Blockchain Gaming is the Future of the Games Industry
By Anil Das-Gupta, Co-Founder / CPO @ First Light Games
The Games Industry has seen numerous paradigm shifts in terms of content delivery and business model since it’s inception in the early 70’s. From pay to play arcade cabinets, to boxed product with home consoles to digital distribution for free with micro transactions. And today we are living through the next big thing; Play to Earn gaming powered by Blockchain technology.
Now players won’t just be able to play games, they will own their own in-game assets that can be sold or traded to other players and through Tokenomics and sophisticated economy design will be able to make real money through engagement. Now both players and developers will partake in the success of popular titles and gaming revenues as result will reach yet another unbelievable stratosphere.
Not everyone is as bullish. Isn’t it just a giant Ponzi scheme? Hasn’t all of this been possible before but not been successful? There’s definitely arguments for that, many with merit behind them. But the thing is that as an industry we’ve been here so many times before. No one would pay a subscription fee to pay a game right? Until Everquest and World of Warcraft showed up. It’s not sustainable to make a game for $0.99… until Rovio’s Angry Birds proved otherwise. And Free to Play is not a sustainable business model said many until the 2010’s were totally transformed by it. The simple fact is that Axie Infinity and Sandbox prove that real sizable revenues are already being made, and that this sector is only beginning to take off. We’ve yet to see titles with genuinely fun gameplay and sophisticated metagames embrace P2E, but these titles are well on the way.
They often say “put your money where your mouth is” and that’s why here at First Light Games, we’ve fully embraced blockchain gaming with our forthcoming title Blast Royale. Make money by winning a game of Battle Royale? What’s not to like about that!?
On a personal note, I was fortunate to have lived through the very beginnings of Free to Play back in 2008. Back then many people were sceptical, none more so than I. I knew that it worked in Asia, but that is a totally different culture that was far more game savvy. I was convinced micro-transactions would not fly in the West and that it was a pointless endeavour. I quickly changed my mind when I witnessed millions of dollars of revenue coming in per day, and seeing a single game outperform our entire portfolio of 30+ games in the space of a few weeks.
One thing that is especially appealing to us as a team is that development of blockchain games is so transparent. It’s all about building a community and involving them in both the development and operation of the game, with both players and developers able to share in the success of a great game. Players are both rewarded for supporting a project early and for helping to grow a fledgling community. Compared to the traditional cloak and dagger approach where studios keep quiet, often for years, this a refreshing and beneficial change for the industry.
In the meantime I’m strapping myself in on board the Rocket Ship, won’t you come and join me? We’re actively recruiting for several roles in our brand new London Soho studio, so if this space makes you as excited as we are, please get in touch!
#BlastToTheFuture!
To stay up to date with our journey, follow Blast Royale on these channels:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/blastroyale
Discord: https://discord.com/invite/HXmU8qtCHD
Website: https://blastroyale.com
And check out other links as well on Linktree: https://linktr.ee/firstlightgames
