PANEL DISCUSSION: Betting Big on Blockchain in Game Industry. Is It Worth It?

Cutieners, do you want to know more about the industry? We hope you will enjoy this discussion.

Vladimir Tomko, the founder of Blockchain Cuties, took part in a panel discussion on crypto-games on the White Nights Conference in St.Petersburg.
If you happen to speak Russian, check out the video here:

If not, please see the brief summary of the discussion below.

Speakers:
Evgeny Glariantov, Founder, FREED;
Vladimir Tomko, Founder, Blockchain Cuties;
Sergey Kopov, Founder, 0xGames,
Ben Robson, Marketing & Communication, GamerToken;
Vadim Bashurov, Game Developer & Evangelist, Corona

What are the pros of making games on blockchain?

• Transparency
• Opportunity to earn a profit on assets
• Open market opportunities for players
• True ownership of assets
• It is an easy way for new users to get to know blockchain technology

What are the cons?

• Currently, we can observe that blockchain technology is sometimes used without adding any value to the game itself. Developers need to have a very clear understanding of where blockchain technology is really necessary.
• The competition on the market is rather low and players have too few products and types of products to choose from
• Difficulties in development due to the scarcity of available talent
• Legal risks, that alienate part of the market
• Cryptogames tend to have a small number of players as compared to regular games

What are the major recent successes in the industry?
Cryptogames are more than just trading it is a unique experience. There are close-knit communities that are bound with more than financial incentives.

Recent mayor successes are:

• Blockchain Cuties
• ETH Town and Axie Infinity both had very successful pre-sales
• Crypto Space Commander
• Crypto Bots

Blockchain technology can also be integrated into existing games by tokenising items.

There are also games that accept cryptocurrency and in other terms are no different from regular games.

Tokenisation has its challenges. Apple and Google allow for blockchain record keeping, but not to buy and sell with cryptocurrency.

While blockchain gives a game an extra layer of security, there is still a probability of fraud since refunds are not enforceable.

What are the current limitations in cryptogames?

• Technical limitations:
• Games can support only a limited number of transactions. Therefore there is a scalability problem. A large number of players transacting at the same time can lead to slow performance or crash. However, the technology is constantly developing and we can expect most of the problems to be solved.
• Genre limitations. Blockchain cannot fully support shooters or similar games. The most popular genres are gambling and collectibles. However, the industry is moving forward with the tokenisation of regular games.
• Blockchain is notoriously difficult for developers to work with
• It is rather hard to introduce new changes to the game unless the game is designed for development flexibility
• Legislative limitations
• Market limitations:
• The market for ERC token holders is rather small, but it is growing
• Traffic to game websites is very expensive and developers have little support from aggregator platforms

Who plays cryptogames?

• Traders
• Men, 25–40 years old
• Japanese, American, Chinese
• Crypto enthusiasts
• Early adopters interested in new game technologies

Cryptogames quite possible will go mainstream in the coming years.

Tokenisation. Is this the future of gaming?
Tokenisation has major advantages in terms of digital property rights and investment. Blockchain gives games extra security and transparency. Therefore it is quite possible that mainstream games will be tokenised in the near future.

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