The rapid development of the gaming industry is primarily associated with technological progress. Most technical improvements in this area – graphics or gameplay improvements – have long been taken for granted. But recent developments in technology may change video games and everything connected with them once and for all. Of course, first of all we are talking about VR/AR technology. In this case, the changes are obvious and the changes should not be discussed. Blockchain can bring about a real revolution in the gaming industry. By the way, the gaming sector is one of the most active areas of the economy where this technology is being introduced. The main thing that blockchain does here is “erase” the boundaries between virtual and real universes.
Last year, several gaming projects began developing platforms. According to the founders and creators of the projects, their products solve key problems in the gaming industry. Thus, Game Protocol and Game Machine place the main emphasis on creating a reliable and convenient gaming crowdfunding model. On such sites, gamers will be able to sponsor the development of games (for cryptocurrency, of course) in exchange for bonuses from developers, for example, a certain number of in-game crypto coins.
Blockchain brings cloud gaming to a new level, thanks to which players get universal access to any games, even with weak hardware. The scheme is simple: the player connects to the cloud server on which the game runs and receives streaming video on his PC. The main problem of cloud gaming platforms is the lack of servers and, as a result, high ping. The PlayKey project intends to solve this problem by replacing traditional servers with a decentralized network of powerful computers. Miners will be able to earn money by “mining” the internal cryptocurrency of the platform, and players will receive an ideal – non-slowing – picture and uninterrupted control.
Great, really? And that’s https://luckypantsbingocasino.uk/bonus/ not all. Other projects set even more ambitious goals. For example, WAX, Enjin and DMarket are confident that with the help of blockchain they will create a new sector of the global economy, turning virtual items into real assets that can be traded on a par with ordinary goods.
Trading game items (primarily CS:GO, Dota 2, Team Fortress 2 and PUBG) is not a new phenomenon: skins can be sold or bought on Steam, Skins.Cash, OPSkins or other platforms.
So, blockchain opens up fantastic opportunities for the average gamer:
will make trade as free as possible and at the same time safe, and most importantly, it will record and protect his ownership of game items and allow him to safely sell them or freely exchange them for items from another game. But for such an idealistic picture, the idea of a marketplace must be supported by game developers and publishers, and their position is far from so clear-cut. After all, modern games already have their own economy with two types of in-game currencies: soft, which you get for achievements in the game, and hard, which you purchase for real money. By joining a game to a decentralized marketplace, developers risk losing control over the economies of their own games.
Gaming blockchain projects attract large developers and publishers in all possible ways, offering generous bonuses – from commissions for each transaction on the marketplace to advertising of games presented on the platform. Some game makers really show interest in such projects. In particular, 4A Games, GSC Game World, Tatem Games and Kiss Ltd. declared their readiness to support DMarket and announced cooperation with this project.
As for large publishers, they have sufficient resources to calmly observe developments. In fact, blockchain projects will become attractive to them when their benefits, primarily material ones, are obvious. It is logical that indie games can provide the starting gaming audience for decentralized marketplaces. Developers and publishers of indie games are much easier to attract with financial and advertising bonuses. However, another problem arises here that blockchain projects have yet to solve.
Even with the most advanced API, integrating a game into a global marketplace technically requires a lot of time and effort. A significant part of indie developers simply do not have the resources to solve this problem. And the marketplace developers themselves are unlikely to be able to independently add thousands of games to their platform. Vicious circle? Not at all. There is a solution, but you need to start with negotiations with the developers of popular game engines such as Unity or Unreal.
It is on these engines that most modern games are developed. The total audience of Unity Technologies, according to the company itself, numbers nearly 800 million players. Of course, you can gain access to this audience by negotiating with thousands of indie developers. But it’s much easier and more efficient to agree directly with Unity. Moreover, the collaboration of these game platforms with key players such as Unity or Unreal would create a convenient solution that would greatly facilitate and speed up the process of connecting a game to the marketplace. Engine developers are interested in the profitability of “native” games. This means that blockchain projects need to convince Unity, Unreal and other major players that decentralized trading platforms bring more opportunities than risks.
By “collecting” and negotiating with developers, it will take game platforms more than one month, and maybe even more than one year, to truly reach the global level and get, for example, the same audience as Unity. As a result, instead of ambitious statements about creating a new economy, without the support of Unity or Unreal, blockchain projects will receive a tiny trading platform for fans of a couple of dozen not very popular games. Are developers of advanced engines ready to support such platforms?? Quite possible. Unity Technologies has already shown interest in blockchain technologies, having agreed on cooperation with the GameCredits team. But this project is aimed primarily at digital distribution of games. For developers, this is a much less risky undertaking than decentralizing the gaming economy.