Gaming Never Sleeps
Technology always moves at an unforgiving pace – but nowhere is this more prevalent and perceptible than in gaming. We’ve all been struck by a wave of sudden nostalgia, and decided to fire up an old classic from 10 years ago – you know, that title that was so engaging and immersive back when you were 14? So you load it up and… wow, was it always that angular and pixelated? Man those animations suck now… I just can’t get into it now. Yep, us gamers are a fickle bunch. Every time there’s a big push forward in the industry – better graphics, bigger open worlds – it raises the bar of our expectations. Sure the indie market has seen a massive resurgence over the last decade, and there’s still appreciation for retro gaming, but in terms of net worth and global trends across the whole industry, these areas are comparatively niche.
It’s the same thing with distribution. Cast your mind back, if you can, to the days when PC gamers had to painstakingly load 10 floppy disks – or even 4 CDs – to install a single game. Who the hell can you imagine would put up with that now? I can barely remember how I used to function in the days before digital distribution – how I used to cope before Spotify, Steam, Origin etc. Digital distribution was so many orders of magnitude more convenient more convenient than what came before, and it basically made indie gaming possible – cutting out whole raft of hefty distributing and packaging costs. However, history shows us that technology never stands still. So what’s the next step in the evolution of digital gaming distribution?
Could it be… the blockchain?
Crypto and Gaming
I’ve been investing in gaming ICO’s since 2017, as it’s one of the key areas where I think blockchain technology is going to really assert itself. I mean, it’s a match made in heaven isn’t it – crypto and gaming: both worlds are anti-establishment, highly technical, unashamedly nerdy. Gamers are also big technophiles and a key demographic when it comes to early adoption. What is more gaming is a huge market that reached $100 billion revenue in 2017 – and Newzoo predicts it will be worth $128.5 billion globally by 2020. That means plenty of room to grow for the new disruptors.
However, although it’s obvious that crypto and gaming are definitely going places together, the question remains – which projects are going to rise to the top? The marketplace is already fairly crowded with young-blood blockchain projects aiming at capitalising on this promising market in a variety of different ways – Crycash, Gameflip, FirstBlood, NagaToken… the list goes on. The good news, I think, is that – as I already said - gaming as an industry that hosts an eclectic mix of different niches and subcultures, and, as such, it has never been possible for a single company or brand to grab the whole market share. The pie is big enough for Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft… for distribution platforms like Steam, Origin and GoG – gamers are a varied bunch, with very different attitudes and needs.
However, as I said – distribution is the backbone of the industry. If a crypto project could disrupt distribution, “to the moon” would be putting it mildly…
The Abyss
Enter, The Abyss – brainchild of the preeminent Russia-based games developer and publisher, Destiny Games - a next generation digital distribution platform that will leverage the transparency and decentralised power of the blockchain. And, potentially, digital distribution’s next evolutionary step.
Unlike the current market leaders (Steam, Origin, GOG, etc.), The Abyss introduces a unique crypto token that opens the door to potentially ground-breaking motivational and multilevel referral system mechanics, allowing gamers to earn from in-game and social activities. Their ERC-20 token called ABYSS will be the primary unit of exchange on the platform (although fiat [dollars, pounds, euros etc) will also be accepted for game purchases to help speed adoption).The knock-on effect of that will be that developers who opt-in to The Abyss will reduce their marketing expenses and receive an extra income from referral payments made in other games on the platform. It’s win-win for players AND developers in other words.
Here are some key features:
Multilevel referral:
As mentioned earlier, The Abyss supports individual referral programmes to players and pays for every friend lured onto the platform! Not a tough call considering that many friends tend to game together, and often follow each other when it comes to embracing new consoles or platforms. Communities tend to stay together… so if some decide to try out The Abyss, others will follow. The pyramid structure will also mean that early adopters are rewarded the highest – as they will earn the maximum income from their friends, and THEIR referrals in turn. You might look at this is a fairly aggressive marketing strategy, but there’s no denying that it is likely to be a highly successful one.
Rewarding gamers:
Fear not, introverts! It’s not only the gamers with big social networks that could stand to benefit from The Abyss. In addition to the generous referrals system, gamers will also have the ability to earn from different activities on the platform, such as achievements, content generation (reviews, streams, guides, commentary, fan art – stuff that a lot of people post to Steam for zero reward!) and even exclusive research tasks for developers.
Ease of Use:
Unlike many crypto projects, The Abyss has made a priority of offering a high-quality customer support service, an intuitive and simple UI along with the ability to launch the alpha or beta versions for collecting gamers’ feedback
Internal CPA (Cost Per Action) Network Aimed at Developers:
Games markets will be afforded access to a powerful internal system of advertising offers for engaging targeted traffic. This is an extra incentive for the best games producers to embrace the platform, through the added value they will receive in terms of promotional features. I.e. the ability to offer traffic to other games for tokens, getting external traffic, viewing traffic statistics, link referral etc.
Practicalities
Currently, the release of the first version of the platform is pegged for Q4 2018, and the development will continue through to 2020.
Obviously, they have a lot of attractive features on their side, a rocket-boosted marketing strategy and a lot of (justified, I think) hype on their side. They are also getting a lot of internet acclaim for their unprecedented decision to pilot Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin’s vision of a DAICO (that is, an ICO that blends with some of the benefits of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations). However, as with any highly ambitious project - some real challenges exist. Not least the current strength of their major competitors, notably Steam.
All things told, crypto is about disruption and causing paradigm shifts, not playing it safe - I believe that they have a strong, experienced team behind them and some meaningful innovations to drive their growth.
This isn’t investment advice, of course, but I would urge you to check these guys out and do your own research. Speaking for myself though – the gamer in me is very excited, and THAT makes the investor in me very excited too!
