Web3 Game Won’t Exist In 5 Years, $656k For Best Crypto Game Pitch: Web3 Gamer

Web3 games are dead, long live games: SKALE CEO

Jack O'Holleran, CEO of Ethereum scaling network Skale, is confident that in the next five years, you will never hear about Web3 gaming.

“I feel very strongly that the term web3 gaming no longer exists,” he tells Web3 Gamer (hence the column to be renamed in 2029).

He doesn't expect it to fail because of a technological glitch. Instead, he thinks that he will be a victim of his own success.

“That means we'll all be very successful in integrating the value of blockchain into games, and every game in the world will start making better use of it,” he explained.

O'Holleran likens the term “Web3 game” to the early days of the Internet, when people awkwardly said things like “Internet company.”

“No one talks anymore because technology is part of the decline,” he laughs.

So if every major gaming company is using Web3 technology in their games, the term starts to lose its meaning.

“What is a Web3 game and why doesn't every game have some blockchain elements in it?”

But now the word is still relevant.

SKALE Network's Layer-2 Ethereum matching solution claims to provide users with a seamless and lag-free gaming experience and can support up to 700 transactions per second.

It hosts popular Web3 titles such as the multi-level motorcycle racing game MotoDex, the sports Metaverse Gameplay and the side-scrolling blockchain platformer Untitled Platformer, all of which have garnered millions of downloads in the past year.

O'Holleran believes that the focus on developing web3 game communities is misplaced, and that projects should focus on a wider audience.

He thinks a major obstacle for traditional game companies to adopt Web3 technology is that they want to keep users in their walled garden by not offering proprietary benefits.

“Now, if you have a game, you have to work hard to maintain the market place in your garden, or you lose so much money. “You don't want people going on social media and trading their gaming profiles or selling their profiles on Craigslist,” he explains.

Building a web3 game? A$1M up for grabs at Australian Crypto Convention

This November, venture capitalists will come together at the Australian Crypto Convention to choose one Web3 company for a million US dollars – about $656,000 – during the “Pitch Fest” competition, which is a lot like Shark Tank.

Convention director David Haslop advises Davis to ensure high-quality images are available to improve appeal.

“You really need crisp graphics. I think you'll have a lot less fun if you go into Roblox-style graphics or pixelated graphics,” Haslop told Web3Gamer.

Luke Lombe, founding partner of Faculty Group, is fronting most of the money. After years of subpar releases, he told us he's confident “GameFi will have a big time this year.”

“Most of the issues with the game are because most of the games that have been released in the last couple of years are simply of poor quality,” Lombe explained.

Michael Prendiville, founder of venture capital firm JC, agrees, and that's why so many ill-conceived projects were funded during the last cycle of Web3 game hype.

“In 2021, there's no doubt that Web3 gaming is ahead of itself. Investors were throwing money at projects that were nothing more than concepts,” Prindiville explained.

In the year Prindiville is not putting more money into the Web3 play, as many of the projects it invested in in 2021 are now “in fruition.” One of them is the Dark Times game which is set to launch in Q3 2024.

But he said if it were him, his focus would be on the team, the fans, the community and the game.

Lombe believes that “the level of projects is now higher, realizing that the experience should be indistinguishable from the top AAA games in the traditional gaming market.” Another point is that not every game needs to use blockchain.

“Production and Utility First. Make sure you want Web3 correctly before logging in. A lot of projects that build in Web3 don't need to be built in Web3,” says Lombe.

“Many traditional gamers don't like Web3 and feel it's funny or detracts from gameplay.”

For the uninitiated, cricket is an English game played in many Commonwealth countries such as Australia and India. Think of a baseball bat and ball setup, but played slower and the game lasts six hours… every day… for five days.

It can be very boring.

But I decided to give Meta Cricket League a try for income play blockchain game even though I miss cricket a lot.

By playing the game, you earn JT Points, which you can use to level up and buy NFTs on the Jump Marketplace. NFTs include famous cricketers and signed batsmen. Some trading cards are listed for as much as $99 million — but you can buy others for just a dollar or two.

The game held my attention more than a test match, although there were some annoying flaws in the game.

Developed by Jump.trade, the controls are hard to get used to. I tried to hit the first 20 minutes but I missed every ball. I'm not that terrible at playing games…

The first tutorial was so vague that I was forced to wing it.

The screen kept popping up with embarrassing alerts like “too late” or “missed ball” and while that made me stick around and try to line it up, the controls were the real problem.

I thought you had to wave your finger across the screen to hit the ball, but it turns out I was way off.

After playing for about 20 minutes I finally got it. The trick is to hold the left controller to aim while pressing the middle button on the right.

I scored the first six! That's where he hits the ball that flies all the way to the boundary.

But the game is a little off. In most tennis and bowling games you swipe your finger to play, but this one feels like a cricket version of pinball with all the buttons.

On the bright side, the game does a great job with quick matches. You get into a game quickly, and even when people quit on me (probably because I was playing poorly), I always got into another game.

If you are already into cricket, you might have a different experience. I'm more of a soccer fan, so even a mediocre soccer game would still be more fun for me.

Other news

– The Web3 gaming platform has launched an unchanging “Core Mission” that it says is “the biggest Web3 rewards program ever.”

— Studio369, the game company behind Metal Core, expects to gain 1 million new players through its new partnership with Pixelmon and Mon Protocol.

— Infinigods, the game company behind Kings of Destiny, has raised $8 million in funding to fund its projects through the rest of 2024.

– Magic Eden released the long awaited runes platform to coincide with last week's big Bitcoin halving event.

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Ciaran Lyon

Ciaran Lyons is an Australian crypto journalist. He is also a freelance comedian and has been a radio and TV presenter on Triple J, SBS and The Project.