Guilds, Immutable and Guild of Guardians
Some weekly thoughts
Thanks to the first summer bank holiday, it’s been a truncated week of analysis, albeit with much rumination on the future of guilds.
Before from my podcast with Yield Guild Games’ Gabby Dizon and LongHash’s Shi Khai Wei, I hadn’t really twigged the repetition that while YGG was an accelerant for the rise of Axie Infinity in 2021, it’s also been key reason for the rise of current most popular blockchain game Pixels.
There are some differences, of course.
Back in 2021, Axie’s base play-to-earn economy meant anyone with a crypto wallet and some assets could set up as a scholarship guild and — for a time at least — generate ROI.
YGG led the charge but the impact resulted from wider crypto speculative activity.
That’s not been the case with Pixels. Its PIXEL token has actually decreased in price since it was launched in February 2024, despite the game’s explosive growth.
Some players may be making money but it’s nothing like 2021.
Instead, it’s been established groups such as YGG and Mocaverse, which have helped Pixels’ grow in the manner it has; more about the love of the experience and internal rewards within the guild than a get-rich-quick scheme.
If nothing else that demonstrates progress.
The other topic occupying my thoughts this week — and not for the first time — has been a research project trying to work out how Immutable’s newly-quoted figure of “more than 320 games” on its platform stacks up.
For the record, we’ve tracked down 123 games, plus 22 titles Immutable claims as games but we think are now discontinued, and another 12 projects Immutable calls games but we think are not really games.
That still leaves a gap of at least 164 unknown titles, which is perfectly plausibly given there are over 1,000 blockchains live or in development. We await the deluge of press announcements in the coming months with due anticipation!
By the way, you can double-check my workings here.
A final word: as Immutable’s Guild Guardians goes live next week, it will be interesting to see if guilds are part of its growth. Certainly, they were a key element in the game’s initial design but this has changed over the years.
Equally, as a mobile game released through app stores, it’s not crypto-native as is Pixels. This suggests guilds will be less important because it will be harder to plug Guild of Guardians into their own engagement programs.
We will see.
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Weekly News Roundup
CCP talks blockchain prior to upcoming EVE playtest.
Why hybrid TCG SolForge is integrating blockchain.
TapNation on adding blockchain to hypercasual games.
Polkadot-based Enjin relaunches its Spark Program.
Decimated is the 127th blockchain game to be listed on EGS.
Buy SHRAP directly with your debit/credit card.
As discussed below, including a healthy dose why Guild of Guardians’ release next week is both symbolic and significant.
Additional Links
Latest Axie-adjacent game to go live via app stores is rhythm-actioneer Duet Monsters. You can earn 3,000 AXP and 20 SLP daily.
Check out the Big Blockchain Game Report Q1 2024 👀 here or 👀 via PDF.