Gala expands into entertainment (EN)
Intro
Gala Games is a Web3 gaming platform that sells operating licenses to directly operate the blockchain nodes required for games. These licenses are open for sale, allowing anyone to participate in validation, ensuring decentralization. Currently, games such as Town Star and Spider Tanks have been launched and are in service. In its 2023 roadmap, Gala announced that it will expand beyond a game platform to a Web3 entertainment platform, and Gala Music and Gala Film will be launched in Q1 and Q2, respectively.
This change in strategy and the launch of a new entertainment platform is a unique strategy taken by Gala, and by analyzing it, we expect to be able to gauge the direction of Web3 services in the future. Therefore, in this research, we will explore Gala’s characteristics and the newly launched entertainment platform.
Part.1 Gala Features
- Node
- Gala Tokenomics
- GYRI
Part.2 Extending Gala’s Total Entertainment
- Gala Music
- Gala Film
Conclusion
Part.1 Gala Features
Node
Gala started as a Web3 game platform. So far, it has only sold Founder’s Node, which is needed to host games. Recently, it has expanded into entertainment and added Player Node, which can host music, and Film Node, which can host film. These are not yet live and have been announced to launch in Q1 and Q2 respectively. Game Node has not yet been announced on the roadmap, but is expected to act as a game server.
Founder’s Node, Game Node, Player Node, Film Node
Founder’s Nodes can participate as validators on Gala’s mainnet network. Future Game Node operators will be able to perform certain tasks, such as game servers, and will be able to utilize servers operated by Game Node holders, rather than having server space leased or owned by game companies. Gala will be moving into music and movies in 2023, and plans have been announced for additional Player Nodes and Film Nodes, which can contribute to the operation of music and movie network servers. We will cover this in detail in Part.2.
Gala Tokenomics
Issued in September 2020, the $Gala token is an ERC-20 utility token in the Gala ecosystem that is used to purchase game items, pay for gas, and reward Founders’ Nodes. The total supply is 50 billion. Every year on July 21, $Gala halves in distribution. In 2021, 17,123,286 are being distributed daily at 02:00 UTC, and 8,561,643 are being distributed starting July 21, 2022.
The $Gala token is only issued as a reward for sold Nodes. 50% of the mintage is distributed to the Founder’s Node operator and the other half to the Gala Games Foundation to be used as a reserve for ecosystem growth or projects. Once distributed, $Gala is sold to End Users or given as ecosystem rewards. End users use $Gala to purchase NFTs in the Gala ecosystem, and the fees incurred in this process are burned. In the future, the amount of $Gala burned is used as an incentive for Node operators whose rewards are reduced due to halving. While this ostensibly takes the form of a burn, it’s best viewed as a reserve for Node operations.
As Nodes are sold, the supply of $Gala grows. If demand doesn’t keep up, the value of $Gala can fall. Gala introduced halving as a strategy to reduce minting. In addition, if entertainment expansion leads to various real-world use cases other than Node sales, the demand for $Gala tokens will increase, which will help maintain the value of the token. Therefore, it is important to look at entertainment platforms when predicting the future of $Gala. We will cover this in more detail in Part.2.
GYRI
In 2023, services in the Gala ecosystem will be merged into GYRI, Gala’s homegrown L1 on ERC-20. This choice is in response to the increase in transactions due to the expansion of entertainment and the need for faster content execution. GYRI enables faster transaction speeds and lower network fees, making it ideal for more NFT transactions and entertainment streaming.
Currently, GYRI hosts data from Spider Tanks, which processed over 23 million transactions in December 2022. In 2023, the GYRI ecosystem is expected to expand further, with the launch of GYRI explorer, and games such as Town Star and Champions Arena gradually onboarding the current GYRI chain.
Part.2 Extending Gala’s Total Entertainment
Gala Music
Gala Music is a Web3 Music platform that launched its music division on February 10, 2022. It works with famous artists such as Kings of Leon and Snoop Dogg. More than 150 exclusive tracks have been sold and will be available for streaming after the official launch of the Player Node. The official launch date is March 28, 2023, and the total number of Nodes is unlimited. Users can purchase Music NFTs from Gala Music and stream them on the Node. The existing Web2 music platforms, Spotify, Apple Music, and Melon, bundle music and server usage into a single subscription.
Meanwhile, on Gala Music, the Web3 platform we’re covering, users buy the streaming rights to Music and pay separately for server usage to Node users. Node operators are rewarded with their own token for the number of Music streams they host. These tokens are needed to purchase special items from Gala and its partners and to enter the merchandise store. Under this reward system, we’re creating a synergy between Node operators and artists. Artists will be incentivized to produce quality work in order to earn rewards by having their music widely streamed. Node operators will want to prioritize hosting Music NFTs that are popular with fans. They’ll do this by encouraging fans to stream their music for greater rewards. In the process, fans will be rewarded with quality work and receive benefits such as artist merchandise and fan service events.
A portion of the Music NFTs will also be airdropped to Node operators, and in this way, artists will be able to spread the word about their work to their fans. In addition, Music NFT holders will receive benefits associated with Node.
Above is the track “On Fire” by Bronze Whale, which is sold by Gala Music. Holders of this track are rewarded when a Gala Player Node goes live. As you can see, Gala Music operates a reward system that rewards Node operators, artists, and fans with their own tokens based on their contribution to the ecosystem. We believe these benefits will be attractive to users who are used to using traditional music platforms.
Gala Film
Gala Film is a Web3 film platform. Users can purchase and stream films on the Gala Film platform. The basic structure of Gala Film is similar to Gala Music. Similar to Player Node, Film Node operators can host Movie NFTs to receive rewards. Currently, Film Nodes are not available for purchase, but a second sale is planned before the platform launch in Q2. As of January 29, 2023, there are less than 2000 Film Node owners and plans for future sales are still pending. You can stream cinematic works on the Gala Film Node, and the official launch of the platform and the introduction of Watch-and-Earn, an audience rewards system, is expected in Q2 2023. Watch-and-Earn will be a system where users who watch a lot of films or owners of widely streamed films will get token rewards. If a lot of high-quality films are secured, it is expected that producers, Node operators, and fans will be able to synergize under the ecosystem reward system, just like Gala Music.
However, so far, Gala Film has not been successful in attracting influential creators. In this situation, it will be important to secure an exclusive position by purchasing existing rights. This is something to watch closely in the future.
Conclusion
Gala is looking to expand the platform’s horizons beyond gaming into entertainment. Will they be able to move beyond the traditional token structure and satisfy creators, users, and Node buyers? It will be interesting to see if Gala can pull this off.
