The web3 space is still driven by creative energy today. NFTs, DeFi, DAOs, and Web3 Games are the main initiatives that are attracted consumers, developers, and founders.
To presume that web3 as a whole ought to be creative, however, requires more reason. Either embrace or reject it, which is a false option presented by it. Many web3 efforts need evolutionary rather than revolutionary changes to succeed. They must enhance the best features of prior eras. This is especially true in online gaming.
Web3 development companies creating Web3 games are now in their first wave. Many of them are now concentrating on play-to-earn. Instead of putting entertaining and interesting gameplay first, they primarily focus on making money. We worry that web3 gaming will never become widespread and that many initiatives will fail if it continues to tune in this manner, emphasizing those who want to make money rather than enjoy.
The most popular web2 gaming must be built upon for web3 gaming to succeed. The creators of the first Web2 games are some of the most creative and skilled business people we’ve ever encountered. Web3 gaming projects today should embrace the product psychology that made games so significant and enjoyable in the web2 era, when some players’ primary motive was to earn money.
Enhancing what worked well in web2 games with the great new capabilities and concepts of web3 is the winning strategy. Soon, a new generation of games will arrive that do precisely that, perhaps changing gaming for good.
Web3 Gaming Is Growing
Web-based gaming is growing. In 2021, blockchain in gaming accounted for 49% of all users. Last year, blockchain-based games surpassed DeFi as the most popular category, with over 1.4 million daily active wallet connections.
Growth has resumed in 2022. 1.22 million distinct active wallets, or 52% of blockchain activity, were attracted to Web3 games in March 2022.
Early industry leader Axie Infinity has received a lot of attention and criticism, especially in the aftermath of a disastrous $620 million network breach. Axie has seen a significant decline in popularity after the hack, yet they are still hard to ignore. This year’s sales of $1.3 billion made it the fourth-most successful dApp year ever. They dropped to the ninth position during the previous six months, and no ratings have been given in the last three months. Many people are unaware that the majority of this decline occurred before the attack, which raises the question: why?
The Risk of Giving “Earn” Priority Over “Play”
Despite Axie Infinity’s unquestionable success, there are still valuable lessons to be learned. The hack really did stop progress. There are extra considerations if you’re using the play-to-earn technique, however. Sky Mavis, the game’s inventor, created an enjoyable gameplay experience, but the main draw for users has been the opportunity for financial gain.
Players have earned up to $1,000 per month by playing full-time at some point, which is a fair living wage in many impoverished countries. In the Philippines, were playing the game has replaced other jobs, over 40% of Axie’s players live. Game developers must carefully plan for sustainable in-game economies and be ready for periods when most players won’t be able to earn in the game if they want their creation to be a long-term success.
For the chance to play a game, people have been known to invest a lot of money. On Axie’s NFT marketplace, in-game products (like Axies) go for an average price of $787.
New players are now driving the demand for in-game assets, but when that percentage drops (which will happen eventually in every game), they’ll need to find alternate sources of demand to maintain the current price. The only way to keep the market alive is to encourage existing players to play and participate more. With such engagement-based requests, users can sustain themselves financially from the game and retain their investment.
Pay-to-play gaming cannot support itself just on Web 3. Web3 must support top-notch gaming, it was said.
Here are some guidelines for creating the finest web-3 games.
Evolutionary Principles Gaming 3.0
One must first accept that web3 games are an evolution built upon the success of web2 games rather than a revolution that may ignore all prior concepts. All popular web3 games will adhere to this fundamental idea.
Web3 games are fundamentally about giving consumers more control. Who owns them, what you can do with them, and how much money you can gain from using them are all changing as virtual commodities and in-game currencies.
The fact that virtual products and in-game money are now kept on a blockchain is a significant development for game creators. Still, it also has important implications for players in terms of the ownership of in-game achievements, objects, and tokens.
We anticipate that almost all future successful games will advocate for these ideas, which, when properly put into practice, will improve all competitions for their players. Furthermore, we anticipate that people will want them in their games.
Let’s take a closer look at the two main game components—ownership of virtual goods and game money or tokens—propelling this growth.
The Developed Ownership of Virtual Goods
Virtual products have been a feature of video games for a while, and they are now so prevalent and real-feeling that they bring in billions of dollars in income for game developers and trade volume.
But as NFT game development advances, game designers are beginning to offer players actual ownership of their virtual products. Users may now freely move their virtual assets across games. The blockchain may now be read by other game creators, allowing users to utilize their virtual goods in another play by downloading the details of their virtual products. The walled gardens that the big game producers keep will start to crumble over time—a better gaming environment.
Naturally, achieving effective compatibility is easier than it seems. The greatest virtual products blend in on purpose with the settings they were designed for and serve as a vital component of the gameplay or experience. It would be strange to import a flying mount from World of Warcraft into your Elden Ring universe. It wouldn’t be right to include an assault weapon from Counter-Strike in the Animal Crossing world.
The blockchain might record the qualities of the good, and each game could transform those qualities into something with a similar value but a distinct aesthetic. Or there are already separate markets where users may purchase virtual products that can be imported into various participating games. There are other approaches. To deploy NFT-based virtual products across games, several standards must be established.
By incorporating NFTs from other games and real ownership, which gives users the full benefit of owning their items and the freedom to do with them as they please, including moving them to another game or selling them, Web3 Founders are exploring the opportunity to create a better gameplay experience. This is a great advancement for gaming if done properly.
2. The Development of the Game Currency
Virtually all video games have in-game money. Some games have two, three, or even more in-game currencies to reflect various aspects of the game economy. To earn these currencies, players practice hard and work for hours. Others pay real money to purchase in-game currency. However, once you have acquired or purchased in-game currency, you cannot remove it from the game. Even if you quit playing and have a large balance left over, this balance will continue to exist eternally in the game. Most of the time, it cannot be exchanged for money or utilized in another game.
Web3 tokenization ensures that your in-game money is now a token rather than being saved on the game’s (or Steam’s) servers. It is now stored on the blockchain, where it cannot be taken away from you. Nobody can dictate how you should handle your hard-earned (or purchased) money.
The next phase is for you to be able to utilize your money in other game creators’ games. They could interpret your token ownership from the blockchain and integrate it into their game. When you can take tokens between rounds, you can sell them to other players for real money and get more enjoyment from them by participating in different games.
Once again, this is a significant move for the game’s creators, but it has a far greater impact on the players since they are now in charge of their own money.
NFTs, which represent the development of virtual products, and tokens, which represent the evolution of in-game currency, are at the center of the web3 gaming progression. More freedom, flexibility, and control for the users.
How about the Earn component? There is potential for it as well, but only for select people, and it should come second to improving the game and its environment so that it is more enjoyable for all players. The earning component will always be there, but only certain users will find it useful. Just as with web 2 games today, only some users participate in professional esports activities. When the moment is right, sell your virtual items after improving them. Win tokens, then market them to other users.
The Next Wave of Web3 Gaming
Web3 gaming is now in its early stages. It certainly has a certain revolutionary aspect about it. However, there are some significant distinctions.
Until this point, most game development has been carried out by “crypto guys,” who are new to the industry. However, they are addressing it from a financial angle, which is flawed. It will fall apart when individuals decide to play the game primarily because they think they can win money at it. Not everyone will win; for the rest, there won’t be any thrill to keep them playing. You will only attract more people if there is excitement, making it harder to generate money. It is a downhill trajectory.
On the other hand, NFT-like components have been included in the games created by the several studios with whom we have worked for years. You could purchase helms, daggers, pets, and other items. They were available for trade and sale, whether formally or informally. These groups began developing core games in the web2 period and are currently adopting an evolutionary web3 strategy. They will lead the way in maximizing web3’s potential since they prioritize gaming. They know that playing is the primary objective of all games, including those where some players want financial gain.
The newest generation of web3 gaming will resemble that. As they build on the fundamentals of web2 games, games that use blockchain-based virtual goods and game tokens will be able to provide their players with an even more thrilling experience. Every web3 game development company will eventually use web3 components.