Video Games and Blockchain: New Experience for Players or More Profit for Developers?
Video Games and Blockchain: New Experience for Players or More Profit for Developers?ANALYSIS
Crypto-video games are finally here, except that they aren't. Over the past few months, a steadily increasing stream of computer games have appeared that have used cryptocurrencies in one way or another, yet despite their growing frequency only a small number of these have actually used the mechanics of Ethereum or Bitcoin to provide a decentralized gaming experience.
In fact, the majority of them could be passed off for traditional games without anyone batting an eyelid, since the use of cryptocurrencies or blockchain generally comes more as an addition to existing gameplay dynamics and genres than as a fundamental reworking of them. Blockchain Game, Alien Run, Miner Simulator, Itadaki Dungeon , and Spells Of Genesis are the five most popular crypto-related games available right now on the Google Play Store in terms of user ratings, yet all five would work perfectly well without any kind of blockchain or crypto element.
TOP 5 CRYPTO-RELATED GAMES ON THE GOOGLE PLAY STORE
Still, this continuity shows that such elements can be added seamlessly to video games without spoiling what made them fun in the first place, with (three-way) puzzle games, strategy games, 2D racers, 2D platformers, and trading games proving the most popular genres so far for accommodating some kind of crypto layer.
As this variety suggests, there are few limits or distinctions as to the kind of game that can be ‘put on the blockchain.’ However, the use of crypto in video games can currently be divided into three distinct categories: as a reward for play, as a gimmicky promotional tool, or as a genuine gameplay modifier. As the following overview of the burgeoning crypto-game industry will show, it may be some time before the third category becomes dominant…
A quick history lesson
Crypto-based games already have a modest history, even if they only became popular at the end of last year with CryptoKitties, the cat-breeding game that uses the Ethereum blockchain to trade and prove ownership of the titular crypto-cats. The first title that could legitimately be called a ‘crypto-game’ was Dragon’s Tale, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) that allowed players to stake actual Bitcoin on the outcome of a variety of minigames. Launched on July 12, 2013 as a beta but first conceived in 2010 by games developer Andrew Tepper, Dragon’s Tale is set in a open 3D world where players could hunt for eggs, tip cows, catch fish, and race monkeys, among other mini-games. It may not have used Bitcoin in any more imaginative way than as a virtual gambling chip, but it at least showed that the worlds of cryptocurrencies and video games could be mixed, and it continues to be played to this day.