Project Management for Game Dev: The Web2 vs Web3 Experience

Photo by Arthur Mazi via Unsplash

Developing games in the digital realm has undergone a transformative journey from the era of Web2 to the emergence of Web3. In the last 1–2 years, I’ve had the privilege of working in Mighty Bear Games — a game development studio where we made the choice to pivot towards the fast-paced and unpredictable world of Web3.

In this short article, I recount some lessons I’ve learned as I journeyed with Mighty Bear Games to explore the intricacies of the Web3 space. Let’s delve into three lessons I learned about project management while crafting games in both realms.

Lesson 1: The pace of game development has to match the accepted pace of the intended realm, be it Web2 or Web3.

This was the top and most crucial lesson for me. It’s absolutely necessary to synchronize the pace of production with the accepted rhythm of the intended realm, be it Web2 or Web3. Understanding the pacing of the realm you’re developing for is the be-all and end-all.

The pacing is heavily influenced by the audience that you’re building for.

In the realm of Web2, it’s widely accepted in the industry that a game can take time to develop.

• A mobile game can take six months to a couple of years to move from conceptualization to post-launch content while certain AAA titles can even take YEARS to develop. This even allows Web2 projects to develop post-launch content before the launch date and it’s also accepted that a patch or update to a title can drop once every 1–3 months.
• This allows for traditional marketing strategies where the product can be built first and the marketing strategies can be worked on closer to launch (after the product has been fleshed out).

In the realm of Web3, most projects frequently leverage hype and capitalize on the creation of Fear of Missing Out (FOMO).

• Unlike traditional models where projects may rely on conventional marketing strategies, Web3 projects often harness the power of community engagement, social media, and decentralized networks to generate buzz and excitement. The Web3 audience expects patches and updates to be pushed out more frequently which mandates a rapid pace of game development.
• Due to this, players often expect regular updates, ranging from weekly, bi-weekly, or at max — a monthly update. This frequency is heavily influenced by the nature of Web3, where projects can emerge and fade quickly.
• Staying consistently top of mind is essential for maintaining player engagement and retention amidst the ever-evolving landscape of Web3 gaming.

With the above in mind, I’ve realized that the pacing influences many key aspects of Project (and even Product) Management.

It influences:

• The kind of product you can and should create which in turn decides the pace of production.
• The speed of development which influences the prioritization exercises the team goes through (eg: if a feature takes too long to develop, say more than two weeks and if it may not drive enough impact, the feature should be deprioritized.)
• How your organization and your teams should be structured
• What kind of team members are needed in the team
• The kind of communication lines and documentation you have between the team members
• The way teams structure their pipelines and processes

Lesson 2: Web2 encourages centralized team structures and linear development pipelines while Web3 takes a big focus on decentralized team structures and a (very rapid) agile development.

In the realm of game development, the distinctions between Web2 and Web3 are pronounced, particularly in team structures and development methodologies.

In Web2 Game Development (be it in mobile or even AAA-title games):

• The accepted pace of game development allows for centralized team structures where there are clearly defined roles and departments collaborating on a singular project to get things done.
• Most of the decision-making authority is also concentrated within the top echelons of the studio.
• There’s usually a very standard and linear development pipeline that most projects will follow from conceptualization all to way to post-launch content.

Whereas in Web3 Game Development:

• As the pace of the industry is super quick, it’s extremely beneficial when you have smaller team sizes and high-calibre team members that can wear multiple hats (think startup, scrappy studio where the designer also doubles up as a QA!)
• It is also key that team members and especially product owners are allowed to make their own autonomous decisions during the development and not be bottlenecked by top-heavy decision-making structures.
• By this extension, it also assumes that team members possess an understanding of the Web3 market to facilitate trustworthy yet quick decision-making.

Lesson 3: In Web3, growth and marketing efforts, as well as community engagement play a big role in product development which will shape how communication happens in a team.

The last lesson is heavily centered around the learning I had on Product Development in Web3 which in turn, impacted my work as a Project Manager. In general, be it in Web2 or Web3, effective growth and marketing strategies are crucial for driving user adoption, increasing visibility, and achieving project goals. Likewise, fostering active community engagement cultivates a sense of belonging, gathers valuable feedback, and promotes user retention.

In Web2 game development, where centralized structures often prevail (as mentioned in lesson 2), clear communication channels are established to co-ordinate growth and marketing efforts and align with product development milestones. The development team chips away at a roadmap that is already defined (usually a timeline of six months and upwards), and the growth and marketing team usually receives regular updates and progress reports to ensure that they are informed and aligned with overarching objectives.

Conversely, in the realm of Web3 game development, the growth and marketing team have a bigger voice and are heavily involved in the decision-making process for the product itself. In-game features that promote growth and marketing initiatives (think promo codes or private matches that allow for community game nights) are usually prioritized alongside other gameplay features. This is to help the growth and marketing teams create campaigns in an environment that requires constant updates, as well as engagement with the community to stay top of mind.

And with that, thanks for making it to the end of this article! These three lessons define some of the key knowledge I’ve gained over the past 1–2 years dabbling in the Web3 space. I hope that sharing them in this article will aid you on your own journey in game development, be it in Web2 or Web3.

I’m happy to receive any comments/questions below or you can reach out to me to start a conversation if you’re interested (or as invested as me) in this topic. I hope to see you again in the next article!