The pain point of traditional games

As a generation that has grown up with the development of the Internet, they have played online games more or less. Traditional online games have experienced nearly two decades of development and are very mature, but there are also the following problems:

• Ownership of rights

  In most games, a variety of props are set for players. Players can obtain them by completing game goals or reaching a certain level. They can also recharge to buy or participate in game draws, or even randomly get system assignments. But to whom do these props belong? Is it because the props are under the account of a certain game player, so the ownership belongs to that game player?

  Props, in the virtual world of games, can be designed in various forms, but in essence they may be a string of computer codes. In the player agreement that game players often ignore when they log in to the game page to register their account, it basically stipulates that the ownership of the game props belongs to the game company. Therefore, the props that are hard-earned to fight monsters and level up do not actually belong to game players.

• Transparency issues

  If a certain item is powerful or extremely difficult to obtain, it will become in demand and increase in value. As mentioned earlier, just because the ownership of game items belongs to the game company, the game company can freely set the function, time limit, quantity and acquisition method of the game items. Of course, this setting mechanism and probability will not be disclosed to game players. Therefore, players often have questions, for example, whether a certain rare item really exists in a lottery. Even if we understand that there is no need for game companies to deceive gamers on this calculated probability issue, how can game companies prove their innocence?

• Security and stability issues

  With the continuous growth of the number of game players and the continuous enrichment of game content, some game items may become very valuable. At this time, if the backend of the game system or the account of the game player is hacked, resulting in the loss of the game account content or props, it will cause great losses to the game player.

  In addition, the life cycle of a single game is relatively short. When the enthusiasm of game players gradually recedes and the online rate and participation decrease, game companies will choose to change their operation methods, reduce the cost of subsequent maintenance of the game, and eventually even stop serving. This is unfair but helpless for diehard fans of certain games. After all, the stability of traditional online games depends entirely on game companies.

Problems that can be solved by blockchain technology

The characteristic of blockchain technology is that it can solve some temporarily unsolvable problems in traditional games through LDT. E.g

• Game companies cannot modify data such as the number of props and player levels at will through the background. The data is open, transparent and traceable, making the value of game props more objective.

• Game data is not easy to be tampered with, and it is safe, stable and trustworthy.

• Game props distributed through blockchain technology will undoubtedly belong to game players in terms of rights attributes.

According to the information released by Nansen, the development of blockchain games can be roughly divided into four stages.

The first stage: The market is dominated by innovative NFTs mini-games and development mini-games. The game properties are not strong, but this opens up the market for chain games.

The second stage: terminal games and mobile games with Play To Earn and NFTs as the main highlights and attributes. This type of chain game has certain game attributes. Compared with traditional games, the playability is insufficient, and the development difficulty and cycle are shorter and more important. Its asset value does not pay attention to gameplay. Due to its short development cycle, a variety of small games with mixed good and bad quickly seized the market.

The third stage: on the basis of the second stage, it started to develop more high-quality game products at almost the same time. It is also an independent game team with the blockchain as the main background, but there are more than the second stage. With the addition of the solo team and members, the overall game quality has been greatly improved. A small number of traditional game players with a curious mentality are attracted by relatively high-quality games and join the chain of game players, and the chain of games has gradually entered the public market.

The fourth stage: the entry of higher-quality 3A game manufacturers, or will develop new high-quality chain games, or add blockchain technology or elements to its original ecological chain, and NFTs and Play To Earn will become the normal attributes of the game .

At present, the chain game market is between the second and third stages. At the same time, many 3A manufacturers are also experimenting in this area. However, there are few mature products in the chain game market. The main products are the end games of Play To Earn. Mainly, and the quality of the game is uneven, and the overall quality is not ideal.Thousands of players who have already entered the arena lifted the chain game market with one hand. As players continue to join, the requirements for game quality will become higher and higher.

At the same time, original game players are willing to pay for game products and content. These players are more likely to accept the P2E logic of chain games. In the future, with the development and popularization of blockchain technology, more traditional game manufacturers will join and bring more While styling high-quality games, it will also bring more traditional players to pay attention to the blockchain market.

From an optimistic point of view, the professional development of chain games and the accommodation of 3A game manufacturers will bring a large number of fresh blockchain blood into it, and I look forward to seeing games become a bridge between centralization and decentralization.

At present, most of the DeFi game play methods mainly include role-playing, virtual space, training and combat, and multiplayer construction. Compared with the previous liquid mining model, the GameFi project has stronger interaction, experience and immersion with users, and at the same time has a higher interest. For example, many games will use NFT pets for reproduction. , Use NFT equipment to improve skills, pledge NFT to get income, or introduce PK battle mode to participate in battles and complete tasks, so that users can make money while playing games.

Exploration of the profit model of blockchain games

Due to the open and transparent characteristics of blockchain technology, the dominant position of the original game company has gradually weakened. On the one hand, props and other virtual assets can be clarified on the chain to clarify the ownership of these virtual assets. At the same time, the enforceability of smart contracts also expands the circulation of props. Game players can trade freely at any time without the need for centralized Participation of game companies; on the other hand, community democracy also forces game companies not to go their own way in everything, and need to pay more attention to the experience and needs of game players.

Of course, the development of the times is unstoppable. Blockchain games are also a must-have branch in the development of future online games. How to explore profit models under this branch, the following are some thoughts:

• Taking transaction fees as the conventional profit model

  Game companies need to understand that blockchain games must not mainly make money by selling props and equipment, but mainly by charging transaction fees to make money. The direction that game companies need to develop is to continue to package virtual assets on the chain, expand their liquidity, create various trading platforms, increase the turnover rate, encourage game players to trade, and earn transaction fees in this way.

• Create props or intermediate tokens for multi-game sharing

  The player group of a single game is often limited, and game companies can try to create props or intermediate tokens that are shared by multiple games. This model is particularly suitable for large companies with multiple games to break through the boundaries of the intermediate tokens of several games under their name, or to promote in a series of games derived from a certain IP. Expanding the scope of exchange is also a way to facilitate transactions.

• Authorize IP to develop derivative games

  When a game is made into a "explosive", the game company can make good use of this IP and authorize other game companies that want to use the IP to attract potential customers to their own derivative games

The future of blockchain games

Statistics are more convincing than any prediction, because the market determines the winner and always quickly seizes any opportunity to promise returns and profits. Gamers want variety, new experiences, and are eager to start making money in their favorite games. When the blockchain itself is still in its infancy and has only just begun to realize its potential, what can be said about the prospects of blockchain games.

As the blockchain network expands, the next few years will surely see a large number of new games flood the market and allow users to access games that are more user-friendly, more mobile-friendly, with better graphics and an engaging storyline.