Trip Hawkins, the founder of Electronic Arts (EA), has made a significant move into the web3 gaming market. His latest venture, Games For A Living (GFAL), is a web3 gaming studio that has recently partnered with Seedigy, Enginstarter, and Bit2Me for its initial game offering (IGO). GFAL has also been listed on Gate.io, Bitmart, and Pancakeswap as of 13 March 2023.

GFAL recently released its first game, Elemental Raiders, which is now available to play for free on Steam. The Steam version can be accessed without any blockchain knowledge or crypto requirements, making it a more accessible entry point into the web3 gaming space.

One unique feature of GFAL's platform is its use of the $GFAL token. This token is designed to reward developers who use GFAL's developer tools, such as the developer portal, game analytics, and live events. Developers will also receive their game NFT royalties in $GFAL. Players can use $GFAL to purchase in-game assets, mint or upgrade game NFTs, earn while playing games, and trade on the marketplace. They can also use $GFAL to pay fees for bridging assets onto other chains and to participate in governance decisions related to the platform.

In the future, GFAL plans to expand the use cases for $GFAL. These may include access to adventures/quests, PvP tournaments, the ability to create or combine NFTs, speed up routine processes, increase activity limits, and priority access to whitelists of new games.

While Trip Hawkins has an impressive history in technology and gaming, it's important to note that the $GFAL token is similar to many other web3 gaming tokens that aim to leverage the concept of "play-to-earn." At Gameonomics, we remain skeptical about the sustainability of current play-to-earn models, as many of these tokens have seen their value decline rapidly.

Despite this, GFAL's entry into the web3 gaming market is a noteworthy development. As blockchain technology continues to evolve, we're likely to see more gaming companies exploring the potential of this new frontier. We look forward to seeing how GFAL and other web3 gaming platforms continue to innovate in the years to come.