- “There’s a clear fault line running between the mobile games industry and its younger sibling, web3 gaming”
- “It’s my view that there are a few things mobile game developers can take from how web3 games studios approach things”
This article was written by Stardust head of business development, Andy Adams.
The games industry is divided. It always has been: from the console wars to Epic vs Apple, gaming is a sector that feeds on competition, even downright animosity. This isn’t always a negative thing – it’s great to see rivals push each other to be the best they can be – but it’s equally important that aspects of the industry learn from each other, allowing us all to grow and improve.
There’s a clear fault line running between the mobile games industry and its younger sibling, web3 gaming. At industry events for example, we’ll often see all manner of developers under one roof, but discussion of blockchain technology is usually limited to a single speaker track or session. This causes a literal audience split, driving home this divide for all to see. Though it’s perhaps understandable to confine what is still a niche part of the industry to specific sessions, some events and media outlets even ban or refuse to talk about web3 altogether.
It’s time that we work to change this and come together. A rising tide lifts all boats, after all. Web3 is a fascinating and constantly-evolving area of technology and its use cases go well beyond the ponzinomics we saw in early web3 gaming. In fact, it’s my view that there are a few things mobile game developers can take from how web3 games studios approach things.
Building community
The most successful games have passionate communities. Without a consistent and ongoing community of passionate players, your game won’t stand the test of time.
In the web3 world, these communities are easy to spot. With unique language – “gm” means “good morning”, “WAGMI” translates to “We’re all gonna make it”, and fire and rocket emojis are the ultimate signal of hype.
And web3 gamers aren’t afraid to self-identify to other community members through this unique lexicon. In fact, they’re proud of it. Web3 gamers are incredibly dedicated to projects they support, and become those games’ biggest cheerleaders.
This tribalism stems from feeling like they’re part of something bigger; a community of like-minded people who want to see both their favorite games grow, but also the success of web3 gaming as a whole. Web3 games are very good at channeling the energies of their passionate communities to their benefit, and in turn making sure that their communities feel that they truly have a stake in the success of the game.
Maybe in-game rewards could be given to players once a certain number of bugs are reported, or when social posts reach high levels of engagement?
Maybe in-game rewards could be given to players once a certain number of bugs are reported, or when social posts reach high levels of engagement? Maybe new game modes or maps are released once player numbers reach a certain level? This is all possible with existing tech, but it’s made much easier to administer with blockchain.
Word of mouth is the most powerful form of marketing, and if more people want to shout about your work, that’s more words coming from more mouths. Web3 has this down.
Rewards bring retention
Web3 gamers love to be rewarded. Airdrops are synonymous with web3 gaming – large-scale community events in which token rewards are given to many users at once. This creates liquidity in a game economy, a bit like a country’s central bank printing money but giving it directly to ordinary people instead of financial institutions.
Returning to the community-building point for a second, some web3 games even allocate airdrops on an engagement basis, giving the most active users the best rewards with approaches such as ‘play-to-airdrop’ and ‘social farming’. This combines the two sides, giving users an incentive to report bugs and issues in early access and more of a reason to keep playing, or even return to the game if they previously fell off.
When players have built a collection that they are proud of, the more likely to stick around they are.
Another area in which web3 succeeds in user retention is in the use of unique digital items – NFTs. These items are verifiably unique thanks to their storage on the blockchain, so cannot be copied or duplicated. For example, The Sandbox hosts regular community events with recognizable partners, offering custom and collaborative NFT prizes to keep players coming back for more. When players have built a collection of in-game items that they are proud of, the more likely to stick around in order to showcase their goodies with other players they are.
Mobile devs don’t need to give out NFTs, of course. What the blockchain does is show players that their items are verifiably unique and also able to be sold or traded – which would break the terms of service of many incumbent hit games like Fortnite, for example. But ‘ordinary’ digital cosmetics or items are great too. Exclusive items, whether they be time or unit-limited, can be used by mobile developers to ensure that players keep returning.
These could be a special skin for those who log in on a certain holiday, or a collaboration with a creator to engage fans of both the game and the personality. There are so many ways to reward players, and when you reward players, they stick around.
Raising capital
Though capital is scarcer than a few years ago, mobile developers still have quite a few routes they can go down to raise funds. From publishers to angel investors, VCs to crowdfunding, there are plenty of ways to fund the creation or growth of your game.
While web3 gaming has attracted VC funding at various points, the sector doesn’t have such an array of established sources of capital. Luckily, it has always been good at raising money closer to home.
The hype of ICOs (initial coin offerings) in the early days of web3 gaming faded fast, but many serious web3 game developers continue to use them in some form to secure capital. This is similar to the crowdfunding model in that it asks the web3 gaming community to invest in the title at an early stage in return for present and future rewards. Often these tokens take the form of in-game items which allow access to alpha and beta tests or future content – a little like Tarkov’s Edge of Darkness edition in the middle of 2016 but ideally without the u-turn…
Kickstarter projects often use this approach, with rewards such as inclusion in credits, early access, extra content, or even appearances in the game itself encouraging potential players to give. These are visible in the wider games industry, such as with indie PC titles.
Getting players involved and buying in early is an area web3 is excellent at. Are many of these players interested in an eventual financial return? Yes, but then again aren’t VCs and publishers? And, like many of those who back indie or AA titles, lots of web3 gamers just want to support talented teams. Mobile developers could potentially benefit significantly from focusing more on grassroots fundraising.
UA products can give clear visibility and improve mediation to potentially ease the chokehold big adtech has on mobile developers.
Learning from the blockchain
It’s no secret that mobile marketing has become increasingly difficult. With the likes of ATT and privacy sandbox, we are in an age of anonymization.
Contrary to this, the blockchain is inherently transparent. All actions and transactions are recorded on an immutable ledger, allowing developers to better understand their user base and player behavior. This also supports user acquisition – UA products that can ingest and organize vast amounts of blockchain data can give clear visibility and improve mediation to potentially ease the chokehold big adtech has on mobile developers.
In the long run, this offers any mobile developer the chance to improve their game and better tailor an experience to its correct audience. How? I can only speak to what I know, which is Stardust. In our case, our blockchain wallets are effectively the same as any player account in any mobile game, but if players choose to connect them to their social accounts and other wallets, they start to generate incredibly granular insights while remaining compliant with the relevant data privacy regulations.
If mobile developers are able to leverage the blockchain to optimize market data, it could be a huge improvement to the UA problem as a whole.
If mobile developers are able to leverage the blockchain to optimize their understanding of market data, it could be a huge improvement to the UA problem as a whole.
Ending divisions
Healthy competition is good but, if they’re not addressed, the divisions we currently see in the games industry could fester and start to hurt us all. Mobile game developers have created an incredible ecosystem over the past 15 years which, if we work together and learn from each other, could be a springboard for a new phase of growth in which I believe web3 can play its part.
