What are IGOs and the benefits for game studios

Players play games but funding promotes the game. After learning the game, how do I make it a buzz in the game Industry? How can I attract players that will enjoy the exciting game idea you’re building? This is the problem most game studios battle with. After learning about game development, funding the project remains a clog on your wheel.

However, blockchain came, and here come the possibilities of creating self-funded games that easily attract players. Now, you have a team, the concept, the budget, and all but finance remains a mystery. A thought came to you — what if the game could find itself without selling the intellectual property to moneymen or selling equity to investors?

If you are looking for developing an IGO to create your Game in Web3 Contact us.

Here is where IGOs (Initial game offerings) come in.

IGOs are a crowdfunding approach for video game studios — it lowers the barrier for retail investors to fund projects. Additionally, gamers can access in-game assets and tokens at a reduced price before they’re available to the public. Most IGOs are launched for GameFi (decentralized finance and play-to-earn games) projects. These GameFi projects make up the crypto gaming ecosystem and create a virtual environment where game enthusiasts can play and earn tokens after reaching a game’s milestones. The in-game tokens are cryptocurrencies with the game as the significant values tied to them. These tokens are tradable on centralized and decentralized markets.

On the other hand, DeFi is a crucial aspect of GameFi projects. DeFi features in gaming include toke swapping, staking, yield farming, and mining. When launching an Initial game offerings, a portion of the token is earmarked for DeFI purposes. Hence, blockchain games encompass games and decentralized finance — GameFi.

Initial game offerings — IGO

Like ICOs, IGOs redefine gaming as a process for game studios to get investors for game projects. This concept, together with blockchain properties, revolutionizes traditional gaming into cyberspace. Unlike the traditional games where you buy the games and pay to play, blockchain games, through in-game tokens, make studios develop incentive mechanisms that incentivize players to play and engage the game. These tokens are exchangeable for money — hence, play-to-earn. Now, with IGOs, you can develop a game or team with people with similar ideas and launch a game without looking at the expenses and cost — this is made possible by investors funding the projects for their benefits (IGO).

IGO is an approach to crowdfunding an early-stage game by game studios. Early investors receive rare in-game assets and tokens at a reduced cost before it is publicly available for sale. The major difference between ICOs is that IGOs are for the gaming industry while the latter is for other crypto projects. Now, if any game studio offers their projects through IGOs, the team can request funding from the audience — this model has increased the success rate of blockchain games.

Some blockchain games have received millions to billions of dollars through IGO, including CryptoBlades and Axie Infinity. IGOs also make it easy for developers to lower the entry barrier to the blockchain space, making blockchain more fun, competitive, and for everyone. IGOs make developers and studios team up for better ideas, improving gameplays with every iteration. All blockchain games received $4 billion in 2012, and in January 2022 alone was $1.1 billion.

The benefits of IGOs can be seen in the increasing number of players as Alien Worlds, Spinterland, and Axie Infinity dominate space. Although the purpose of IGOs is to fund games at the early stage, some IGOs are purpose-built for already existing games or under development.

The key benefit of IGOs to game studios is that they don’t have to look for venture capitalists or angel investors to pitch to. Instead, anyone with a few bucks can invest in a project and make the project successful. Another subtle benefit is that IGOs can serve as an acid test for any game. For example, IGOs can help studios determine if a game will get traction with players. Because if no investor buys their token or participate in the IGO, their game concept could be defective.

How does an IGO work?

As mentioned, IGOs are similar to ICOs, which are popular in 2016/2017; they are ways project owners raise capital for their projects. IGOs investors buy game assets and in-game benefits as the rewards for investing in the early-stage project. Moreover, the project’s token could be part of the benefits too. These in-game assets are NFTs that players need to enjoy the game, and the price would increase after IGOs.

What is an IGO launchpad?

An IGO launchpad is a web3 platform integrated with a Blockchain where early-stage web3 gaming projects are launched for investors to fund. Investors buy a native token of the launchpad, and the funds will be contributed to the chosen IGOs. Hence, Launchpad is a platform where investors meet game studios.

Investors can either stake their tokens or lock them in a pool to invest in a game project, depending on the Launchpad platform. On the other hand, investors receive in-game assets, or other NFTs needed to play the game. The investors can then use the assets to play the game or trade them on exchanges. The popular launchpads are

• GameFi
• Seedify Fund
• TrustPad
• BinanceNFT.

Criteria before selecting a Launchpad for your IGO

1. How often do they launch new projects — a Launchpad that will launch your project without delay is the ideal choice. However, a Launchpad with excessive projects could mean your project receives less attention
2. Requirements to get guaranteed allocation — it is necessary to know the cost to get your project launched. For instance, how many tokens should an investor buy before getting a guaranteed allocation in an IGO?
3. What is the pool weight of each tier — this is your percentage in an IGO, which depends on the number of investors in a pool. Additionally, you need to know the number of tokens allocated for sales in each tier — a bottom-tier investor may only be allowed to invest less than $50. In contrast, a top tier could invest above $ 5000.
4. Which blockchain network are you hosting your game on — the gas fees and other features make IGO launchers differ on the best platforms. For instance, Binance Smart Chain and Polygon have lower gas fees than Ethereum.

Things to keep in mind before launching an IGO

1. The Launchpad platform: the Launchpad platform plays a crucial role in the success of your project due to the reasons above. Apart from the listed points, analyze the success rate, the amount realized, and the time spent for each project to receive adequate funding.
2. Organize your team: your team could make or mar your project. A team of experienced individuals who have worked on similar projects could almost guarantee you instant success. Their track records and success rate will make them lovable by investors. Are you finding it difficult to get the right team together? Bitsapies alleviate your fears.
3. Community: A vibrant community backing your project could guarantee the success of your project. Create and nurture a community where like-minded people discuss your projects — A DAO could serve this purpose. Contrarily, a social media platform is enough as a community too.

IDO vs. IGO: What’s the difference?

It is confusing to distinguish Initial DEX offerings (IDOs) from IGOs because both can be used to fund blockchain-based game projects. However, the difference is in their scope. A project launched on a decentralized exchange (DEX) is classified as an IDO. However, the difference between IGO is that it serves blockchain games only.

IDO tokens are quickly listed on the DEX, where they were launched. An IDO project also secures immediate token liquidity but lacks a thorough review process — a significant setback. Other cons are that IDOs have more fraudulent activities and low-quality projects, unlike IGOs.

IGO Benefits for game studios

For game developers and studios, IGO provides the perfect opportunity to put your creativity into a game without looking at the cost. This is because IGOs fund most projects. However, beyond getting investors for your projects, here are the other opportunities for game studios.

• Retain your company’s equity: most publishers own a portion of your company when they invest in your project. However, this is not appealing to many investors, and IGO is the solution.
• Swift funding: Pitching investors, sending cold emails, and writing pitches on social media for investors to fund your project is time-consuming. IGOs provide the needed fun without wasting time or selling equity.
• Retain and control your game: most investors in traditional games could alter the game through suggestions that you may reluctantly accept. However, with IGOs, you have 100% control over your game and decide what best suit you.
• A foundation for future funding: with a successful launching of a game through IGO, the experience and reputation count for your following projects. Investors will be interested in funding projects from successful studios and launchers. Additionally, an IGO helps you build finance for other projects as it is easier to receive increased funds while building a project.
• Better game designs: when studios worry less about a project’s funding, all energy is directed toward building better game mechanics and strategies.

Conclusion

Initial game offerings give studios the time to create the best games, fund your projects, and help to publicize your projects. Are you thinking of how to launch your IGOs with the best team that has handled successful projects? Bitsapiens offers you consulting services for you to launch your IGO, and if you don’t have the technical resources, we have a web3 development Studio to create what you need.

Let’s build together!
we’re all gonna make it!

Contact us we are a development company that can do your Initial Game Offering and boost your game!

Originally published at https://bitsapiens.io on September 15, 2022.