How ‘Off the Grid’ Could Impact the Future of Blockchain Games

Avalanche-based battle royale shooter Off the grid It has experienced major success that we haven't seen from crypto games before. Third person shooter It quickly became the highest free-to-play title At last month's Epic Games Store, the Early Access release attracted more traditional gamers—some of whom may be more open to Web3 than before.

But what made the biggest startup crypto game a success, and how Grid of the Grid's unique approach will influence how future blockchain games try to reach players.

That most of the industry professionals Decrypt The success of Off the Grid speaks to the “first play” approach that some crypto developers have been praising for some time. That's when a title focuses on delivering quality gameplay above all else, rather than leading with crypto and NFT elements and expecting those features – and associated financing – to draw players in.

“It validates our ‘game first' approach,” said Hans Andersen, CBO and co-founder of Moonray Studios, creators of the Ethereum fighting platform game. MoonrayHe told him Decrypt. “To achieve broad adoption, you need to focus on the player and what brings value to them. The gaming experience needs to be at the center.”

Off-grid gaming was a primary focus during the Early Access launch. Tons of clips that go viral It features unique mechanics of the battle royale game compared to genre heavyweights like Fortnite, Apex Legends and Call of Duty: Warzone on social media.

In fact, it took some time for players to realize that it was a Web3 game. While some players resent the idea of ​​crypto being used in a video game, others — including a former pro counter strike Player MichaelShiro” Grzeszczyk – said they are coming around to the idea. NFT Item marketplace.

Robert Bowling, studio head of Midnight Society, the creator of the breakout shooter, said: “We appreciate that they're able to show you that you can deliver a solid game. deadHe told him Decrypt. We love to see them successfully attract the best players and champion a game-first mentality.

While that approach may seem obvious, the crypto game has historically gone against the grain. Film producer Marco Weber, who is co-founder of Sci-Fi IP. Space Nation-Includes Ethereum Game -Recently announced. Decrypt When he first got into the crypto gaming industry, he was shocked by how much it was.Garbage“There it was.

example – Pixelmon In the year It raised $70 million by selling NFTs by 2022, promising to deliver a Pokemon-style game in the classic Nintendo formula with the benefits of blockchain.

But when the NFT artwork was soon revealed to widespread backlash, the game's creator admitted that it was all “.Terrible mistake” and it was a blow to the industry. After that disappointing start, Pixelmon was bought by another company and completely redesigned to get a new foot forward and overcome the initial humiliation.

Up to this point, part of the crypto game mindset has been to “build in the open,” allowing the gaming community to provide insight and shape the game being developed.

While that matches the decentralized ethos of the crypto industry, it's not perfect for game development. This is partly to blame for some of the bad attention the industry has attracted as games raise millions of dollars to launch an incomplete product.

“Thousands of Web3 games have been released, and few teams can deliver properly,” said company vice president Nicholas Purd. UbisoftHead of Strategic Innovation Lab and Blockchain Initiative. Ubisoft, which is behind Assassin's Creed and other major gaming brands, is the biggest publisher playing in the crypto space.

Of course, incomplete and difficult startups are not unique to the crypto world. Cyberpunk 2077 is a prime example of a massive “AAA” game that starts out in a horror setting. Bad reviews And even pulling from some markets. It took years of additional development for developer CD Projekt Red for the game to live up to its promise.

Instead of starting construction too early, it worked in a closed testing phase under a strict NDA from Off the Grid until it was deemed ready for public testing. However, the launch version took criticism for poor optimization on PC and some less refined gameplay. But the “priority access” tag gives some distance to hard edges.

As one of the largest and most successful game publishers in the world, Purd knows all too well how difficult it can be to launch a game—let alone a good game.

“It's very, very hard, very hard work to build a game and finish it, polish it and deliver it to the players in the right way.” Ubisoft's Powrd said. Decrypt. “Web3 is adding more complexity, because it adds uncertainty. It adds to the polarized opinion around it.

This is probably why Gunzilla Games, the developer of Off the Grid, chose not to focus on crypto elements in the first version of the game.

While Gunzilla's Avalanche-based GUNZ network is running behind the scenes, future crypto tokens and NFT items are not at stake. Instead of being frustrated by the polarized nature of crypto gaming, players are focused on engaging gameplay.

“Game quality and core game cycles are very important and should drive every development decision,” said Rebecca Liao, CEO and co-founder of blockchain network Saga. “The web3 game industry has been fueled by several hype cycles by launching games that are token distribution schemes with thin gameplay veils.”

On the contrary, Telegram Tap to find Games are drawn Hundreds of millions of players This year. However, skeptics have criticized the genre's simplistic point-and-click gameplay, which dangles futuristic tokens. Air drop In front of the players. None of those games have been able to maintain a large audience after giving away tokens, because there isn't much to them.

Although it has its critics, this wave of Crypto games has undoubtedly brought a lot of viewers to the world of Web3 due to the limited access to mobile phones and Telegram apps.

Another potential way to attract such a large crowd is to get your title onto the major console systems as well as the largest PC gaming platform, Steam. Off the Grid is on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, but the crypto feature isn't baked in yet. And Steam has strict anti-crypto restrictions that developers sometimes have to compromise to get around.

“Most players are on platforms like PlayStation, Xbox, and more Steam” Moonray's Andersson added, “Whichever of these platforms crypto is included in will have a huge impact on how blockchain games can reach widespread adoption.

As mentioned, Off the Grid does not currently have crypto or NFT functionality, and its creators Moonray has recently been confirmed That the upcoming PlayStation 5 will not have the usual crypto feature at launch. This is a major hurdle for the industry that has yet to be addressed.

Significant challenges remain before crypto games reach the masses, but in its infancy, Off the Grid already feels like a game-changer for the industry. There's still a lot of work to be done, but the battle royale shooter's viral success and game-first approach could bode well for what's to come from the industry.

“Poor execution can and will damage confidence,” Liao told Decrypt, “but a thoughtful integration that improves player experience can bridge the gap between Web2 and Web3 games and expose some of the flawed blockchain game elements.”.”

Edited by Andrew Hayward.