Blockchain games need more old-school expertise
The adoption of blockchain games is currently stifled by technical barriers and unimaginative gameplay. But for early movers, decentralized gaming opens up unique creative and financial opportunities too. To overcome the challenges and unlock the benefits, simplified development tools are needed that will attract talent from beyond the cryptosphere.
Blockchain games are a cross between two worlds — cryptocurrencies and gaming. This is true not only of the business strategy but also the talent pool. The small studios that dominate this niche industry employ a mix of professionals. Many are more comfortable programming smart contracts than creating the immersive gameplay experiences needed to compete with conventional titles. With blockchain games attracting more attention from game publishers and investors, awareness is growing of the need to attract developers with traditional skills.
If blockchain holds the key to the future of gaming, as many believe, why aren’t more developers diving in? One reason is the technical complexity. Developers want to spend their time on graphics, world-building, storytelling and gameplay. This is their passion, their stock-in-trade. They don’t want to divert time and resources into learning unfamiliar languages in order to manually code connections to the blockchain. To attract talent from outside of the cryptosphere, developers need simplified, modular solutions that enable them to work on blockchain games in the environments they are most comfortable with — such as Unity and Unreal Engine.
Another focus of concern is performance. Maintaining a blockchain game could involve hundreds of thousands of users — millions in the case of big hits — which requires colossal processing capability. Most decentralized networks are still no match for centralized servers when it comes to keeping pace with the volume of transactions in a typical game. As a result, blockchain gaming is still relatively slow, with gamers experiencing frustrating delays between an action and its effect. This limits the scale of the game and restricts play to simplistic activities like creating and trading assets.
Speed isn’t the only reason blockchain games may lack the depth and immersion of conventional titles. It’s important to remember that it has taken decades for video games to achieve the extraordinary sophistication of today’s titles. Realistic graphics, real-time responsiveness, complex storylines and globalized multi-play were unheard of in the early 1980s. Today they are standard features. Blockchain games, on the other hand, are still in their infancy. They too will need time and talent to improve. But for early entrants, the opportunity is great. Blockchain games represent a significant departure from the mainstream experience in that they reward players for in-game achievements or platform activity. The reward can take the shape of a cryptocurrency, a non-fungible token, or a rise in value of either. These games have become more popular over the past year, thanks to a boom in the market for NFTs. Because these tokens are cryptographically unique, they enable ownership of items bought or earned during play. Turning virtual goods like avatars and their outfits and weapons into NFTs lets gamers trade and resell or rent them, making them potentially valuable real-world assets. The focus on “play-to-earn” is overemphasized. Certainly, some players are seeking to supplement their income. But there is something more fundamental going on here. In mainstream gaming, players are like renters: They live in the house, but they don’t own it. Blockchain gives them a stake in the game economy and a voice in how it operates.
This is a powerful incentive and while it has obvious benefits for players, it also creates unprecedented opportunities for developers. First of all, blockchain lets them leverage decentralized marketplaces and exchanges without needing to ask publishers for permission to participate.
There are also financial advantages. The innovative use of NFTs can attract users to their platforms and unlock new sources of revenue. Besides earning income from the sale of game items, developers can receive royalties from subsequent transactions involving the items, such as when players sell their assets or move them to their digital wallets.
NFT games also make money with entrance fees and commissions on the purchase of native tokens used to buy and trade items. When more players buy the token, its value goes up, benefiting both players and developers. Furthermore, NFTs and gaming are expected to play a key role in the metaverse, the virtual realm where people will work, play, and shop in the next version of the internet.
Video games have come a long way since Pac-Man hit arcades in 1980. To explore the next frontier, the industry needs to build on its achievements. That means making it as easy as possible for talented developers from the traditional gaming space to make the switch.
Ajuna is playing its part. Our decentralized platform lets developers connect to the blockchain within minutes using common programming languages and two industry-leading engines — Unreal Engine and Unity. This enables developers to easily incorporate blockchain-based assets into their games, without needing to become blockchain specialists. In addition, we use hardware-based trusted execution environments (TEEs) to massively improve speed, bypassing the performance issues holding other decentralized games back.
Blockchain has the potential to redefine gaming. But that doesn’t mean starting from scratch.
