Ubisoft, Immutable and CCP reveal the future of crypto games – Decrypt

Dapper Labs is just over two years ago CryptoKitties exploded on the scene, mired in the Ethereum network while showing the potential for blockchain-focused games. Since then, many video games and interactive experiences have integrated crypto and blockchain, with more on the horizon.

Still, it seems like a start for blockchain in games. While there are many opportunities on the horizon and many stakeholders are struggling to bring these visions to life, there are also challenges and obstacles that could slow or even stifle the pace of innovation. What will be the blockchain game that will break out in the mainstream … and will there even be one?

Decipher interviewed a trio of video game industry leaders to get their varied views on the sequel. We spoke with a developer vice president of Unleashed Gods, one of the biggest blockchain games to date, and the leader in blockchain initiatives at Ubisoft, one of the largest video game publishers on the planet. We also spoke to a gaming studio CEO who, while personally immersed in the crypto space, has yet to incorporate it into his flagship title, EVE online.

This is where they see blockchain games going in the future.

Non-fungible tokens and Internet of assets

Using non-fungible tokens (NFT), it is possible to create unique digital assets. This means that it is possible to create in-game items such as trading cards and digital skins with limited supply in the real world; technology underpinned the aforementioned CryptoKitties.

The ability to own these rare and rare digital assets has been one of the main selling points to date for blockchain games. This is likely to continue to be a short-term goal, but as this basic concept evolves and becomes attached to new types of games, we might see some really significant changes in interactive experiences.

“It’s hard to predict the evolution of the industry. Some of the most exciting opportunities will come from the blockchain bridge created between virtual and real world economies,” said Tyler Perkins, vice president of marketing at Immutable, game developer of Gods Unchained trading cards. “Digital goods have always been linked, and market economies around these goods have not been possible because centralized entities have always had the opportunity to intervene. As we begin to decentralize , many instruments, markets and tools that exist around physical products will materialize in the digital domain. ”

Ubisoft is the publisher of huge franchises for games like Assassin’s Creed and Just Dance, but even a company of this stature has been at the forefront of blockchain innovation in recent years. The Ubisoft Entrepreneurs Lab accelerator provides resources and a workspace for startups without taking a stake; this year he chose eight blockchain companies for the program. One of these startups, Planetarium, recently launched public alpha for its blockchain-powered RPG, Nine chronicles.

Ubisoft also prototyped a Minecraft-esque game called Hashcraft and helped found the Blockchain Game Alliance alongside the processor manufacturer AMD and the governance platform Blockchain Maker. For Ubisoft, the blockchain represents an opportunity to empower players more.

“In the long term, the free use of digital resources could create new forms of interaction between players, the community and game developers,” explains Nicolas Pouard, director of the Ubisoft Blockchain Initiative. “For us at Ubisoft, we see it as a way to allow players to become stakeholders in the games they love, at an unprecedented level.” It shows fantasy football game Sorare as an example of a successful blockchain game today – and it’s part of their Entrepreneurs Lab program. Activating cryptographic startups today helps prepare Ubisoft for the future, suggests Pouard.

“Blockchain is one of the technologies that bring new value propositions to users, in what we call the Internet of assets,” says Pouard. “Just as the web is the technology for Wikipedia, social media and electronic commerce, the blockchain is the piece of a much larger picture that is currently being built by a number of players and d ‘pioneer entrepreneurs,’ says Pouard.

“The mindsets, cultures and standards of this new paradigm are being invented now. Ubisoft has always had an open innovation mentality and a solid partnership approach and, as with any new technology, we believe that to make the most of it, it is a collective effort, ”he adds. “Empowering startups is the best way to support this effort, while keeping up the pace of innovation, in order to be ready when the time comes.”

User experience remains a barrier for players

When it comes to the challenges of widespread adoption of blockchain technology in games, we’ve heard a common answer: the difficulty of buying and interfacing with cryptography.

For seasoned Decipher readers, it may not seem difficult to set up a wallet and buy some Bitcoin, but for many people, crypto remains a big question mark. What is the value? What’s the point? Until there is a much broader understanding of what crypto is and how to manage and manipulate it, the potential audience for such games could be quite small.

“I think the big challenge is that the global addressable market for something that would be involved in interfacing with blockchain or cryptocurrency would be very small,” said Hilmar Veigar Pétursson, CEO of EVE online CCP Games developer. “There is such a complex barrier of interfacing with it, and there is such a barrier of understanding and trust in what is really going on that you ultimately end up with a niche niche.” You end up with the intersection of people interested in games and interested in blockchain, and it’s small. “

Veigar Pétursson is personally invested in crypto and has experimented with blockchain technology in the past. However, CCP Games has not yet incorporated blockchain or crypto in EVE Online, a particularly hardcore massively multiplayer online space simulation with a complex game economy. While he thinks the technology could potentially help CCP fulfill its mission of “making the virtual worlds more meaningful than real life,” he says they haven’t heard many complaints from gamers. EVE regarding having a centralized database and not actually owning the assets. . “I think it’s a bit too early, because most game players don’t really care about that,” he adds.

“There is still too much friction for new users in understanding blockchain technology and how to interact with it,” said Perkins of Immutable. “Acquiring cryptography is proving to be a complicated process for beginners, and it is often a barrier high enough for many to lose interest. We need to make the end-to-end process of interacting with digital resources so transparent that anyone can do it. “

Pouard says the need for transparent interactions with the blockchain and says the “regulatory framework should mature enough” in the meantime for these open asset economies to thrive. But in the short term, he says, it’s really about creating games that people want to play.

“The main short-term challenge is simply to create good games for players, not just speculators,” says Pouard. “It is important to find the right business model for a game, but it is not the business model that brings pleasure to the players. We believe that creating stable pieces will help a lot [leave] the speculation behind us and focus on the real benefits of the technology, for the players. “

The tipping point for blockchain games?

When will the blockchain game escape this so-called “niche of a niche” and become something with which a large number of players engage? Will there be a tipping point?

“It is important to remember that blockchain is still in its infancy, and it may take some time before the benefits of technology become tangible for our industry,” says Pouard. “However, games like Sorare, Gods Unchained, or The sandbox prove that it is possible to offer quite similar experiences, in terms of concepts, to what large gaming companies could do, which helps to develop a player base that benefits from blockchain functionality beyond the Niche Market.

Veigar Pétursson suggests that it could take another five to ten years before a real blockchain game takes place, and that it may not be a game that will be hugely successful when released – it could be a slow success that eventually caused a sensation. “I’m not necessarily sure it will be a tipping point,” he said. “But you could foresee a time when there is a killer app, where you really have to really get involved, that you need to understand something, and that attracts a wave of people and triggers a sort of avalanche.”

It points to the evolution of modern virtual reality, suggesting that rhythmic lightsaber Beat Saber is arguably the VR killer app. Beat Saber has grown steadily in visibility and popularity over the past two years, but it’s been eight years since the first Oculus Rift ushered in this era of VR technology. Could crypto games have a similar timeline before there is a really essential must-have game that appeals to a large segment of the gaming audience?

“Maybe if we start the clock at CryptoKitties – maybe 10 years after CryptoKitties, you can find something that is really a killer app for crypto,” says Veigar Pétursson.

In the end, as Ubisoft’s Pouard points out, blockchain and cryptography are tools that can generate attractive new experiences, but they are not the experience itself. It’s up to developers to create awesome games that use this technology to intensify and enhance this experience, rather than focusing on the technology first.

“It is difficult to predict a specific tipping point, I think things will evolve gradually,” he said. “We can assume that huge intellectual property using non-fungible tokens could potentially significantly increase adoption. Yet, in the end, blockchain is a technology that we, the creators of the world, use to deliver entertaining and memorable experiences to players, but what drives the industry is the success of incredible games. “