Transitioning from Web2 to Web3 Gaming

According to DappRadar, despite the ongoing fallout from the FTX collapse, Web3 games are still driving the use of Dapps, accounting for nearly 50% of all blockchain activity, still proving the point that the games have traditionally been a weatherproof industry. In November alone, Web3 gaming activity was still generating over $320 million in revenue. The rising number of Unique Active Wallets (UAW) across the gaming sector also testify to the increasing popularity of Web3 games and Dapps.

Considering continual gains in the market and positive stats, it is no wonder that transitioning from Web2 to Web3 gaming drives interest. Not only among players but also major game publishers such as EA Sports and Ubisoft, as some of the key players in the Web2 industry are testing the Web3 gaming market.

The fact that some of the significant contributors to the Web2 gaming industry are exploring or joining this transient sector, still in its infancy, is a testimony to the potential of blockchain and blockchain-based game elements. But what exactly does the journey in transitioning from Web2 to Web3 bring to players, games, game devs, and studios?

Web3 Games for Players

The blockchain technology used for Web3 games shouldn’t be observed as a solution for problems in Web2 gaming but as a way to unlock potential and discover new opportunities.

Technology alone has never led revolutions, and building Web3 games is not some sort of a magic solution that automatically makes Web2 games better by simply adding blockchain-based elements and digital items such as NFTs. It’s a great medium and tool kit for the opportunity that allows players to monetize their time and attention through ownership and asset management while hopefully playing an engaging and fun game.

Players transitioning from Web2 to Web3 games don’t have to renounce the Web2 gaming sector to enjoy and support Web3 games, as the two are not opposites. In many ways, the effortless appeal to engage with new technologies without significantly changing habits is crucial to mass adoption.

What players are getting with Web3 games is:

• Direct ownership
• Benefits-led adoption
• Incentives
• Tradable yet functional in-game items
• Open Marketplace
• Security
• Potential of interoperability

Through Play-and-Earn (or Fun-to-Earn) models, Web3 games introduce increased financialization of underlying assets and often tokenomics with some additional native tokens. Many Web3 games don’t have native tokens but incentivize players for the time spent playing by rewarding them with tradable tokenized assets that pose as virtual possessions in inventory. Tokenized assets provide direct, immutable ownership over in-game items as players can keep or eventually trade and sell them.

Thanks to open marketplaces that are often a part of Web3 gaming solutions, players can freely trade their items and sell them in exchange for supported cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies. When it comes to owning in-game items in Web2 games, there are no official, open, and immutable marketplaces where players can sell their items for profit, which becomes a unique opportunity for Web3 players.

Moreover, blockchain technology offers increased security compared to playing games on centralized servers, posing another perk of Web3 gaming. The potential of interoperability may allow Web3 players to move their assets from one gaming ecosystem to another in the future, practicing their ownership of in-game items they earn, buy, and find in the game.

Web3 Games for Studios and Developers

With Web3 gaming comes a brand new business model that allows players to monetize gameplay and encourages them to buy in-game items. In traditional gaming, only between 5% and 20% of gaming communities purchase in-game items. With Web3 games, incentivization systems, and tokenomics, players are enticed to buy more in-game items since they become valuable assets that they can sell, trade, and use. Driving benefits for your customers and helping those players grow through your products is a solid strategy for attracting more users, which may lead to increased retention of players.

The transition from the Web2 to Web3 gaming model is perceived differently through the prism of game studios and developers compared to players. What game studios and devs get with this transition is:

• A more extensive and more diverse player base
• Democratization of fundraising
• Closer collaboration with players and guilds
• The social distribution of games
• Lower acquisition costs
• Open-game development
• Ready-made tools and services to launch their game on
• Cross-funding and support

Players in the Web3 sector often gather around guilds and communities and engage with other players to strategize, communicate ideas, and play together to increase profit, for instance, or to plan a win in PVP tournaments. These guilds can often become a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO), which enables closer collaboration between players, guilds, and developers. Developers can use this decentralized relationship to efficiently distribute their game through micro-influencers in the Web3 space and players themselves. This way, the social distribution of games lowers the costs of promotion and marketing efforts while bringing devs closer to their player base.

The player base in the Web3 sector is growing and diverse, with millions of players alone from the Asian subcontinent, where gamers are highly motivated by monetization. This level of collaboration and involvement with players allows devs to plan new updates and features with attention to what players need and appreciate, increasing the chances of profiting from the game development. At the same time, players benefit from gameplay and trading in-game items, so we have a win-win scenario.

Democratization of fundraising also becomes one of the standards in Web3 gaming as many dev teams can develop NFTs or tokens to sell and raise funds for developing new features for their game or creating an entirely new game.

Web3 Gaming with Vorto

Through tools and service infrastructure to the community, Vorto seeks to be an enabling bridge between game studios, devs, and players. Allowing game developers to focus on building fun and entertaining games that will translate into hours of engaging playtime is our primary focus as we are building the platform to facilitate transitional tools and technical support for game studios and devs.

Games should be fun and engaging — technology shouldn’t be a limiting factor.

Get in Touch with Vorto

We always love to hear from game studios, players, devs, and crypto fans alike, so follow us on Twitter and join our Telegram group for more discussions about everything Web3. You can find more about what Vorto can offer your game on our Medium page or reach out to our team at hello@vorto.gg