As giant gaming collapses collapsed, onchain gaming promises remain unrecognizable
Opinion by: Daryl Xu, Co-Founder and CEO, NPC Labs
While playing was in a steady decline from the end of Covid-19 lockdowns, 2024 hit the industry especially difficult, including Layoffs and Studio Closure Pressing even the most popular studios.
While unstable developmental costs and a change crisis seemed to be major culprits behind the collapse, web3 playing appeared as a potential solution that promised to return power to the developers -and it raised billions -billions of investment dollars to do so.
However, despite an ongoing increase in crypto adoption, web3 plays failed to get the attention of major players or solve any of the major gaming problems. Why? Early blockchains are designed for financial applications. Game developers are forced to build on blockchains that are not designed for their use or create their own chains that isolated themselves from the blockchain ecosystem. Whichever option leads to poor player experience and an excessive tokenomics.
Many developers choose the latter, choosing a connection control. Inadvertently, it resulted in garden walls that were no different to those who contributed to the collapse of traditional play.
A solution that creates a lot of problems
A recent -only article In the New York Times revealed that in the last 30 or 40 years, video game industry executives have estimated to be better graphics to bring players and income instead of leaning into creativity. The traditional development of play is expensive, regularly exceeds $ 100 million per title. Indie developers often struggle to compete against big publishers who eventually control funding and distribution.
Blockchain seems to be a promising solution for indie studios, giving them new ways to raise funds and give them control over the distribution. Early Web3 playing platforms, however, end up withdrawing the same enclosed systems that the blockchain is trying to fix. At the costs of getting high players and limited web3 players, gaming platforms deepened their Moats to prevent the departure of users. As it continues to develop, Web3 Gaming introduces its own problems.
An impossible choice for game developers
The technological infrastructure of layer-1 blockchains such as Ethereum and Solana are created for finance and are not aligned with the requirements of play. Beyond the speed of the transaction, layer-2 solutions are not designed to handle the unique gaming needs.
Game developers -attracted to the web3 funding model, promises of owner and user -coordinating, are forced to build on existing blockchains and compromise gameplay or launch their own chain -which is circulating -moving attention and resources far from what they want to do: make better games.
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While native crypto players may feel that this is a variety of tradeoff, major players want to engage in experiences. A January Dappradar report showed that web3 play reached 7.3 million unique active pursesBut talking to the community anecdotally, approximately 10,000 of those representing the actual cohort of gaming that are not in the games just for farm rewards. This number may be higher but not more than 50,000 to 100,000 in most.
A mischievous culture of gaming culture
The matter that converts mainstream onchain users is not to tokens that are non-destructive (NFT) or decentralized finances, the significant ownership of in-asset games. The main players spend decades on arcade, nintendo or mobile games. If accompanied by the true ownership of in-game assets, that familiar is strong enough to create a compelling experience for developers and players.
While web3 games say the revolution of play, most projects do not listen to actual players. In fact, they end up competing for both crypto-native users. Instead of focusing on the fun and engaging gameplay, most of the web3 games are led by crypto and tokenomics technology. In it BubbleWeb3 play success means getting crypto users from each other rather than bringing new onchain players.
In rare exception, the industry has lost what is important: making fun games that people want to play.
This misalignment also extends to game developers who want to enter Web3 to create better player experiences and sustainable revenue models. Game studios understand the web3 potential but hesitates to navigate complex crypto systems, which requires technical skills to produce protocols with enough liquidity and user bases while delivering unstable gameplay at the same time.
Make games again
As major studios continue to struggle, the web3 has a second chance to deliver its promise. But at this time, we should think about how games are in contact. We should focus on creating access to creators and players instead of building new walls. It requires infrastructure that is specific to web3 playing that provides both developer control and cross-ecosystem collaboration.
The path is clear. We need to restore economic independence to the creators and restore control over the hands of the players. This means income models that reward cooperation rather than separation. Most importantly, it means returning to the roots of play – making games again.
The future of gaming is not about better graphics or token incentives. It is about creating an industry where creativity and cooperation can develop. When developers can focus on making appealing experiences instead of developing Moats, everyone wins.
Opinion by: Daryl Xu, co-founder and CEO, NPC labs.
This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be done as legal or investment advice. The views, attitudes, and opinions expressed here are unique and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of the cointelegraph.
