My guest today is Gabe Leydon, who’s episode last year was one of our most popular ever. Gabe has spent the last 20 years designing video games and is one of the most original thinkers I know. He was the co-founder of Machine Zone, which pioneered free-to-play hits like Mobile Strike and Game of War. Over the past year, he has been in stealth mode building a web2 meets web3 video game company called Limit Break, which is founded on a brand new business model that he calls free-to-own. We dive into his vision for the future of gaming, how it could onboard a billion users onto the Ethereum network, and why the LTVs of crypto gamers is far higher than their web2 equivalents. Please enjoy this conversation with Gabe Leydon.

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here.

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Show Notes

[00:02:19] - [First question] - What free-to-own gaming means and why it’s exciting 

[00:11:40] - Pre-existing behavior that sets up free-to-own for success

[00:12:32] - The progression from PFP NFTs to clubs and the road ahead

[00:14:16] - Overview of the business and monetization model for free-to-own games

[00:17:51] - The story of DigiDaigaku, their mechanics, the drops, and what lead to their creation

[00:22:14] - Balancing supply and demand in a free-to-own market

[00:24:35] - Creativity and extensions of the DigiDaigaku NFTs

[00:26:13] - Tiering, breeding and the role the Genesis series will play in the Digi universe

[00:27:32] - The level of brand marketing NFTs will unlock for businesses

[00:29:57] - How free-to-own will be the primary monetization method for brands

[00:31:21] - A future with a global marketing shift towards digital property and economies

[00:33:06] - Why most of the winning PFP projects are of unique characters

[00:35:50] - His Twitter strategy and how he’s created such a fervor around him

[00:42:40] - What will define the legendary marketers over the coming decade 

[00:43:06] - Interoperability needed to make real-world NFT uses appealing to consumers 

[00:44:44] - Whether or not we’ll see more token-gated business in the future 

[00:45:40] - Stable Diffusion and his impression of the new AI art generating bots

[00:48:56] - What great distribution looks like in a digitally native world

[00:50:03] - The emphasis of innovation taking place in the metaverse being a bad thing

[00:53:24] - Things he most admires in adjacent games and creators in his world

[00:54:25] - Unique game mechanics that Web3 technology unlocks 

[00:56:16] - NFTs will be the gateway for people to acquire crypto

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