assets and cash them out for fiat currency.

One breakthrough application will be all it takes

Michael Rubinelli, who has previously worked at Disney, THQ and Electronic Arts, told Cointelegraph he thinks mass market adoption is vital for the future of Web3 gaming.

Rubinelli, who is currently the chief gaming officer at Web3 gaming platform WAX, said that to attract players, there needs to be a “guiding principle” that clearly shows the benefits of Web3 to both Web2 developers and players.

This “breakthrough application” is what Rubinelli says Web3 games are in search of right now.

“Until such a killer application emerges, conventional gaming companies are likely to remain observers, awaiting guidance from those who pioneer the path,” Rubinelli said.

It’s anyone’s guess if mainstream gaming companies will ever come on board with Web3 games. According to a 2022 survey of Web2 game developers by Coda Labs, three out of four expect to work on Web3 games in the future but did not provide a firm timeline.

Overall, Rubinelli thinks Web2 gamers are important but feels a key indicator of whether Web3 games will stand the test of time will be whether the industry can achieve specific objectives.

“It’s not about whether a mainstream audience is drawn in or not; rather, it’s about reaching a pivotal moment that enables all stakeholders to achieve their product and business objectives,” he said.

“Even if the audience doesn’t materialize, the enduring concept remains: players desire ownership and control over their digital assets.”

How the actor model could enable better blockchain gaming apps

October 3, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Can developments in computing help fix blockchain gaming’s quality problem?

Decentralized applications (DApps), including apps for gaming, have gained traction for their transparency, security and user asset ownership. However, delivering high-quality AAA gaming experiences through DApps presents challenges.

Existing 2D gaming DApps operate on blockchain networks using smart contracts for asset management. While they’re favored for their simple mechanics and resource efficiency, their limitations become evident as the complexity of the gaming experience increases.

Scalability is a primary hurdle for traditional blockchains like Ethereum, impacting real-time interactive gaming due to constraints surrounding transaction throughput and latency.

Performance is also an issue. AAA games require high-performance computing and superior graphics rendering. Yet, existing DApps struggle to meet these demands, resulting in subpar visual experiences.

Moreover, developing AAA gaming DApps is costly due to resource-intensive tasks and blockchain execution fees. Balancing immersive experiences with user-friendly expenses complicates the use of traditional DApp frameworks for AAA games.

What is the actor model?

The “actor model” is a communication model that enables parallel computing and asynchronous messaging within a blockchain protocol, making it possible for developers to build complex DApps with less difficulty.

The actor model is used within the Gear Protocol, and development was led by Nikolay Volf, founder of the Gear Protocol and Vara and one of the key developers of Polkadot and the Substrate framework.

Within the model are actors — programs or users that send messages to other programs in the protocol. Each actor has a mailbox and a private state that cannot be changed directly by another actor, rather they can only change states by receiving a message from another actor.

Messages between actors are taken from the mailboxes and processed in cycles. Once an actor has received and processed a message, they can either send a message to another actor, create an actor or change its state.

How is this beneficial for DApp development?

Asynchronous message handling in blockchain programming offers several significant benefits that contribute to the overall efficiency, scalability and reliability of DApps.

Firstly, asynchronous message handling allows for non-blocking processing of transactions and smart contracts.

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Unlike synchronous processing, where each transaction must be executed sequentially, asynchronous messaging enables concurrent execution of multiple tasks.

This parallel processing capability enhances the performance of the blockchain network, as it can handle a larger number of transactions and computations simultaneously, resulting in reduced transaction processing times and improved overall throughput.

Jack Platts, co-founder of Hypersphere — a crypto venture capital fund that has invested in gaming projects — told Cointelegraph, “In traditional synchronous systems, multiple tasks often have to wait for each other, leading to a slowdown when processing a high volume of transactions.”

Platts continued, “In the context of blockchain networks, this parallel processing capability becomes vital for maintaining high transaction throughput. As more transactions are initiated by users, the system can handle them concurrently, ensuring faster confirmation times and overall improved network performance. This is particularly crucial for blockchain gaming, where real-time interactions and quick processing are essential for providing a smooth and enjoyable gaming experience.”

Some blockchain games, such as Ember Sword, have already integrated parallel processing into their development processes. Mark Laursen, co-founder and CEO of game development company Bright Star Studios, told Cointelegraph, “In the development of Ember Sword, we employ parallel processing utilizing our ECS [entity component system] solution. Typically, there would be a necessity to manually integrate multithreading and make intricate decisions on a system-by-system basis.”

Laursen continued, “However, in our scenario, the requirements for reads, writes and ordering dependencies are specified, allowing our engine to discern the most efficient method to schedule and parallelize those systems.”

Let’s say a player of a blockchain game wants to transfer an in-game item in the form of a nonfungible token, like moving a legendary sword from their chest (wallet for long-term storage) to their inventory (wallet used for gaming).

The transfer process can happen instantly with low or near-zero fees, the same way a player can simply click and drag a sword from their inventory and move it to a merchant or chest in a traditional game.

Additionally, with asynchronous messaging, blockchain developers can design DApps that are more resilient to fluctuations in network conditions and temporary failures.

Pavel Salas, chief growth officer at Gear Foundation — the organization behind the Gear Protocol — told Cointelegraph, “The actor model actually boosts the dependability of applications that run on blockchain,” adding:

“Since actors process messages independently, failure or issues with one actor do not affect others, preventing cascading failures and improving the overall robustness of the system. And suppose there are disruptions or network trouble, the actor model allows the system to recover quickly and continue functioning seamlessly.”

This can be beneficial for blockchain gaming DApps if there is a network outage, allowing the game to continue running despite any issues on its blockchain.

Moreover, asynchronous message handling enhances the scalability of blockchain networks. Traditional synchronous approaches may lead to bottlenecks and performance degradation as the number of users and transactions increases.

In contrast, asynchronous messaging allows for the distribution of tasks across multiple nodes, enabling the system to scale more efficiently and handle higher transaction volumes without sacrificing performance.

Salas said, “As the user base and activity within the DApp grow, the system can easily manage increased message traffic without causing bottlenecks or slowdowns. Even if a single application grows, it will still manage messages sequentially.”

This scalability is crucial as blockchain networks aim to support a growing user base and accommodate diverse use cases.

Salas continued to explain how the process works: “Through the actor model, individual actor-programs act as shards, ensuring that the system can be shared by design as the number of programs grows. [...] Vara processes all transactions without sharding across bunches of nodes; each node handles everything. However, within Vara, each program operates independently, containing its own state, processing and sending messages according to its specific logic.”

“In blockchain gaming, where real-time interactions and quick processing are crucial, the actor model’s sharding capability ensures fast processing of game-related actions and events, supporting a seamless gameplay experience.”

“As the number of actor-programs increases, the system shards and distributes the workload, effectively accommodating the growing user base and maintaining a responsive and efficient network.”

Another benefit of asynchronous message handling is its support for event-driven architectures in DApps. Instead of continuously polling for updates, DApps can subscribe to specific events or messages, allowing them to respond promptly and efficiently to changes on the blockchain.

This event-driven model reduces unnecessary computational overhead and conserves network resources, leading to more efficient and responsive applications.

Moreover, implementing actor messaging capabilities can significantly enhance the overall user experience by mitigating extended waiting periods for transaction validation. Adopting asynchronous processing allows the actor to receive a message acknowledgment of their transaction along with a pending transaction ID.

Subsequently, any computational tasks or external data dependencies can be managed by the same or alternate actor in a subsequent block, ensuring efficient processing without compromising the responsiveness of the blockchain network.

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This real-time feedback is especially crucial for applications requiring quick confirmations.

As the blockchain ecosystem continues to grow and diversify, leveraging asynchronous message handling becomes essential for creating powerful, AAA-style gaming DApps that can cater to the demands of an expanding user base and meet various use cases across industries.

By adopting this methodology, developers have the opportunity to expand the limits of decentralized gaming and potentially realize the complete capabilities of blockchain technology within the gaming sector.

AI a powerful tool for devs to change gaming, says former Google gaming head

October 2, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Blockchain Game

Ryan Wyatt deciphers the the possibilities for AI to help gamers and game developers achieve.

The world embraced artificial Intelligence (AI), hoping to see it transform complex and day-to-day processes. While generative AI models won millions of users, discussions around the transformative potential of AI in all walks of life became mainstream.

Today, AI is being tested across all business verticals as entrepreneurs challenge the status quo, streamlining and automating processes in varying industries. This drive also resurrects ecosystems that have lost their vigor over years of trial and error.

In the quest to find the true potential of this technology, humanity continues to infuse AI elements into existing systems in the hopes of outperforming current limitations.

The gaming ecosystem sees AI as a means to supersede incremental upgrades. From reutilizing seasoned hardware to squeezing out the price-performance ratio from the latest graphics processing units (GPUs), the gaming industry sees AI’s potential to redefine how gamers of the future will consume their products.

“AI will be one of the most important tools for game developers to improve their work output and production, and unlock rich and new experiences for gamers,” said Ryan Wyatt, the former global head of gaming partnerships at Google and former head of gaming at YouTube.

Wyatt’s exposure to gaming — on both professional and personal fronts — allowed him a special viewpoint at the intersection of a gamer’s wishful thinking and an entrepreneur’s reality check.

Wyatt garnered over two decades of gaming experience before entering crypto as the CEO of Polygon Labs, eventually retiring as the president to take up an advisory role for the blockchain company.

Speaking to Cointelegraph, Wyatt reveals how AI could potentially transform the gaming ecosystem and what it could mean for the future of blockchain gaming.

Cointelegraph: What is the role of AI in the gaming ecosystem?

Ryan Wyatt: The term “AI in gaming” has been overused to the point of exhaustion. In my opinion, it is simply another powerful tool in the developer’s toolkit, which is already extensive and continues to grow. This expansion of toolsets — AI being one of them — will enable a variety of new gaming experiences that we have never seen before and allow game developers to do more. We often talk about AI as a replacement for the work being done in gaming, but I strongly disagree. I see it as a powerful tool that will allow game teams, both small and large, to do more than they ever could before, which may require human resources to be leveraged differently but not minimize or diminish the importance of the many roles required to make a game. And in return, gamers will get to experience games that were never deemed possible before.

CT: Can AI potentially take up the heavy computational tasks that currently rely solely on GPUs? Do you think AI could allow us to repurpose legacy systems that contribute to e-waste, or is it just wishful thinking?

RW: This is a tough one. I do think it is wishful thinking to assume that AI can repurpose all these legacy systems and reduce e-waste. Based on the track record of how hardware has grown and advanced so much over the last two decades, there’s no indication to believe we’re moving in the right direction here, as we’ve continued to increase e-waste over the last 10 years. From a technology standpoint, we’re constantly evolving, and the necessity and demand to expand on hardware, specifically with the GPU, continues to increase significantly. I believe there will be a number of optimizations that AI can introduce to the problem: offloading more resources to the CPU, optimizing for legacy systems, etc., but I think it’s wishful thinking to assume we can reduce e-waste as we continue to push the limits of technology and hardware to create things that were never imaginable before. This seems like a problem that isn’t going to be meaningfully resolved over the next decade, and, in fact, I anticipate it to get worse before it gets better, with AI exacerbating the issue in a 5–10 year time horizon.

CT: If AI could be used for graphics optimization, unlimited (free world) map rendering or a storyline that never ends, but you could choose only one, which one would you choose as a gamer, and why?

RW: This is a matter of personal preference, but I hope we see both. I believe that storylines and NPCs [non-player characters] could evolve greatly from where they are today. We have seen amazing and beautiful open worlds expand in parallel with computational and hardware improvements. While not unlimited, expanding worlds have played a meaningful role in games over the last decade.

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To me, one area that needs to evolve is how we engage with NPCs in games. This has been rather archaic for quite some time and has largely relied on linear lines of pre-programmed communication and dialogue. This is already changing with companies like Inworld AI and the work they are doing; their tech helps a game developer craft unique and memorable AI NPCs with its fully integrated character engine.

Their engine goes beyond large language models (LLMs) by adding configurable safety, knowledge, memory and other controls in place. The characters then have distinct personalities and contextual awareness, which is insane to see from a gamer’s perspective.

We haven’t had these kinds of dialogue interactions inside of games before, so it’s hard to wrap your head around how it will change the industry because it’s just something that was once unfathomable. Once these developer tools are seamlessly integrated into proprietary engines of large AAA publishers, you’ll see a new era of immersive game experiences. I also believe you’ll see a huge burden lift on the game development cycle that will allow for expansive worlds by not just large studios with companies like Kaedim; you effectively reduce all of the hours lost in modeling by simply generating stunning 3D art with nothing more than an image. These are the types of tools that are going to advance and multiply game development and usher us into a new era of gaming.

The interesting thing is the collision of both of these topics over the next decade!

CT: What are your thoughts on blockchain gaming? How did you find it different from traditional/mainstream titles?

Blockchain gaming is another tool in the toolbelt for game developers and gamers to change the way we interact with games. By storing assets and information on a blockchain, which is not owned by any intermediary, we can expand upon value exchange between game developers, users and gamers (peer-to-peer). This is done inefficiently today, and although some examples come close, such as CS:GO, it is still far from perfect.

The entire crypto space is going through a much-needed reset, washing away bad actors, and from the dust, you will see true, well-intended pioneers and innovators emerge. The unfortunate abuse of the financial aspects of crypto has made many game developers, especially in the West, apprehensive about incorporating blockchain technology into their gaming infrastructure stack, which I believe is temporary.

However, in the East, we are seeing top gaming developers (e.g., Square Enix and Nexon) fully commit to blockchain gaming due to the new game mechanics and relationships that can be created between gamers and developers. I fully expect the re-emergence of blockchain conversations being driven by the application layer in 2024 to 2025, which will do a better job of illustrating the power of launching games on blockchain infrastructure stacks, even if only certain aspects of games are built on them. The last three years of crypto have been dominated in conversation at the infrastructure (blockchain) layer and finance (decentralized finance (DeFi) sector, and ironically, the abuse has come from bad actors of centralized platforms (such as FTX) that don’t even embrace the core values of decentralization.

CT: From a gamer’s perspective, what do you think AI can do to help the widespread adoption of blockchain gaming?

RW: I’m not sure if blockchain gaming will become widely adopted anytime soon; we’re still years out from this, and there are great companies that are pushing the envelope here, like Immutable, but I do think that as AI becomes materially indistinguishable from reality, there is value in blockchains holding accountability over the advancement of AI. This is because blockchains are transparent and immutable, meaning that they can be used to track and verify the provenance of AI-generated content. This is important because it will help to ensure that AI is used ethically and responsibly and that it does not create harmful or misleading content.

I am certain that we will see blockchains in the future host authentic and verifiable information in a world where things coming from AI become indistinguishable from reality. This is because blockchains provide a secure and tamper-proof way to store data, which is essential for ensuring the authenticity and reliability of AI-generated content.

CT: Despite the involvement of the people behind mainstream titles, the blockchain gaming industry has not taken off, unlike other crypto sub-ecosystems. What could have been done differently?

RW: I think this is largely misguided due to timing expectations and the underwhelming first iteration of blockchain games. Game development cycles are so long, and the first batch of blockchain games were either rudimentary, rushed to market, had the wrong incentive mechanisms, were not highly produced or had other issues. There also have been blockchain infrastructure woes that have needed time to overcome, [such as] gas costs, difficult user journeys to navigate and other infrastructure challenges that are just now starting to be resolved by layer-1 and layer-2 protocols.

However, I’ve seen a lot of amazing blockchain games in development that will be released in 2024 to 2025. These games will truly explore the uniqueness that blockchain games have to offer. Games are such a monumental lift to create, and the ones that go deep with either small or large teams will ultimately need more time to show their work. There has been an outsized amount of capital deployed into blockchain games, in the several billions of dollars, and we’ve only seen a single-digit percentage of releases from that cohort of investment.

CT: What went wrong with blockchain gaming? Why don’t gamers buy into the idea of play-to-earn?

Play-to-earn as a philosophy isn’t that crazy. Game developers are always looking to reward gamers for spending more time in their game because longer session times equate to more value, which is captured by the game developer. So, conceptually, this idea of putting time into a game and being rewarded for it isn’t a new game mechanic.

Play-to-earn in blockchain games tries to expand upon this concept of value exchange from developer to player.

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However, the economies are really difficult to balance when you don’t have the autonomy over every aspect of them due to the nature of them being decentralized. Ultimately, this has either led to pure abuse of the category, unfortunate attempts to do right and fail or will need more tinkering to ultimately find the right token and economic strategy.

CT: Speaking from a different angle, what benefit could AI and blockchain bring to mainstream gaming? What could compel developers to adopt and infuse the tech into their existing gameplay?

RW: There is certainly a chicken-and-egg issue here. Game developers need to push the limits of what these technologies can do, learn from it, iterate on it and then showcase it to gamers to see if this is what they truly want. But at the end of the day, the large games continue to dominate viewership on YouTube and Twitch.

Steam’s top games, such as DotA and CS, have remained juggernauts, and breakout hits like Minecraft and Roblox are generational unicorns. Both of these games took over a decade to materialize into what we know them to be today. In order to achieve mass adoption, you will need to see these games permeated with the technology. I believe that both of these technologies — AI and blockchain — will have breakout moments from native app developers and indie game devs. However, for true mass adoption, larger players will inevitably need to incorporate the technology.

Disclaimer: Wyatt is an angel investor in many AI, Gaming and blockchain companies, including Immutable and Kaedim, both of which are mentioned in his responses.

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GameFi analytics help blockchain gamers sift through crypto games

March 2, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

How and where to get analytics on the emerging projects in the GameFi space.

From the massive fall of Bitcoin’s (BTC) price to the collapse of crypto exchange FTX, 2022 was full of upheaval for the blockchain industry. But the blockchain community has always been resilient, finding new ways to develop in the most challenging times.

A striking example of optimism and growth is the development of the GameFi industry, which combines gaming, decentralized finance (DeFi), nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and the metaverse.

In 2021, GameFi became a growth leader in the crypto space, with successful projects like Gala Games, Decentraland, The Sandbox and Axie Infinity.

The GameFi sector has continued to develop, attracting more and more investment. In 2022, the volume of venture investments in Web3 games and the metaverse amounted to $7.6 billion. Some analysts predict a valuation of $2.8 billion for the GameFi sector by 2028.

However, a sudden influx of investors in this growing sector has also resulted in many low-quality games suffering from poor in-game economics, as well as monotonous and underdeveloped gameplay.

How can a gamer looking for a good project find the right one? Cointelegraph has found several GameFi analytics resources to help potential gamers weigh the pros and cons of each platform.

DappRadar

DappRadar is one of the most popular decentralized application (DApp) analytics services. Founded in 2018, it provides statistics on DeFi, GameFi and NFTs. The platform has data for over 2,000 NFT games.

Pros

One of the most popular features of DappRadar is located in the “rankings” tab, which allows users to rank several DApps related to GameFi, DeFi projects, gambling, exchanges, NFT collections, marketplaces, social networks and different blockchains. DApps are ranked according to criteria such as the number of unique active wallets (UAW), number of transactions, transaction volume and the total balance of funds in the smart contract.

The page of an individual project contains its rating, tags and links to social networks, as well as its description. In the middle of the page, standard indicators (UAW, number of transactions, volume, balance) are displayed in addition to a graph of changes for different periods.

General statistics on DApps can be obtained in the “Industry Overview” tab after selecting the period, category and protocol. DappRadar also periodically publishes analytical notes, which are located in the “Reports” and “Blog” sections.

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There are two additional options for NFTs. First is the NFT Explorer, in which users can sort not only the general list of collections, but also the NFTs of an individual collection and even a general gallery of NFTs from different collections. The page for an individual NFT shows its name, owner, minimum price, last sale price, blockchain, NFT metadata and trading history. A second option is the NFT Value Estimator, which displays the expected price of an NFT based on current and past price performance.

For game developers, DappRadar has a “Developers” section where game founders can promote a new product through advertising campaigns and other marketing techniques.

Cons

The wealth of information provided for each project could prove difficult to navigate for newcomers who may only want basic information about a project.

Another disadvantage of the platform is that, for a long time, the selection of NFT games was limited to those on the Ethereum blockchain, while projects on other blockchains were not taken into account.

The situation improved this year when the site increased the number of monitored blockchains from three to 48. Considerable funds have also been allocated for the development of new technical solutions.

Dapp.com

Dapp.com is the world's largest DApp distribution platform. Dapp.com lists over 8,000 DApps built on more than 20 blockchains like Ethereum, EOS, TRON, Steem, TomoChain, IOST, Stacks and others. The platform showcases DApps based on data analytics, community feedback and user comments.

Pros

The platform has a built-in wallet called DappStoreWallet so that users can easily access and use DApps associated with various blockchains.

The ecosystem of the project is powered by Dapp Token (DAPPT). Token holders are able to participate in voting on the platform, launch projects on the platform through staking, and more.

The platform has a “Market Report” section where users can view quarterly reports in various areas, including games.

The advantages of the platform include a simple interface and navigation, where users can view game ratings according to various criteria — for example, by increasing or decreasing prices for tokens, by user reviews, or by level of risk.

Users of the platform can not only see the ratings of NFT projects themselves, but also read general news about NFT projects.

Cons

For an inexperienced user, it is almost impossible to find the quarterly analytical reports section. The link to the page with reports is at the very bottom of the page and represented by small text.

At the same time, the reports themselves clearly stalled for a couple of years, with the most recent appearing for Q2 of 2020. At the same time, the quality and depth of analytics is almost on par with that of DappRadar.

The project listings are not informative and contain only a brief description of the project in a couple of sentences without the current price of the token or the number of active users. Such information must be viewed in the overall rating of projects, which is inconvenient. The majority of the page for each project is occupied by user comments, which are very important, but it seems that Dapp.com is primarily aimed at creating a community and not at providing analytics.

CryptoSlam

CryptoSlam is an NFT market data aggregator. The platform can be used to analyze trading volumes in the NFT market, identify the most popular collections of digital assets, and track release dates for new tokens.

The CryptoSlam team has included various information about the projects on the pages of the collections and the individual NFTs themselves. The project description has a section on online sales statistics, which the system updates as owners change. The platform can also be used to collect data on NFTs of interest.

Pros

The main feature of the platform is its real-time data showing movement in the NFT industry. Featured data includes the volume of sales of NFT tokens, the number of token holders, on which blockchain an NFT resides, and the number of holders.

It is convenient that users can sort NFT projects in several tables on one web page by various parameters like sales volume within a particular game, or by the price of tokens.

One unique feature of the platform is its live sales section, where one can see which user sold an NFT token and at what price, including from which address and to which address. This parameter is constantly updated automatically.

This platform is a very convenient service for the continuous tracking of the work of an NFT project, within which real transactions can be traced.

Another plus of the platform is that it is developing. In January 2023, the Forkast.News company and CryptoSlam teamed up to create the Forkast Labs project. The product could offer users a new media analytics platform for the digital economy. According to the team, the decision to create Forkast Labs was made due to the lack of a standard methodology for determining the true value of digital assets, which is mainly measured by current prices for cryptocurrencies. The timing of the launch of the project is still unknown.

Cons

One con is that the platform doesn’t have any analytical reports. The service only allows for the monitoring of NFT projects, albeit in real time, but does not evaluate activities for a particular period. Perhaps this defect will be corrected after the launch of the Forkast Labs project.

Another downside is the inability to separate NFT projects by indstury — gaming, gambling or finance, for example. If the user wants to see only NFT gaming projects and allocate them to a separate slot or table, then they will not be able to do this since the service does not have such a function.

Just like Dapp.com, this platform contains a lack of detailed information about projects, such as creators, at what stage of development the project is, news about collaborations, etc.

Conclusion

The main reason for using NFT analytics tools is to help limit the amount of fraud in the major marketplaces. Investing in NFTs can be time consuming, somewhat risky and nearly impossible unless users spend hours on social media platforms and NFT trading platforms looking through the myriad NFTs available.

As can be seen from the description of the most popular analytics platforms, there is no perfect one that contains all relevant information in one place, but such projects are critical for crypto enthusiasts.

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Sebastien Borget, president of the Blockchain Game Alliance, told Cointelegraph that he believes that analytics platforms should pay more attention not only to numbers, but to players and users:

“NFT games analytics platforms should expand beyond just the on-chain transaction data to reflect what's happening in a game or how popular it actually it, and work on broadening to all the activities games have to offer to players — to show that games are first and foremost fun entertainment products where people spend time, and transactions are not the only gameplay in them.”

Final Fantasy creator reveals ‘aggressive investment’ in blockchain games

January 3, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Blockchain Game

The company behind the Final Fantasy franchise says blockchain games will be a major focus of its strategy going forward.

Final Fantasy creator Square Enix is set to double down on blockchain game development despite turbulence in the crypto market, according to a Jan. 1 letter from the Japanese company's president, Yosuke Matsuda.

The letter, titled “A New Year’s Letter from the President,” aimed to recap the company’s major accomplishments in 2022 and explain its plans for 2023. Out of 15 paragraphs, seven were about blockchain gaming, showing that blockchain gaming is a major focus of the company’s investing strategy going forward.

⚔An introduction to SYMBIOGENESIS ①⚔

Starting from today we'll begin introducing Symbiogenesis, starting from the concept✨

Symbiogenesis is a new franchise by SQUARE ENIX, which brings real game utility ⚔ to 10000 collectible NFT artworks #symgeNFT #NFT pic.twitter.com/1ukBEgOmfv
— SYMBIOGENESIS (@symbiogenesisPR) December 21, 2022

Matsuda stated that “blockchain entertainment” is the investment field his team will be most focused on in the medium term, to which they have devoted “aggressive investment and business development efforts.”

After summarizing the ups and downs of the crypto market in 2021 and 2022, Matsuda sought to make sense of its decline. He said that new technologies often cause “confusion” but eventually become accepted as a normal part of everyday life. So if there is turmoil in the crypto market, this shouldn’t necessarily cause investors to doubt its potential, he stated, adding:

“New technologies and frameworks lead to innovation, but they also create considerable confusion.”

Matsuda added that any technology that is able to ride out “societal tides” will gradually become part of people’s lives and eventually give rise to new businesses and growth.

“Following the excitement and exhilaration that surrounded NFTs and the metaverse in 2021, 2022 was a year of great volatility in the blockchain-related space,” he noted.

“However, if this proves to have been a step in a process that leads to the creation of rules and a more transparent business environment, it will definitely have been for the good of the growth of blockchain entertainment.”

It’s been an amazing year of games and 2023 is looking even better!❄️

Here’s a message from all of us at Square Enix wishing you a Happy New Year!

️ https://t.co/C9hdvi1GwZ pic.twitter.com/AOSRXdjizg
— Square Enix (@SquareEnix) December 31, 2022

Matsuda finished off the letter by stating that Square Enix has multiple blockchain games under development and will be announcing more over the course of 2023.

Square Enix made multiple moves in the blockchain gaming space throughout 2022. In July, it announced that it would release Final Fantasy collectibles on the Enjin platform. In September, it joined Oasys blockchain as a node validator. In December, Square Enix invested 7 billion yen ($52.7 million) into mobile game developer Gumi Games, to help develop mobile play-to-earn titles.

This recent letter implies that the company has no plans to slow down its investments in the space in 2023, despite the turbulence of 2022.

Metaverse graphics aim for community and accessibility — Not realism

September 22, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Art

Metaverse graphics have been questioned in terms of quality, but industry experts explain that images appear certain ways for a reason.

Some may argue that the Metaverse has been around for years, as demonstrated by early gaming platforms, yet virtual ecosystems are now being embraced by almost every industry. A recent report from consulting firm McKinsey & Company believes that the Metaverse has the potential to generate at least $5 billion in value by 2030. McKinsey also found that investments exceeding $120 billion have been put toward Metaverse platforms this year, indicating that major growth is underway.

While notable, there is still the perception that most metaverse platforms are lacking when it comes to graphic quality. For example, Mark Zuckerberg was recently criticized for posting a selfie in front of the Eiffel Tower within Meta. Although Meta has already invested over $10 billion into building its metaverse, some have pointed out that Meta’s current graphics are lower quality than images that appeared in Second Life in 2007.

Second Life 2007. Metaverse 2022. pic.twitter.com/2JByEzk5eL
— Andres Guadamuz (@technollama) August 17, 2022

Metaverse graphics are aesthetic choices

Although the mainstream has been quick to criticize graphics associated with various metaverses, industry experts note that image quality is intentional. A spokesperson for Linden Lab — the firm behind Second Life — told Cointelegraph that the content design and aesthetic choices that other metaverses make are usually stylistic:

“For instance, the blocky appearance of some Metaverses builds upon the modeling techniques first seen in Minecraft. This was a deliberate choice to not appear realistic.”

Echoing this, Yat Siu, co-founder and chairman of Animoca Brands, told Cointelegraph that graphical representations depend on the brand and the imagery of the Metaverse in question. “If you look at the visuals of Phantom Galaxies or Life Beyond you can see that the quality is both high, and that fashion can be experienced in a manner that is visually closer to what one might expect in reality.”

With this in mind, Linden Lab’s spokesperson mentioned that one key difference between Second Life and other metaverse platforms is its community’s focus on realism. “While there are 20 years of archived Second Life images scattered across the internet, you will see incredible quality our creators are delivering today — way beyond that of even newer virtual worlds or metaverses.”

*Image of Le Jardin Des Tuileries in Second Life, uploaded in Sept. 2022. Source: Linden Lab*

But, while realistic images may appeal to certain metaverse communities, other platforms are taking different approaches. For example, The Sandbox — dubbed as one of the most popular blockchain-based Metaverses — intentionally has boxy graphics.

Sebastien Borget, co-founder and chief operating officer of The Sandbox, told Cointelegraph that the platform chose voxels as the building blocks for its metaverse due to ease of use:

“Voxels are like ‘digital legos’ that require no user manual. Hundreds of millions of people already know how to work with voxel graphics (thanks to Minecraft) and this opens The Sandbox to a massive community worldwide.”

To Borget’s point, Siu noted that the boxy, voxelized images in The Sandbox are not a visual limitation, as it is a style that allows for communal design. “People don't consider Lego as ‘lo-fi.’ 8-bit style or retro pixel art is another example of something that is trendy and fashionable because of what it represents,” he remarked.

Borget added that the graphics enable accessibility for creators of all ages and backgrounds, which is critical since he believes the Metaverse will largely consist of user-generated content moving forward.

To put this in perspective, Loretta Chen, co-founder of Smobler Studios — a Singapore-based multimedia design agency — told Cointelegraph that she recently partnered with The Sandbox to create a wedding reception in its Metaverse.

According to Chen, Smobler Studios used VoxEdit and Game Maker to build the wedding venue, which are two free software applications that can be downloaded from The Sandbox website. In addition to being accessible, Chen noted that she was pleased with the imaginary aspects provided by The Sandbox’s graphics. “We took creative liberty in some aspects. We would be remiss if we aimed to recreate an identical replica of assets with no imagination or element of fun.”

*Image from the wedding reception recently hosted in The Sandbox. Source: Smobler Studios*

However, some industry experts believe that high-quality images are crucial for ensuring engaging metaverse experiences. Jacob Loewenstein, head of growth at Spatial — a metaverse platform focused on augmented and virtual reality — told Cointelegraph that Spatial prioritizes high-quality graphics for a number of reasons:

“First, they help the user feel more immersed. Secondly, they help the user express themselves more fully. Finally, users that participate in the Metaverse’s economy expect virtual goods with premium graphical fidelity.”

Given Spatial’s focus on quality, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the firm is partnering with major fashion outlets, like Vogue Singapore, to bring metaverses to the mainstream. Graphic quality is also becoming crucial as the McKinsey report notes that 79% of consumers active on the Metaverse have already made purchases.

At the same time, it’s important to recognize that user-generated content becomes more difficult to achieve on Metaverses focused on realism. For example, Ready Player Me is also working with Vogue Singapore to ensure that users can interact with realistic avatars.

Unlike voxelized images that may be easy to create with, Rainer Selvet, co-founder and chief technology officer at Ready Player Me, told Cointelegraph that Ready Player Me renders graphics in its avatar editor through the ThreeJS JavaScript 3D library.

Additionally, various cosmetics associated with the avatars are authored by 3D artists that include physically based rendering materials, which define how different assets should physically look in a game engine. Although this process is complex, Selvet shared that Ready Player Me will be open-sourcing its graphics library visage in the coming months to make creating easier for developers.

*Avatars created by Ready Player Me. Source: Ready Player Me*

Metaverse images will improve, but community remains key

Even though the quality of graphics is based on choices by metaverse platforms, improvements are being made as Web3 advances. For instance, Borget noted that The Sandbox is spending a majority of its resources on research and development to ensure the next phases of user experience. He said:

“Avatar expressions and emotions will make The Sandbox even more immersive and fun for users. And if you look at how The Sandbox looked two years ago, users will already be excited to see how it is different today, and how it may evolve in the next two years.”

*Image of how The Sandbox appeared in 2018. Source: The Sandbox*

While innovation is clear, technical limitations will likely slow development. For example, Selvet pointed out that software and hardware challenges remain, stating, “Many of today’s metaverse applications are predominantly browser-based, yet users want access to be frictionless.”

As such, Selvet noted that the need for metaverse accessibility on devices other than gaming PCs is increasing. Loewenstein added that Spatial is particularly focused on bringing the Metaverse to both web and mobile, yet he noted that compute constraints have been problematic.

Fortunately, developments are underway. Loewenstein said, “Firstly, new processors are increasingly powerful, while being light and power efficient. Secondly, new APIs like WebGPU will, in the next 24 months, enable users to access the true power of their GPUs in web metaverse experiences. Thirdly, cloud rendering is becoming more available at a lower cost, while high bandwidth internet (such as 5G) similarly proliferates.”

*Image of how The Sandbox currently appears. Source: The Sandbox*

All things considered, metaverse development currently seems to be focused more on community building rather than imagery. “I believe we need to move past the expectation of a photorealistic meta-human Metaverse and look at what drives human interaction,” remarked Borget. In order to do so, Borget explained that metaverses should focus on ease of use:

“If we build a world that requires high end technology and skills to build and run, we’ll be leaving out most of the world’s population. However, if we instead focus on making creation and play highly accessible and engaging, we can make the metaverse a new, more level playing field.”

Animoca Brands continues shopping spree with MotoGP mobile dev acquisition

September 16, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

The company announced its acquisition of WePlay Media after it recently closed multiple multi-million dollar fund rounds with investors such as Temasek.

One of Web3’s leading digital property rights developers, Animoca Brands, announced yet another major acquisition to its increasing portfolio of gaming subsidiaries.

The company announced the purchase of WePlay Media, which developed the popular blockchain-game MotoGP Championship Quest, on Sept. 16. According to the agreement, the acquisition is in an effort to bolster user engagement in motorsport mobile gaming.

Graeme Warring, the co-founder and COO of WePlay Media and co-creator of MotoGP, called the acquisition an exciting development for both parties as they expand their reach to motorcycle fans across the globe.

“Animoca Brands has the ability to reach hundreds of millions of users in core growth demographics to expand the sport’s fan base and create engagement opportunities for the riders, teams and sponsors."

Similarly, Yat Siu, the co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands, highlighted the potential engagement boost of the acquisition of MotoGP and other motorsport-related games under Animoca.

According to MotoGP’s latest Global Fan Survey, their community has high levels of engagement and interest in regular participation in competitive mobile gaming. It reported that 79% of all respondents from 16-24 years of age engaged in competitive gaming on a weekly basis, with 54% of fans based in the Asia-Pacific region.

Animoca has shown to be highly invested in developing the motorsport gaming sector as it introduced a motorsport-based REVV token rewards ecosystem and NFT programs within the MotoGP game.

Earlier in April of this year, Animoca also acquired Eden Games, which developed the Gear.Club, the Test Drive series and other popular racing games.

In August, Animoca subsidiary Grease Monkey Games received funding to develop the blockchain-based motorsports game Torque Drift 2.

This latest acquisition development comes after Animoca’s successful $110 million funding round led by Temasek on Sept. 8, from which it said it planned to make subsequent strategic acquisitions. Animoca has investments across the Web3 space in operations such as The Sandbox, Axie Infinity, SkyMavis and DapperLabs, among others.

How GameFi contributes to the growth of crypto and NFTs

September 10, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Blockchain Game

The GameFi sector has achieved unprecedented growth over the past couple of years and is attracting investors.

The crypto industry has grown tremendously over the past couple of years, and one of its biggest drivers is the GameFi industry.

GameFi — a portmanteau of gaming and finance — enables gamers to earn rewards while playing.

The market has been growing steadily and presently has a token market cap of approximately $9.2 billion. Notably, GameFi networks have continued to thrive despite the crypto winter. Indeed, the industry is forecasted to reach a $74.2 billion valuation by 2031.

How GameFi networks work

GameFi ecosystems are based on blockchain technology and use different in-game economic setups to reward players. The rewards are usually in the form of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) that are tradable on major marketplaces. The items are typically in the form of virtual lands, costumes and weapons and are instrumental in diversifying user experiences.

The difference in gaming strategies and economic setups is what makes each game unique.

One of the most popular GameFi economic setups is the play-to-earn (P2E) model. The model is designed to keep users engaged while enabling them to earn rewards.

It allows players to indulge in the games without spending any money. However, progress can be curtailed due to the lack of assets needed to compete successfully. As such, gamers are sometimes compelled to purchase in-game items in order to advance to top levels where they can obtain bigger rewards.

Popular blockchain gaming networks utilizing the P2E GameFi model include Decentraland, The Sandbox, Axie Infinity and Gala.

Why GameFi is popular

The GameFi world has attracted millions of users over the past couple of years. This is impressive considering that the industry was practically non-existent before 2015.

Today, the industry attracts over 800,000 daily players. Many of them are drawn to GameFi due to the medley of benefits it provides.

One of them is the ease of trading digital assets. A recent market report published by CoinMarketCap found that about 75% of gamers are willing to trade in their in-game assets for some form of currency. This advantage is one of the main reasons why GameFi is so attractive to players.

Some virtual assets, such as land, can also be rented out to other gamers. Users who wish to generate passive income without playing games can also indulge in liquidity mining by staking assets. This is a huge incentive for retail investors and people who wish to monetize their gaming time.

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Another merit that many GameFi players appreciate is the low transaction costs. GameFi environments usually utilize cryptocurrencies, and this makes fund transfers relatively easy to execute and cheap.

This is a major bonus when compared to conventional money transfer modes, which are expensive, especially when it comes to making cross-border payments. This aspect was highlighted in the 2021 Blockchain Game Alliance (BGA) survey report, in which 17% of participants named lower transaction costs as a major GameFi benefit.

Another innovative element that captivates GameFi players is the support for user-generated content. This capability not only allows GameFi platforms to engage users with different tastes but also encourages creativity among players while propagating an autonomous environment in which assets can be created, listed and traded publicly. In the 2021 BGA survey, 47% of respondents ranked creativity and gameplay among the top reasons why they liked GameFi.

These distinctive advantages, as well as other auxiliary factors, contribute to the consistent growth of GameFi.

How GameFi boosts growth

GameFi projects rely on cryptocurrencies to settle transactions, and this has contributed greatly to the increased adoption of digital currencies in recent years.

According to a recent report published by DappRadar — a platform that tracks activities on decentralized applications (DApps) — the number of unique active wallets (UAW) wallets tied to the blockchain gaming sector rose sharply in the third quarter of 2021, accounting for approximately 49% of the 1.54 million daily UAWs registered during that period. The data confirms the disruptive potential of GameFi and the increased use of cryptocurrencies in the sector, subsequently promoting their use and adoption.

Another related survey report released by Chainplay — an NFT game aggregation platform — recently revealed that 75% of GameFi investors got into the crypto market through their involvement in GameFi, showcasing GameFi’s growing impact on crypto adoption.

Besides advancing the use of cryptocurrencies, GameFi has also contributed immensely to the rise of the NFT industry. GameFi relies heavily on NFTs for in-game assets, and this increases their use on the blockchain. Not surprisingly, the rise of the GameFi market in 2021 coincided strongly with the NFT boom.

GameFi NFT sales rose to $5.17 billion in 2021, up from the $82 million recorded in 2020. The sales numbers helped to solidify the growth of the NFT market.

GameFi attracts more investors and gaming companies

Droves of investors are injecting money into promising GameFi projects. The development is bound to help the blockchain industry gain greater credence in mainstream markets as a viable investment space.

According to data derived from Footprint Analytics — a blockchain data analytics firm — over $13 billion has been raised so far by blockchain gaming companies. Over $3.5 billion of this was raised during the first half of 2022.

Speaking to Cointelegraph, Ilman Shazhaev, the founder and CEO of GameFi project Farcana, said that the industry is rapidly evolving, hence the rising interest among investors:

“Investors are particularly interested in GameFi because it represents a sector of the broader blockchain ecosystem that has earned a genuine interest worldwide. They are betting on the future, as only a few industries have a chance of attracting more users in the long run than GameFi.”

He added that the sector was still at a very nascent stage with significant room for improvement, especially when it comes to innovation.

As things stand, major enterprises, including mainstream gaming companies, are jumping on the GameFi bandwagon as the industry continues to advance.

Eminent gaming powerhouses such as Ubisoft are already making moves to conquer the GameFi frontier. Earlier this year, the gaming firm announced a partnership with Hedera and the HBAR Foundation to come up with Web3 GameFi games for the brand. The gaming behemoth is behind the popular Far Cry and Rainbow Six franchises.

Zynga, another renowned game developer, also announced plans at the beginning of the year to unveil its own NFT-based games. The mobile gaming giant said that it was working toward building a blockchain team and making alliances with accomplished blockchain partners in order to bring to life its own collection of NFT games.

Mainstream tech conglomerates such as Tencent, the Chinese multinational technology company, have also started investing in the GameFi sector. The company was recently named among the top contributors in Immutable’s $200 million fundraising event. Immutable is the developer behind NFT games such as the Gods Unchained and Guild of Guardians.

The entry of such players indicates increased competitiveness for a share of the space. This is likely to increase GameFi investments and drive innovation over the long term.

Cointelegraph had the chance to catch up with Anton Link, the co-founder and CEO of NFT rental protocol UNITBOX, to discuss this phenomenon.

Link said that the industry’s highly positive growth indicators were among the main reasons why investors are flocking to the sector.

“Unlike other application areas, it [GameFi] allows for implementing of tech here and now, and the sector’s growth forecasts and indicators speak for themselves.”

He also noted that some game developers were looking to dabble in GameFi in order to obtain a more engaged demographic.

Some challenges that the GameFi industry is experiencing

While the GameFi sector attracts hordes of players, investors and gaming companies, there are still some significant issues to overcome before it captures a sizable pie of the overall gaming industry.

Security issues

The GameFi market has faced some serious hacks in the recent past that are likely to negatively impact user sentiment in the sector.

One of them is the Ronin bridge hack attack that happened earlier this year. It caused Axie Infinity players to lose over $600 million in crypto. Most recently, a newly launched Web3 game dubbed Dragoma suffered a rug pull that caused users to lose $3.5 million.

These are just a few of the reported losses from GameFi intrusions and scams. Such incidences continue to erode trust in the industry.

Poor gaming experience

Furthermore, blockchain-based games suffer from playability issues. While they allow players to control and transfer their in-game assets, graphics, immersion and gameplay often lag far behind their mainstream competitors.

Many blockchain games lack game mechanics beyond “grinding,” i.e., completing repetitive tasks to be rewarded with assets.

Complaints from gamers show that the appeal of blockchain-based tokens isn’t everything and that players still value the vivid experiences offered by popular mainstream games over the benefits provided by GameFi.

Uncertain regulations

Additionally, many GameFi platforms are operating in a regulatory gray area and are likely to face major headwinds in the next couple of years. Right now, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is considering whether to classify blockchain gaming tokens as securities due to the “expectation of profit.”

Classifying them as such would bring them under the purview of the regulatory authority. This would oblige many GameFi platforms to make extensive disclosures about their clients and revenue models. Networks that fail to meet SEC requirements are usually forced to bar U.S. investors and players from joining their platforms to avoid fines and sanctions. This is likely to undercut the growth of the sector.

Technical complexities

Novel blockchain concepts usually experience myriad teething problems. The decentralized finance sector, for example, experienced many of these problems because many users found the platforms hard to understand and use.

GameFi is experiencing some of these issues as well. Buying and selling of NFTs, for example, is a complex affair and remains a major hurdle for newcomers.

The sector is still bound to the wider crypto market

GameFi is a subset of the crypto industry and is therefore affected by the booms and busts of the digital currency market. Consequently, the GameFi sector experiences a rise in activity during uptrends, but the opposite happens when there is a downtrend.

To maintain interest in GameFi platforms, developers face the uphill task of developing enthralling games to help ecosystems weather market slides.

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Currently, GameFi investors are focused on improving gaming experiences to build on sustainability, but the task is easier said than done.

Developers face myriad challenges, but if they are successful in attracting players with top-tier gameplay, the future of blockchain-based gaming looks bright.

Game dev explains why blockchain should be ‘invisible’ in P2E gaming: KBW 2022

August 9, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Asia

Mobile game developer Com2uS is stepping up its Web3 game with the launch of its own blockchain to emphasize the needs of next-generation gamers.

According to the company’s president Kyu Lee, who spoke at Korea Blockchain Week 2022 in Seoul, revealing the plan to launch a new blockchainCom2uS, the mobile game developer wants to create its own version of Web3, “where it is free to play and own.” Th

XPLA, which roughly represents the words explore and play, will be a blockchain network focused on the needs of the company’s gaming community, along with Metaverse experiences.

For Lee, blockchain was the obvious next step for the company’s presence in the gaming industry:

“It was almost a no-brainer, [wouldn’t] you like to play a game that gives digital world ownership? I think everything is going to flow to games. And we had to put everything that we have to solidify our position in this market.”

The team behind Com2uS was able to transition into Web3 relatively quickly and create a blockchain SDK.

Lee explained one of the downfalls of entering the Web3 gaming space is current gatekeeping. New users must purchase nonfungible tokens (NFTs), set up a wallet and involve themselves with a centralized exchange in most cases — all before even playing the game.

In the vision of Com2uS, users can just start playing without the hassle of initial integration.

“After you hit a certain level, you will earn virtual currency that can be converted into tokens. Then you actually download your wallet, and then it converts your assets. The purchasing approach is really different from most of the Web3 games out there in the market.”

According to Lee, the team observed a positive reaction to this method during the development process: "We also noticed that the retention [rates] increased significantly too, just because we omitted the ownership paths paid to the assets. It really made a difference.”

Blockchain gaming, particularly play-to-earn (P2E), is a major component of the easy adoption of Web3 technologies by non-crypto people. Moreover, GameFi was hardly affected by the crypto winter.

“We learned that a significant amount of new users came in to play because it had a play and earn aspect to it. I think the free-to-play game market is already a revolution.”

However, the Com2uS president highlighted some unsustainable trends in the current GameFi industry.

“We noticed that a lot of companies were issuing tokens only attached to one game. We thought that approach was simply wrong.”

The company created C2X, a Web3 gaming platform, which has “the main governance token, and you would have inflatable tokens underneath for every single game.”

Since April, Com2uS launched a total of five games on the Sequel X platform, with a trajectory of 10 launched by the end of the year and 10 more by the end of next year.

As blockchain technology integrates with major global industries, the underlying foundations “should be invisible,” says Lee. Instead, the focus should shift towards content creation, it is in this area that protocols can set themselves apart.

That's the role that we want to play. We want to fill the exact needs that have pushed Web2 developers to migrate into the Web3 space.”

The testnet for XPLA launches Tuesday, with the mainnet coming at the end of the month, according to Lee. EVM support is already in the testing phase.

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