Not sure how much of it has been inspired by spare Easter downtime or just the Q1 cycle, but it’s been interesting to read some thoughtful posts about blockchain game trends.
The one getting a lot of attention is a16z crypto’s Q1 2023 State of Crypto Report, which is decent in its own way — and its index may prove useful in future — but isn’t game-focused at all!
The best — and longest — one I’m still musing on comes from Galaxy Digital partner Richard Kim, who asks the question in his Substack “Can Joy be Financialized as a Positive-Sum Game?”
I particularly like the title because it’s provocative: most people won’t think joy can be financialized and if it could be, they wouldn’t think it should be.
Personally, I’m all for it, even if it’s a zero-sum game, but the big vision of blockchain economics — much like fractionalized banking — is that it can perform that exact expansionist magic.
I also like the framing of Richard’s Ten Commandments of Open Economy Games. Not sure I agree with them all but I certainly do agree with #1, #4 and #5, which I paraphase as:
tokens should not exist in any meaningful sense until the game has economic activity at a scale that can support speculative volatility (#1), and
all blockchain assets should be created/generated by players playing, not buying them from the developer (#4 & #5).
Funnily enough, I attempted my own minor subset of rules recently.
So I guess I agree with Richard’s #3 point too: his “Violence at the narrative core” being broadly similar I think to my “permadeath of assets”.
Of course, I agree with his conclusion: “that there is indeed a bright future for web3 gaming”.
Of the various unstructured chats I’ve had in recent days, it was also good to catch up with Playmint’s David Amor, who’s taken to Twitter to discuss his vision for the tokenomics of forthcoming gamer DawnSeekers.
It’s a more focused argument — given it’s about a specific project — but I think some of the same flavor of thought is on display.
This model chimes with Richard’s violence point and my permadeath equivalent because David is talking about a blockchain-based consumable energy system. You can read the full deets via this Medium article.
TL:DR All you need to know is web3 thinkers are thinking and web3 builders are building.
The next wave of blockchain games are already very different from what we have seen before. Maybe they will be successful. Maybe they won’t.
But the direction of travel is generationally smarter.
This Substack is sponsored by Hiro Capital: investing in the future of gaming
Funding news
Although the amount hasn’t been disclosed, Influence developer Unstoppable Games has announced that StarkWare has become a strategic investor. Influence is a space trading and combat game that is already running on StarkWare’s Starket Ethereum L2 scaling tech and due to go live during the summer.
Influence already has asteroid and pilot NFTs live on Ethereum and is currently looking to raise $1.5 million by allowing NFT holders to purchase its SWAY token for the first time.
Razer’s Bleeding Edge news
Highend PC gaming outfit Razer has announced the launch of its zVentures Web3 Incubator (ZW3I), which is an outworking of its existing zVentures arm. To-date its web3 investments include blockchain gaming platform Forte and game projects Mighty Action Heroes and AFAR.
However, ZW3I will accelerate Razer’s activity in the space both by investing but also by leveraging Razer’s existing network in the sector, including strategic partners such as Animoca Brands, AWS, Griffin Gaming Partners, 1UP Ventures and Play Ventures.
In particular, it’s looking to work with experienced game teams, who can create projects with the potential to scale to massmarket audiences. Companies interested in finding out more about the incubator can apply here.
Moonbirds Are Diamond news
The bad news for Moonbirds holders is the floor price of the NFTs has dropped from a peak of almost 40 ETH down to around 3 ETH. But the good news is that from 27th April, longterm holders are going to get a new companion NFT from the new Moonbirds: Diamond Exhibition.
This is a 10,000 collection from 22 artists including Beeple, Daniel Isles (aka Dirty Robot), Terrell Jones, Summer Wagner, and Michael Sidofsky, which will be available for all NFTs which have been soft-staked on the Moonbirds’ website and achieved diamond status; that is having been continuously staked for 360 days.
Apparently there are over 4,600 diamond-staked Moonbirds, which will be ready to claim on day one.
More Animoca Network news
UK dev Emergent Entertainment — which is working on web3 game Resurgence — has signed what it’s calling a “strategic advisory agreement” with Animoca Brands. This will see Animoca providing support and advice when it comes to marketing, tokenomics, governance and business strategy.
Resurgence is a F2P open-world crafting survival game that will launch on ImmutableX. It’s currently building its community and backstory with its alternative website Pulsenews, and its Gen 0 Cryotag NFTs.
Additional Links
As its 25th April launch approaches, more games are being announced for Ultra. The latest is F2P Unreal-based horror shooter The Bornless.
Netmarble has partnered with The Sandbox. Characters from some of its games such as Meta World: My City. and Seven Knights will now appear in Netmarble IP Land, a 6x6 plot that’s part of the K-Verse Korean area in The Sandbox.
Nitro Nation: World Tour is prepping for its first car NFT presale, with Lotus, Jaguar and Pagani among the highlighted brands.
Have you installed crypto security layer Stelo for Metamask yet?