Star Atlas: Solana Blockchain x Metaverse
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Crypto in Games Market Context
Recently, we are increasingly seeing crypto and blockchain technology integrated into games to tremendous market success:
- February 2021: Axie Infinity reported the largest NFT sale ever in February, selling 9 plots of land in the game for 888.25 ETH ($1.9M at today’s price)
- March 2021: Dapper Labs’ NBA Top Shot reported generating nearly $500M in sales and subsequently raised $305M at a $2.6B valuation
- May 2021: Bright Star Studio’s MMO Game Ember Sword sold out its first (with more to come) virtual land sale in 7 hours for $1.5M. The game is still in development.
Michael Wagner CEO of Star Atlas
To learn more about this trend of crypto in gaming, I spoke with Michael Wagner the CEO of Star Atlas about the integration of crypto and blockchain in gaming. And even further how he plans on integrating concepts of the Metaverse into Star Atlas.
A key takeaway from our conversation and something many game industry people still don’t seem to understand:
- Crypto in gaming is not just NFTs!
Here’s an overview of the topics we covered:
- The use of 3rd Generation Blockchains like Solana in Games
- Overview of the Star Atlas Game: Eve Online x Crypto x Metaverse
- Use of NFTs
- DAO Tokens for Game Governance
- The Impact of CryptoCurrency to Game Economy
- What Does The Metaverse in Star Atlas Mean?
- Crypto Advice to Other Devs
- What’s Next Up for Star Atlas?
How to Integrate Crypto + Blockchain in Gaming
Star Atlas is a great prototypical example of how to integrate crypto and blockchain into games. While it’s still the Wild West in terms of innovation and what models ultimately prevail, it’s important to understand the various ways in which this can be accomplished.
Here’s a high-level summary based on my conversation with Michael:
The Metaverse in Star Atlas
Michael sees the Solana blockchain as critical to enabling the Metaverse in Star Atlas. He believes:
It becomes the underlying layer, it is the database, it is where we intend to run all of the on chain programs — your the smart contracts — that determines game mechanics.
The Star Atlas vision of the Metaverse for them functionally means:
- A capability of bringing external content, UGC, experiences, and even businesses within the Star Atlas game. Here, concerts or art exhibitions can take place within the Star Atlas game universe.
- Even further, Michael suggests the Metaverse can also be thought of as a graphical interface to the real world. Therefore, where and how you transact for real or virtual can happen anywhere virtually. A real-world Louis Vuitton bag can be purchased on a website, or in a virtual 3D game world, or anywhere the player is visiting.
Finally, Michael warns that a true Metaverse needs an economy that is circular and supportive. Meaning care must be taken that people can’t just be taking value out of the game. You need people to bring value back into the game.
Conclusion
Make sure to check out the really great interview with Michael and here are some additional related links if you’re interested in learning more below:
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