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This article is educational material.
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Only 3% of players own an NFT, here’s why!
This is a guest post by G4AL:
Jason has been a gamer all his life. From Minecraft to now Elden Ring, he has done it all. An overpowered processor who runs his electricity bills down the river and walls full of Skyrim posters and merchandise, Jason is now 23 and he’s loved video games for what they are since he was 13. One of the main reasons he’s now always on his computer. He has discovered Axie Infinity, which allows him to profit from it too! Pretty awesome, right?
We all raised an eyebrow at that last sentence.
Without having to continue reading any further, we all know what the problem here is. There is a lot of capital going into the future of the so-called Web3 game. Just last year, Immutable also launched a $500 million venture fund for Web3 games, which shows us that millions of dollars are being spent behind it. But there’s just one big problem: GAMERS HATE IT. They’re just not interested.
A recent survey floating around the internet says that 89% of “normal” players are aware of cryptocurrency and bitcoin, and 51% are aware of NFTs – but most of them associate these terms with a lot of negative feelings. What is even less surprising is that of the total survey participants, approximately 12% have tried playing Web3 games. Tried, unfortunately that’s where it ended.
Why? Let’s take a closer look at it.
One of the main reasons why players turn away from Web3 games is the start-up costs, concerns about fraud and the lack of knowledge of how Web3 games can work. One of the most famous examples (yes, we don’t just love to criticize big name publishers) is Ubisoft. The multi-million dollar company and its attempt to amplify NFTs in a game failed miserably as it received massive backlash from players. Hours and hours of grinding for something that no one even cared about. But at least the game was good? One of the major problems in today’s Web3 game industry is the quality of the games which can be directly related to the dissatisfaction of the players. From Axie Infinity to even The Sandbox, it’s almost impossible to find the console-quality gaming experience that everyone is used to.
“The gaming industry we all love has seen wave 1 of Web3, a first jump at what Web3 gaming can be. Phase one was to raise awareness, but now it’s time to redefine business models that will help set industry standards in Web3 games – something to get closer to what we’re used to from console-quality games. Our roles, not only as G4AL or Elemental Raiders, but as Web3 pioneers is to continue to educate actors about the possibilities and potential the technology offers, something we can all innovate and experiment more with, says Adria Mir; a Web3 blockchain expert at G4AL, a tier 1 blockchain and game development studio.
Do NFTs have a chance in the near future?
The survey highlights a way out of the NFT and Web3 hatred, albeit a small one – for crypto and NFT to become part of the gaming industry, studios interested in taking risks on this new gaming paradigm as the first foray into it resulted in a high-profile failure?
There are several new Web3 game studios with profiles from established and proven Web2 backgrounds such as Manel Sort and his G4AL, trying to develop building blocks in their ambitious vision for a truly playable, fun and evolving Web3 game experience.
“We tested several performance marketing models and research during our time at Digital Chocolate, King Studios and Electronic Arts, trying to understand the consumer mentality of gamers. We have taken all this knowledge, information and learning and are trying to adapt to Web3, by to create games like Elemental Raiders that aim to focus on players’ needs instead of forcing them into the realm of play-to-earn,” says Manel Sort, CEO and co-founder of G4AL blockchain, game development studio and its upcoming play Elemental Raiders.
So the question is, will the Web3 game market adapt to the existing needs of players and make them better with solutions like NFTs with in-game tools, better experience and gameplay, or try to force a need to move players from Web2 to Web3? For now, the data from Coda Labs suggests it’s going to struggle to be anything but a niche segment of the gaming market.
