Blockchain DNA Interviews Ludos Protocol COO Tai Jin
This article is an interview conducted by Blockchain DNA and first published on the Chinese new website Jinse. Only statements made in the original article should be considered authoritative. Ludos thanks Blockchain DNA for allowing us to post a translated version of this interview to our blog.
Recently, COO of Ludos Tai Jin was a guest at Blockchain DNA, where he spoke about the current strengths and weaknesses of blockchain technology in the gaming industry. Then he shared details about the technology, ecology, and motivation behind starting Ludos Protocol. They also discussed the importance of community building and how to co-exist with traditional gaming giants in the future.
Tai Jin — Co-Founder
Bachelor’s in Science, Business Administration / Finance, Carnegie Mellon University; Investment Analyst and Senior Blockchain Investor.
Mr. Jin worked as a senior investment analyst at ZhenFund, where he committed to investment analysis in the field of internet and blockchain, and has gathered extensive investment experience and unique insights into blockchain, gaming, and AI. Mr. Jin is also well-versed in fund-raising, industrial research, investment strategy making, and blockchain project operation.
Traditional Gaming Industry
Blockchain DNA: Tai Jin, can you give us a brief introduction to the background of the current game industry. What are the weaknesses in the game industry now, and how does blockchain technology combine with these pain points?
Tai Jin: Currently, the traditional game industry is actually facing a lot of problems. From an ecological point of view, one of the biggest problems is the monopoly, which is very centralized. Publishers’ bargaining power in the ecosystem is very strong compared to CP, and operators are also very strong for gamers.
From the perspective of the general economy, we hope that blockchain will redefine relationships in game production. For example, how to distribute games through social media. On the other hand, the protection/ transaction/ autonomy of the player’s virtual assets and the transparency brought by the chain in the game’s logic give the possibility of exploring more game forms and proving economy.
Gaming has transitioned from paying for physical/download copies to the current Free-to-Play with micro-transactions model, and we think that blockchain will allow a new profitable gaming model.
The Anger of Vitalik Buterin
Blockchain DNA: In other words, the player has very little say in the current production relationship, Ludos Protocol wants the social economy to empower the gaming industry and hopes the blockchain technology will protect and distribute the game’s assets?
Tai Jin: Yes, it’s a big direction that we’re exploring and practicing. There is a famous example of Vitalik Buterin playing World of Warcraft, Blizzard changed his professional skills at will, which made him very angry. In future, using blockchain gaming, the players’ game assets will not just be a string of changeable data in the operator’s database, the player will also have full ownership of his assets, can trade, sell, loan and so on. Players will also have a higher degree of ownership and decision over the game through the blockchain. The whole ecology of the game is like trying to beat Taobao/JD.com’s centralized operating model by trying to challenge it with a decentralized approach, Blockchain will contribute a lot of new modes to the game industry, not only in game mode but also in distribution, dissemination, financing, and other aspects.
About SoftBank investment
Blockchain DNA: SoftBank’s collaboration with Ludos is of particular interest to us at present. A lot of partners have noted that Softbank has taken an interest in Ludos, and are interested to know the full extent of the relationship. How will Softbank inject capital into the project and what kind of strategic cooperation will there be with SoftBank in the later part of the year?
Tai Jin: Softbank invests in Ludos through the traditional equity model. Softbank Japan is not only our investor but also our close partner around the world. We have a joint venture in Japan with SoftBank and its company, and in fact, our Japanese team is working with SoftBank right now. On the other hand, in terms of business progress, we got the Japanese payment license (Lud Pay) with the help of Softbank Japan, which is similar to the Chinese WeChat payment license. Softbank has also helped us to connect with many game-related resources in Japan. We recently invested in and co-operated with a well-known IP company.
In addition, I will reveal information to Blockchain DNA. We and Softbank are searching for a way to stabilize the currency, and it will be an important part of the future Ludos ecology. Further information will be available when more details are finalized.
Token Lock-up
Blockchain DNA: We do not see any lock up information in Ludos Protocol’s White Paper, a reasonable lock-up mechanism is important for a start-up blockchain project. Could you please describe the lock-up conditions?
Tai Jin: The team, consultants, and partners tokens will start to unlock in a linear manner starting six months after the exchange, with a total freeze period of 42 months. Both cornerstones and private sales are gradually locked within nine months of going online, with early investors participating at lower valuations but longer in lockup.
Blockchain DNA: I see, Ludos is still friendly to private equity and cornerstone investors, but judging from the lock-up situation, the selling pressure on the market can be a bit large.
Tai Jin: We will be choosing the listing time carefully to avoid this issue.
Value of In-Game Assets & Their Relationship To Ludos
Blockchain DNA: What do you think about the impact of chaining on the properties of game assets? We don’t think it’s as optimistic as you might think. Is the value of the product more in line with the market’s supply and demand base? Relative to the asset chain, players may be more concerned with the life cycle of the game and the market demand and supply of props, thinking that will determine the value of their assets. This issue may affect the future health of the entire ecology of Ludos.
Tai Jin: Whether the game is successful or not depends on whether the game is fun or not. Blockchain, like the Internet 20 years ago, only provides the basis for realizing the next generation of games, but just because your game assets are in the chain, players in World of Warcraft will not give up World of Warcraft to play CryptoKitties. As an ecology, we will first provide the best chain-change tools and infrastructure for game developers. From tool to platform, platform to community. On the other hand, of course, we’ll be working closely with our best partners to figure out what the killer app game is going to look like. As a matter of fact, several games we have developed with our partners are already in the demo stage and I hope to share them with you soon.
Blockchain DNA: We are very excited about actual games in the Ludos ecosystem, indeed, playability is the most important part.
Tai Jin: The technology of game form and infrastructure is a process of mutual development. It is impossible to have a blockchain version of World of Warcraft the next day. We hope that many partners will join us in our ecology, but at the same time, we are also exploring ways for them to find their own path.
Ludos Protocol’s technical framework
Blockchain DNA: We believe that the entire game chain ecology may not work well on current infrastructure, imperfect infrastructure can easily lead to the loss of players. What specific technical support and ideas does Ludos have in building this infrastructure?
Tai Jin: Yes, at present, like Ethereum, there are still many problems including speed. The technology solutions we now offer include a sidechain system that allows most of the game’s transactions to run on the sidechain, but at the same time securely interact and settle with the main chain. In the developer’s section, we provide Baas and Caas to facilitate their rapid deployment and support the corresponding SDK and API to facilitate their integration in all major platforms.
Reject cooperation with unrealistic developers
Blockchain DNA: What is Ludos’s rationale for attracting quality developers in addition to the technical support and certification incentives for developer ecology?
Tai Jin: In addition to excellent infrastructure and co-operative CACs, the most important thing for an early developer is, of course, the importance of “ecology”, such as the number of social users, the connectivity of upstream and downstream chains, and so on. Also, we have a long way to be successful in the early projects and games industry, So, many of our partners are actually moved by the integrated dimension of our team ability, execution ability, and technology implementation on the premise of optimistic blockchain.
Blockchain DNA: Can you tell us what types of games are currently being developed?
Tai Jin: Our current cooperative development can be summarized into several categories from casual to heavily involved. 1. The traditional card game system and chain reform. 2. Casual chess and card 3. The deeper gamification application of Non-fungible tokens, such as working with IP to do card application, and even combining with real life. 4. Large-scale strategy development.
Blockchain DNA: Can you reveal what are the unique success backgrounds these game developers have? Or what was Ludos’s criteria for choosing the first game developers?
Tai Jin: We have set aside a healthy token ratio for ecology, foundations, and partners. At this stage, the main thing is to select some of the best studios and large game companies on a case-by-case basis. In the future, we will use the community to set up rules for creating digital assets (ie, developing games, making props), as well as specific developer and artist incentives, such as contributing additional incentives based on the size of asset transactions.
In the choice of developers, we will cooperate with well-known game companies, or team members with good working background or stable working experience for cooperation. We will reject cooperating with unrealistic partners
Successful gaming background’s survival route
Blockchain DNA: As you said, the current game industry giants such as NetEase and Tencent basically monopolize the entire industry market, is it possible for them to use the blockchain technology transformation of the game industry to complete the revolution directly? In addition, which of the game chains does Ludos think will be potential competitors in the future.
Tai Jin: This is a very good question and one that investors often ask. First of all, we don’t think that public game chains are a potential competitor. For us to build any ecology, the underlying technology is an important part, but not all. Public chain and technical solutions that can help us solve the challenges and benefit our ecology, we will cooperate and use with an open attitude. Of course, if there is no public chain in the future to meet the needs of the game industry, we will build it ourselves. But at present, it seems that from the final point of view, the world is likely to not need fifty or even a hundred more public chains.
Blockchain DNA: Mr. Tai Jin, how do you think the path of traditional game tycoons will evolve and change? What are the advantages of a pure blockchain based game?
Tai Jin: Large companies certainly look intimidating, but they also have a lot of their relative weaknesses in a new wave of technology. AT&T did not build the next Facebook. NetEase is also unlikely to build and distribute games on Tencent’s platform. We hope that the name of Ludos will be in the history of the next generation of games.
Blockchain DNA: According to the Blockchain DNA tracking of Netease and Tencent, they also attach great importance to the application of blockchain technology in the game industry, and have started making numerous attempts. Their blockchain technology may also have certain advantages, How do pure blockchain game projects compete with them?
Tai Jin: We are not a traditional game giant, so I can only say some of my own observations: At present, in general, everyone is generally conservative and wait-and-see, and some of the teams are doing some testing. Their investment in the blockchain field is very small compared with the traditional Internet. In fact, it’s a drop in the bucket. On the contrary, some of the once-great gaming companies that have not done so well recently (such as some who missed the mobile internet), will be more aggressive in their exploration and layout of the blockchain space.
Blockchain DNA: What were some of the gaming companies you looked at? Would they be competitors or partners of Ludos if they made some aggressive attempts? For Ludos, will the future be more inclined to side with the current giants or with the “old giants”?
Tai Jin: The industry and internal management of big gaming company are very complicated, including regulatory and other reasons, and their attempts in many places are limited. Aside from them, there are actually many SMEs that are very good in the industry (even the ones that are usually suppressed by them) are willing to come to our ecology. The rural siege of the city may be an inappropriate but relatively reasonable analogy. We can’t just go up and cooperate with Tencent and Blizzard.
These companies may not be announced for various reasons, such as a game company that once made their name as one of the top companies in the country, but has been going downhill since the first half of the year, trying to send out a game chain. Another example is South Korea, where a listed game company, also has as a ‘miss’, has recently incubated 10 blockchain projects and recently plans to link the hottest projects on a public chain.
Amid ICO chaos, let the game return to the original
Blockchain DNA: We have seen that many blockchain games are ICOs that are disguised in the shell of blockchain technology, or that early investors and project parties use players to cash in the secondary market. Will that happen to Ludos? How will Ludos be returning games to their true nature?
Tai Jin: I think the main purpose of ecology is to be open. We don’t go out of our way to go against anyone. The core thinking is still good for our ecology, and if other components of our ecology have bad influences, they are certainly not welcome.
When it comes to ICO, it’s not just games. In the past year and a half, all industries have set up ICOs to swindle money. First of all, we are doing ecology rather than a single game. Our pass is not just a crowdfunding role. Secondly, our team consists of very talented people from all walks of life, who are well known and optimistic about the blockchain game ecology.
After all, is it a scam, or is it what the team is doing? Every day, we ran out PR financing, or we were working on developing products and cooperating with big companies.
Blockchain DNA: I have seen some games in the public chain. If you want to play, you need to recharge ETH tokens to exchange some data of similar calculations in the game, and then produce the token of the public chain. To a certain extent, it is a disguised ICO, which makes the game’s playability extremely low. Will Ludos consider such game logic in the future?
Tai Jin: No, we will definitely not do it in some of the early stages we are doing. Some of the evidence-based incentives will only help us in the games, and certainly will not be the core.
Blockchain DNA: Tai Jin, as a future blockchain game leader, how do you view the disguised ICO chaos in the current blockchain game project?
Tai Jin: Jin Tai: Actually, we are also very helpless. With more excellent projects to educate the market and more products, I believe that investors will have better resolution in the future. In fact, it is not just the circle of “blockchain games”. The entire blockchain circle is actually affected by many pests, but it hurts too many people who want to do things well.
Expand number of gamers in a harmonious community culture
Blockchain DNA: We believe that the current so-called quality of the crypto users is mixed, and the contribution to the blockchain game ecology might be limited. The benign development of Ludos needs to introduce more external quality players. Does Ludos have a long-term plan for the construction of a community culture?
Tai Jin: Understandable. This is also the issue that we are considering. First of all, our community is not only in China but also the countries that have mature game markets such as Korea and Japan. In fact, our telegram overseas group already has 100,000 people. It has attracted fans from North America, Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia, Russia, and some African regions. On the other hand, we are in contact with the best quality community, media, and other traffic channels, and strive to get the best users. To achieve a really good job in the game ecology, the traditional blockchain community is a very crucial step, but it is only the first step.
Attracting users outside the cryptosphere is also being discussed with our existing partners. However, in addition to various novel means of communication, in the final analysis, it is necessary to produce good products in the ecology. And a good product can only be achieved by setting the foundation of the ecology. This requires taking things step by step and working with our partners and practitioners in this industry.
Blockchain DNA: What is the current state of development in the domestic community?
Tai Jin: There are more than 30 WeChat groups with 500-person scale in Ludos official group.
Blockchain DNA: Community building needs to continue to work. Some of the projects I know have done well at the beginning, but there have been problems in the connection of products, resulting in the accumulation of preliminary work not being well received. To maintain long-term vigor, the community needs to interact with the product and also needs a good community culture as a support.
Tai Jin: Yes, a good PR can attract fans in a short period of time, but it is still a good product that will keep users for a long development. There are many examples in the traditional venture capital circle where the project has died because of the pure PR financing.
Blockchain DNA: The quality and past experience of the team determines whether the future project is sustainable. Finally, please tell us about the Ludos team.
Tai Jin: We have an objective description of the members of the team in our white paper. The management is scattered and distributed in Beijing, Tokyo and the United States, so we often fly around. The technical team is deeply rooted in Silicon Valley, USA, and the operation line is mainly in Beijing. The team in Tokyo is also working with Softbank Japan, which is responsible for the expansion of the Japanese market. Recently, it has reached an agreement with LUD Pay and Lotte Group for the future of online payment cooperation.
In addition, our entire operation team and newly recruited small partners are almost 90 people all up, energetic, and the working atmosphere is very harmonious. If anyone wants, domestic friends can come to our office at any time to visit and say hi!
About Ludos Protocol
Ludos Protocol is a purpose-built blockchain infrastructure project for the gaming community. As only the third blockchain project to be backed by Japanese investment giant Softbank, Ludos addresses numerous shortcomings in the existing gaming landscape. Its main chain + multi-sidechain architecture allows games to run entirely on their own blockchain, preventing scalability issues that have plagued previous blockchain-based games. Additionally, the Protocol seeks to create a gamer-friendly ecosystem whereby game developers and gamers can come together to easily crowdfund and build on the platform. The use of non-fungible tokens (NFT’s) within the ecosystem will allow gamers to swap assets in one game for assets in another. Finally, through their partnership with FullPay Japan, Ludos will give gamers the chance to use LUD tokens that are earned in-game to shop and buy at a range of retail stores in Japan and later the world.
Ludos Protocol Links
Telegram Channel: https://t.me/LudosProtocol
Website: https://www.ludos.one/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LudosProtocolOfficial/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LudosProtocol
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/LudosProtocol/
BitcoinTalk thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5064140.new#new
