Let’s pay attention to the FPS/TPS genre in Web3 games — Xociety, Delysium
Summary: In terms of the gaming industry trend, we should also pay attention to AAA games and the FPS/TPS genre in Web3. It is a challenge to apply economic structure and NFT utilization as elements that should be included in Web3 games according to the genre characteristics. From this perspective, let’s look forward to Xociety and Delysium games.
Intro
In the gaming industry of 2023, it was expected to continue to grow based on existing investments, even though the overall economic scale was shrinking.
This trend is expected to result in more games that satisfy gamers based on abundant capital. Especially, the quality of recent Web3-related games has risen dramatically compared to before.
Until now, evaluations of gameplay have not been prominent under the flow of P2E (Play to Earn), but now gamers are focusing on evaluating high-quality gameplay that is in line with the meaning of Web3. This is a natural phenomenon that means returning to the fundamental question of ‘can you enjoy the game?
AAA games are also being released in Web3
In response to these gamer demands, game studios are also announcing the release of AAA games in Web3. The term “AAA game” has a similar meaning to a blockbuster in movies and allows gamers to gauge the size and scale of the game. Of course, the increase in the overall budget means that both the development and marketing costs of the game are rising. In the case of early AAA games, only production costs were mainly calculated, but marketing costs sometimes exceeded even the production costs.
The increase in global marketing costs has led to this phenomenon, but it can be understood as an inevitable part since the likelihood of entry varies depending on the level of promotion needed to introduce the game.
One clear point is that games that were able to execute such budgets have become benchmarks for the success of subsequent games. Gamers’ expectations have been focused on games and game systems that have achieved great success, and new games cannot be free from these standards. Therefore, the fact that AAA games will also be released in Web3 raises the possibility of a new benchmark.
Factors to Consider for Releasing Web3 Games
The increased investment of capital and improvement in game quality are welcome factors in the release of Web3 games, but another important aspect in Web3 games is how to integrate NFTs and economic systems that are suitable for the game genre. So far, in Web3 games, the phenomenon that has emerged with the P2E and Axie’s tokenomics has highlighted the competition system, such as PVP. This is because players have shifted their focus towards the social meaning of being ahead of others rather than the benefits and fun of solving general scenario quests in game trends. Based on this psychological tendency, the competition system appears to have easily combined with achievements in P2E.
One of the questions that potential players in Web3 communities ask game developers is “When will the PVP system be released?” This is evidence that even Web3 gamers prioritize the competitive element of games over the scenario-based elements. Additionally, players see the benefits of competition, including direct profits, indirect benefits, and voting rights in governance, as factors that strengthen the community’s foundation. Therefore, these elements are also considered as evaluation factors for Web3 games by market participants.
Game developers are facing challenges due to these factors. When onboarding existing games to Web3 or launching new games, they are struggling with how to integrate the economic system in a way that is appropriate for the game genre, and whether to fully or partially adopt the economic system or use only certain NFTs in the game. Therefore, this year’s games may become experimental arenas as developers continue to grapple with these challenges.
FPS/TPS games that will be noticed in Web3
Taking into consideration the various elements mentioned above, I have thought about which genre of game would be the first to dominate the Web3 AAA game space. Firstly, I have taken a closer look at FPS/TPS games. If we briefly understand the FPS and TPS genres, they are divided into first-person shooter and third-person shooter games based on the player’s perspective. While TPS games have stronger genre fusion characteristics than FPS games, they generally involve fighting with a gun, encompassing both genres. Gamers can be divided into those who prefer the realism of FPS games and those who prefer the genre fusion characteristics of TPS games. Representative games include Overwatch, Battlefield, and Fortnite.
FPS/TPS games tend to adopt MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) systems to encourage participation from many players. This can be seen as a preemptive move to increase the types of experiences that gamers can enjoy by inducing multinational global access to the game.
In addition, considering the fact that FPS/TPS genre still receives the most preference in the game trend, and the ease of connection to the industry of E-sports, it is a good idea to look into related Web3 games. Researcher Tudor’s articles on E-sports would be helpful. Let’s select one domestic and one overseas game among the expected releases in Web3 based on the developer and examine them.
Xociety
The game is being developed by NDUS, a domestic development team that has Hashed and UNOPND as its main partners.
Game features
The game is based on MMOTPS and prioritizes building a metaverse. Although specific information about the gameplay has not been disclosed yet, the phrase “Shoot, Earn, Pioneer. Now We Live in XOCIETY” gives some indication of the direction.
Xociety aims to establish a perspective in which land is not a non-participatory NFT owned by someone else, but rather something that active participants conquer and develop.
From the team’s perspective, it seems that they have been considering their role in building a metaverse with the concept of land. They do not intend to adopt a model where users can profit from land ownership without participating in the game, as seen in other existing game models. Instead, they emphasize the perspective of being a world conqueror who can participate in and claim ownership of the land by “Earn” and “Pioneer.”
SBT/NFT
Owning a sufficient amount of NTx, the SBT of Xociety, grants the right to purchase limited edition NFTs. This is a familiar model, with benefits such as early access to the game and recognition as a community leader. The emphasis is on rewarding effort and participation not just in the game, but also in community activities.
In terms of NFT utilization, it is possible to play Xociety from alpha play through the ‘Frontier Avartar’ early access ticket. In addition, it is said that buffs can be given to the same team in the game, and that it will be an influencer that makes it stand out at any time by differentiating it from general NFTs. Through this explanation, it was possible to know the Xociety team’s perspective on NFT utilization.
IP Utilization
The Xociety team is expected to actively utilize IP (intellectual property) in building the metaverse.
When other IPs are implemented in Xociety as an attempt to build existing IPs or characters of new games in the metaverse, the key will be how convincingly they can reach users. This extension of the extension implies great potential in building the metaverse, so it is expected that the result will be unexpected.
Opinion
The expressions found while looking at the Xociety project seemed to focus on how to reveal Earn’s part. I think that the design was made to give a reasonable reason for the mechanism of contribution and compensation, and if the tokenomics are made public, it should be analyzed based on this.
It is impressive that it is implemented at a level that has little difference from the illustration in the graphic sector, and I want to evaluate it by actually playing the game in the future.
Delysium
It is a TPS game that received 10M investment in the second half of 2022 led by Anthos Capital in LA.
Game features
Delysium, which released a pre-alpha version, introduced a battle royale system, and the game concept and plans to be applied are as follows.
- Cyberpunk style
- Open-world
- User Generated Content
Delysium is also a TPSMMO game as mentioned above. As revealed so far, most of the systems popular as shooter games have been borrowed. Due to the nature of shooter games, the key is likely to be the range of narratives that can be provided to gamers with an open world worldview. The team predicts that each player’s narrative will be formed through AI, so I will have to check this in the future.
In addition, it has a rather impressive Whitepaper format, and I thought that it was an interesting idea to make the whitepaper look like a game screen. For details of the project, please refer to the whitepaper.
NFT
What has yet to be released is firearms, mecha suits, and posters (Collectibles), which are confirmed by item to show that battle passes and the like can be applied.
It can be seen as a model applied to Web3, which was often seen in existing games.
Rather than directly utilizing SBT, the Delysium team used a community tier system through the Galxe platform.
Tokenomics feature
The characteristics of Delysium tokenomics include devices called DMO (Delysium Multiverse Operators) and DMA (Delysium Multiverse Accelerator). DMO is a program that enables operators to receive a separately set distribution of operating revenue, and DMA is an accelerator program that allows additional compensation. Through DMA, not only can you receive more AGI, the token of Delysium, but you are also given additional airdrop and governance voting weight. The key is the condition of purchasing DMA for $1,000. Since DMA is limited in supply and cannot be transferred, it will be necessary to track how these devices affect tokenomics in the future.
However, the entry cost is burdensome for users who are new to the game, and it is necessary to approach it from an investment perspective that combines trust in the game maker and loyalty to the game.
Looking at the tokenomics ratio, it seems important to effectively control inflation in line with the completion of the game because the team amount is allocated and the reserve is still being paid to users with DMA.
Opinion
It was seen as borrowing most of the parts that worked well in the existing game industry, and the content part of how to induce each user’s narrative was expected. Looking at the process, it is understood as an attempt to properly fuse the aspects of Web2 and Web3 rather than a completely new attempt. Concerns about tokenomics felt a bit disappointing. This is because it was difficult to predict whether the role of the DMO and the effect of the DMA would be effective in preventing inflation.
It’s still an alpha test version, so I look forward to seeing the finished game. The character customization part is also expected to be further developed, and I hope that the open world will come out enough to capture the hearts of users.
Conclusion
So far, I have selected and looked at two highly anticipated FPS/TPS games. I think they are noteworthy games in terms of genre characteristics and investment scale. I welcome the improvement in terms of Web3 gameability, and I could also see Web3 onboarding efforts through devices for Web3 application by game companies. The concern of game companies is how attractive they are to Web3 users. There is no magic answer yet, but there is an important element: the operational side. I am looking forward to the release of a new killer app among the introduced projects.
Chris Lee
-Researcher at Pro Gamer DAO
Twitter : @Chris_grr
E-mail : chris.lee@progamerdao.com
