Blockchain Gaming World

Jon Jordan and BlockchainGamer.biz editor Jenny Jordan talk through the week's news including:[0:30] OpenSea's OS2 is now live for everyone with its new Voyages XP system.[1:08] This is part of the future SEA token launch, which will also include historical trading activity.[4:47] OpenSea now supports token swaps and NFT trading across 19 blockchains.[8:25] The SEA token will be a big event; "The event" according to OpenSea. [11:40] Oncade has raised $4 million from a16z CSX for its stablecoin webstore platform.[13:26] We're also seeing stablecoins becoming a key part of the tradfi payment and banking system.[17:28] YGG launched LOL Land as part of its new push into "casual degen" gaming.[17:55] Does "casual degen" make sense? Jon is not so sure.[19:45] LOL Land has a free channel and an expensive premium channel. Not much crossover.[24:43] Disney+ subscribers can now access Dapper Labs' Disney Pinnacle NFT collectibles.[27:44] Interestingly, you can trade these NFTs but only during special weekend events.[28:55] It's another example how, without much fanfare, crypto is leaking into mainstream products.[30:05] Nexon's Henesys blockchain for MapleStory N is peaking at over 50,000 DAUWs.[30:51] It's also banned 6,000 accounts for botting etc. [31:18] The marketplace has 600,000 active wallets, 6 million item sales and $5 million trading volume.[34:14] Someone has already made $40,000 in profit from NFT trading.

Jon Jordan and BlockchainGamer.biz editor Jenny Jordan talk through the week's news including:[0:28] Following Nyan Heroes, Blast Royale and Tatsumeeko, Ember Sword has shut down.[2:15] The background is a lot of web3 game devs raised their funding back in 2021-22.[4:12] $5 million isn't much money to make a good game, either web2 or web3. [5:07] And most teams raising money were inexperienced. They had never made a game before.[6:15] A team of 10 game devs probably costs around $1 million a year.[6:58] Ambitious games like Nyan Heroes and Ember Sword probably required +50 devs.[7:35] Hence $5-10 million of funding doesn't last very long. It's not a rug or a con.[9:30] If your game's retention isn't good enough, you can never scale or monetize it to success.[11:44] It's very hard to get anyone to play a new game because of Fortnite/Roblox.[15:23] As weaker projects shut down, the top blockchain games become clear.[15:54] Examples? EVE Frontier (thanks for the hat!), [16:51] Also Wildcard, Proof of Play, Mythical Games, Faraway, MapleStory N etc.[22:04] Blast Royale is being open-sourced so the community could continue to develop it.[24:00] Voya Games has bucked the trend, raising $5 million for idle gaming ecosystem Craft World.[26:50] CEO Oli Loeffler has been slowly building the game and company for the past 3 years. [28:10] The game combines individual resource management with collaborative events. [30:56] There's always something to do and blockchain adds a longer term retention layer.[31:34] Your resources in the main game are only valuable if you can get them into the collab events.[33:45] Would Craft World be a good match for Ronin?[35:05] Off The Grid will launch a web2 version on Steam in June.[37:38] The first NFT sales from Off The Grid have started - highest price to-date is over $1,000.[39:30] But some Steam users hate blockchain so the game will likely get review bombed.[41:30] Jon went to the Avalanche Summit London and was impressed with its momentum.[42:34] He also spoke to Nexon's Dominic Jang about MapleStory Universe and MapleStory N's launch.[43:00] The MSU marketplace has done $1.6 million-worth of NFT trading volume.[45:23] Main markets to-date for MapleStory N players are LATAM, Brazil, southeast Asia.[46:25] Success for Nexon isn't about the game, it's about the ecosystem, esp. 3rd party apps.[51:05] Ava Labs' CEO Emin Gün Sirer also spoke well about the overall vision for Avalanche.

Jon Jordan and BlockchainGamer.biz editor Jenny Jordan talk through the week's news including:[0:20] Nexon has launched MapleStory N and its NXPC token on its Avalanche-based L1. [2:25] MapleStory is the OG IP for Nexon - a 2D side-scrolling MMORPG, now with blockchain. [5:00] The NXPC token seems to have launched well on various exchanges, up 30%.[6:14] However, the game is geo-locked for some countries including South Korea, US and UK.[8:45] Its free NFT on OpenSea was minted 1.7 million times, so there's high demand.[10:07] Paradise Tycoon is launching its own Avalanche-based chain - Paradise Chain. [11:14] Pixelmon is also bringing its games to Avalanche.[15:24] The first title to use crypto for IAP payments in an iOS game is Crazy Defense Heroes.[19:12] It's not clear how useful this will be existing web3 mobile games as it will require retrofitting.[20:48] Adding this to Crazy Defense Heroes is likely more experimental than revenue generating.[23:40] Animoca is looking to IPO in the US.[24:15] Animoca was originally floated in Australia but was delisted in 2020. [27:38] Animoca's 2024 financials said it was worth $4.3 billion so there will be demand for its shares.[31:11] Pixels has announced an AI agent mini-game integration with AI Veronica.[34:16] Blocklords' Battleborne mode is live, adding exciting new gameplay to the base farming game.[45:31] Why Playful Studios has spent 7 years making its character collection action game Wildcard.[49:31] Wildcard is a web2 game that's designed for streaming.[50:41] Thousands is its integrated web3 streaming platform with revenue share for creators.

Jon Jordan talks to Playful Studios' CEO Paul Bettner and lead game designer Brad Weir about the development of web2 card collectible action game Wildcard and its web3 streaming platform Thousands. [5:29] Why did "crypto-skeptic" Paul Bettner end up making a gaming ecosystem using blockchain?[6:24] The crucial technology focus for its web2 game Wildcard is streaming, not blockchain.[6:59] But blockchain is crucial for the wider ecosystem for players, content creators and community.[9:02] The USP of Wildcard is its unique genre - deck building + action gameplay with strategy MOBA. [9:55] It's a CCAG - collectible card action game - the first of its kind.[10:08] "Web3 is an enabling technology for the new things we are trying to do."[11:45] A lot of the core team on Wildcard goes all the way back to Age of Empires.[14:09] Paradigm led the investment round because they played Wildcard and loved the game.[15:18] How the game design of Wildcard has changed over the years. [15:40] As a designer, you need to question everything and iterate quickly to make the best decision. [17:15] Moving from 1v1 to 2v2 was a big change for Wildcard, especially for the social aspects.[18:51] "You have to make the thing people like the least about your game into what they like the most."[20:24] Until your dev team can not stop playing your game over other games, it's not finished.[24:40] "When I fire up Wildcard, it's not like any other game in my Steam library."[32:15] "Watching a game is the most casual, accessible way to enjoy gaming."[33:10] Popular streamed games weren't built for streaming. How should it change the design?[33:51] We talked to Twitch and Discord but they couldn't build the streaming tech we required. [35:20] We started showing other studios our streaming tech and the response was overwheming.[37:26] Thousands allows us to give revenue share back to streamers who refer the spenders. [38:24] An authentic streamer gives us the highest quality users we can get.[40:17] Before Thousands, we didn't know how we were going to have web3 tech in Wildcard.[45:10] You have to make a game and ecosystem that satisfies gamers, earners and content creators.[49:20] How Wildcard is ensuring it allows its most skilled players to demonstrate that skill.[51:32] Wildcard is being tested on Fridays/Saturdays via Steam early access.[53:51] Thousands isn't about quantity, it's about your most dedicated 1,000 fans.[54:25] Our ARPV (average revenue per viewer) is already over $100, with a payer conversion of 83%.[55:26] We have streams that are regularly monetizing at over $20,000 per stream.

Jon Jordan and BlockchainGamer.biz editor Jenny Jordan talk through the week's news including:[0:45] Pixels' new ecosystem-wide PIXEL staking feature is now live, supporting three games.[1:57] Pixels' daily activity has declined a lot, as has the PIXEL token price over the past year. [2:58] Pixels' vision now is to better target its rewards towards committed players.[4:30] Staking and the future vPIXEL token (June) use the Apptoken standard which gives devs more control.[7:03] You stake PIXEL into any of the supported games, which return a share of their overall rewards.[10:37] The goal is to build a platform any web3 (or web2) game could also plug into.[15:05] PC RPG MapleStory N will launch on 15th May.[16:56] This is a big IP for Nexon to release on blockchain and it's been very careful in the design.[19:58] Blockchain gaming platform Ultra announced a partnership with Vaulta (ex-EOS).[24:11] Wildcard streaming platform Thousands generated almost $78,000 from one 2-hour stream.[29:15] To-date the platform has a payer conversation rate of 51% and ARPV (per viewer) of $109.[35.27] Nintendo appears to have integrated web3 tech into the mobile version of Pokemon Home. [40:55] Epic Games Store will now let devs - including of blockchain game - earn $1M of IAP without fee.[45:25] This could be important for experienced mobile devs like Mythical and Limit Break.

Jon Jordan talks to Pixels CEO Luke Barwikowski about the game’s forthcoming adoption of the new Apptokens standard, which as well as seeing the launch of the spend/stake-only vPIXEL token, will also herald a new staking model, which will use the token to boost marketing for Pixels and its partner games.[4:42] Games like Axie and Pixels have been massive successes. We need to make them sustainable.[5:25] Some of the issues for web3 games are just gaming issues. Web2 games are not doing well.[7:50] DAUs is not the primary metric for Pixels. It's secondary compared to net revenue.[9:00] We thought we could convert DAUs into paying users. We can but the rate is very low.[11:45] In particularly, it's hard to convert paying users into net paying users.[13:53] We're doing a lot of work to figure out who are the right users to give incentives to.[18:20] The three elements that are required to make a great web3 game. [19:10] Explaining how ERC721C enforced NFT royalties aligns incentives for devs and NFT traders.[20:50] Apptokens (ERC20C) do something similar for fungible tokens. [21:38] A lot of the players we give PIXEL tokens to just sell them - this is misalignment.[21:50] Apptokens allows us to give more tokens to players who spend them in-game. [22:25] We're doing this with our new vPIXEL token, which can only be staked or spent, not sold. [23:48] We want to preference players who use the PIXEL tokens through its tokenomics.[27:36] This is going to be the industry-standard soon. [28:41] The new staking system embraces all the games published in the Pixels ecosystem.[28:50] This sees 28 million PIXEL distributed monthly via these games, giving rewards to stakers.[33:17] This won't be limited to Ronin games, although the staking contracts will be on Ronin.[34:47] How the core Pixels game will fit into this new multi-game PIXEL token ecosystem.[36:35] Pixels is launching a mobile-first Tamagotchi-style pet app in June/July.[38:27] Players who want to convert vPIXEL to PIXEL will pay a c.50% withdrawal fee.[40:47] It doesn't matter how web3 a game is. What matters is whether it works.[42:30] Pixels has given out over $100 million of rewards in terms of PIXEL tokens.

Jon Jordan and BlockchainGamer.biz editor Jenny Jordan talk through the week's news including:[0:25] Immutable and Ubisoft have announced Might & Magic Fates.[1:05] Ubisoft have been making blockchain games since 2017/18.[2:35] Might & Magic feels like a reasonable IP to experiment with a web3 TCG.[3:08] But do we need another TCG? Another web3 TCG?[5:40] Web3 will be optional for players and won't give gameplay advantages.[7:55] Ready Makers Inc's lawsuit against Ready Maker (Gibraltar) has been thrown out.[16:22] Did the lawsuit impact the price of the PLAY or would it have gone down that much anyway?[17:16] Pixels is the first game to announce it's using Apptokens.[18:10] Apptokens are an attempt to stop token holders immediately cashing out.[20:40] This means the new vPIXEL token can be given away without impacting the price of PIXEL.[22:08] More developers are talking about using Apptokens, including Sky Mavis.[25:20] Mythical Games' FIFA Rivals is going into pre release in some countries in May.[29:41] Jon's been enjoying The British Museum experience in The Sandbox.

Jon Jordan and BlockchainGamer.biz editor Jenny Jordan talk through the week's news including:[2:10] A year ago, Immutable launched The Main Quest. People have been collecting gems ever since.[3:45] However, it wasn't clear what the purpose or value of these gems was.[4:10] Main Quest has been renamed Perpetual Rewards. You can earn more gems by playing games. [5:05] Your wallet has to be verified by phone number and social login.[5:34] You buy one key per wallet for 500 gems that drops random rewards, mainly IMX tokens.[6:51] In the first week, I got an epic key, which dropped around $30 of IMX.[8:00] This week, the total prize pool was $230,000-worth of IMX. It drops to $90,000 next week.[9:08] The top wallet in week 1 won around $9,000 of IMX.[10:26] How effective will this system be in terms of engaging players in Immutable games?[11:49] It is part of a wider trend to target rewards to your most committed players c.f. Pixels.[13:16] Immortal Rising 2 has seen a 91% decline in DAUWs since its IMT token launch.[14:52] Treasure and Aavegotchi have both announced they are shutting down their L3s.[17:07] Companies launched L3s in 2024 because they could sell new tokens to investors.[17:50] But these chains cost money to operate and their games didn't have (m)any users.[19:35]Treasure said its chain cost $450,000 a year to operate.[23:48] An investor has tweeted Off The Grid has +200,000 MAUs and +$14M in annual runrate.[27:09] Jon is conflicted about Off The Grid; "I want it to work but there's a lack of transparency".[32:34] KGeN has announced it's setting up its MENA HQ in Bahrain.[36:20] Shrapnel announced more details of its Chinese expansion including a separate marketplace. [37:12] It has gained a rare license allowing Chinese players can spend fiat money to buy NFTs.[38:28] Chinese players will be playing in the same servers as all other players, however.

Jon Jordan talks to Ultra's new CEO Gus van Rijckevorsel about why the entrepreneur decided to invest in the company. He explains his ambition for Ultra, including competing with Steam and turning the platform into a unicorn that will shake up the entire games industry.[2:38] Gus van Rijckevorsel's previous career as a serial enterpreneur.[4:10] Why he created a French TV show to build his credibility.[9:02] Why Gus "fell in love" with Ultra and wanted to invest. [12:55] Previously Ultra had two co-CEOs, which wasn't the ideal structure for scaling. [16:24] Ultra's just raised $12 million in bridge finance with more funding due later in 2025.[19:29] Web2 gamers don't care about web3. They're here just to play games.[20:00] We are here to eat a chunk of Steam.[21:08] I am convinced we will make money by pleasing game developers.[22:20] We are the game distribution platform with the best technology.[23:55] Can any company compete with Steam when it's so dominant?[26:18] The three different types of gamer that Ultra will support - players, streamers and spectators.[28:52] What are the key things Ultra needs to do to drive its success in 2025?[31:35] We want people to open Ultra in the morning and have it open all day. It's the gaming OS.[32:58] Blockchain will completely change the next 50 years of the digital world. [34:50] We don't have the traffic yet, but one thing's for sure is that we will have the traffic. [35:12] As dollars are linked to the price of oil, so UOS needs to be linked to gaming.[38:15] Ultra needs to be all along the value chain. We need thousands of games on Ultra.[39:18] Ashes of Mankind is one of Ultra's exclusive titles. There will be more in future.[40:06] Call to action for the Ultra community - support us with constructive criticism.

Jon Jordan and BlockchainGamer.biz editor Jenny Jordan talk through the week's news including:[0:30] The Sandbox's Alpha 5 Season is now live with Jurassic World being the lead brand.[3:27] Ultra has raised $12 million, with more expected later in 2025.[3:57] Jon's been talking to the new CEO Gus van Rijckevorsel about his vision for the company. [7:05] How this funding will be used to generate momentum for the future funding.[9:38] Three tokens have launched this week. All of them are performing badly.[12:22] Immortal Rising 2's IMT token is down 74%. It ran a long airdrop campaign but lack utility.[13:09] At present, the only thing a token will do is drop in price, because of bad market sentiment. [14:15] Anyone who gets a free token, the only sensible thing is to sell it straight away.[15:17] GUN token was higher profile and more anticipated but is down 61%.[16:25] A controversy was GUN went live via Binance Launchpad so wasn't distributed to gamers.[18:30] RavenQuest's QUEST token also went live; down 25%.[19:35] How does this compared to February 2024 when the MAVIA token successfully went live?[24:52] 99.99% of blockchain games will fail because they can't get anyone to value their assets.[25:09] One strategy would be to only let people buy your game token from within the game.[25:44] Forgotten Runiverse will be adopting Pixels' PIXEL as its game token.[29:55] We need to educate gamers to spend tokens on in-game assets, not HODL them.[32:30] Jenny's Game of the Week is ONE Fight Arena.