Web3 games have soared in popularity over the past three years and are forecast to reach approximately $65.7 billion by 2027, up from $4.6 billion in 2022. While the Web3 games that initially gained international attention, such as Axie Infinity play-to-earn was, gamers all over the world play the world not just for passive income.
While play-to-earn has greatly disrupted the blockchain industry and brought many users on board in the Web3 space, Web3 games must transition away from this model and embrace a play-to-earn ethos that focuses on user experience first.
Kelsey McGuire is Head of Growth at Shardeum. She previously served as Chief Marketing Officer at crypto investment firm CoinFund, managed partner marketing at Celo and worked in marketing leadership roles at ConsenSys.
Web3 games turned off many traditional players and developers from Web3 due to poor user experience and lack of creativity in the game. In other words, often the perception of Web3 games is that they are simply not fun. The pay rails can be difficult to navigate and gas fees are added on top of the price of non-fungible tokens (NFT) or in-game assets.
Adding to the effort and expense, any chain action requires gas fees to be recorded – an expense that traditional players are not used to paying.
While some Web3 games may not have made the biggest first impression on gamers, there is plenty of room for hope.
As a first step to get traditional gamers interested in exploring Web3, games must move away from the play-to-earn model to a vision that more fully embraces the original gaming ethos: fun! This means that before Web3 games can offer players ownership of in-game assets, game developers must focus on the elements that attract players to games in the first place: exciting worlds, great storytelling, frictionless gameplay, a sense of of community and the ability to hone in-game skills.
If Web3 games are fun first and foremost, then they have the freedom to add new experiences such as ownership of in-game assets that provide the true differentiation between Web2 and Web3 games.
Gaming already has a long tradition of in-game assets with games such as “World of Warcraft and Eve Online” introducing tokens and in-game currencies as early as 2008. The opportunity within Web3 offers in-game assets that has value both in and out of the gaming world.
This is one of the original use cases for non-fungible tokens (NFTs): turning in-game skins and weapons into digital assets that can be bought and sold on secondary trading platforms, potentially also rewarding the asset creators with royalties on each sold.
Empowering players with a greater voice in the development process through management is another point of differentiation that can attract traditional players to the space. Players can give creators valuable feedback about the usefulness of a certain tool or weapon in the game.
By taking discussion forums to the next level and giving players the ability to influence decisions through decentralized management participation, Web3 games can attract many more players. There is also value in fostering a vibrant and engaging community outside of the game itself that is inviting to traditional players, developers, and those completely new to the space.
The good news is that a focus on user experience is already underway with major mobile game developer Zynga’s launch of “Sugartown,” whose world involves three animals unlocking a wormhole to another dimension — now we’re starting the creation of fun learning to see. .
DappRadar’s State of Blockchain Gaming in Q3 2023 report shows other positive indicators of growth for the Web3 gaming vertical, including a 12% increase in unique wallets since Q2 2023 and $600 million from venture capitalists pouring into Web3 gaming.
The goal for Web3 games should not be to replace traditional games with decentralized games. After all, traditional games aren’t going anywhere. They have their ardent fans and generate $281.77 billion worldwide. The aim should be to create a space that is completely new and exciting with its own ethos backed by ownership of user assets and a voice in the ecosystems they participate in.
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