Analysis of the Development Path of Decentralization Platforms

In the crypto market, decentralized games have always been a hot topic. Recently, the explosive popularity of the decentralized gaming platform Magic on Arbitrum has sparked widespread discussion, with some comparing it to the "Nintendo of the crypto world," while the counterpart is Gala Games, referred to as the "Web3 version of the Steam platform." These two completely different models raise a question: which development path should decentralized gaming platforms choose?

Development Models of Traditional Gaming Platforms

The development of traditional game industry platforms mainly has three models:

1. Studio Model: Starting from a game studio, gradually developing into a large company with multiple game IPs. Representatives include Blizzard, Nintendo, etc.

2. Development Engine Model: Provides game development tools and platform for users to create and share games. Roblox is a typical representative.

3. Distribution platform model: Taking Steam as an example, starting from self-owned games, it has developed into a game distribution platform. It provides players with a channel for purchasing and downloading games, and offers developers a platform for promotion and distribution.

The Development Path of Blockchain Gaming Platforms

Game Studio Mode and Public Chain Ecology

This path has gradually developed in the crypto world to first create blockbuster games and then issue public chains. Notable examples include the Flow public chain issued by Dapper, Ronin issued by Axie Infinity, and ImmutableX issued by God Unchained.

New projects like Fusionist are also following this idea, launching their own mainnet Endurance, and planning to build a Decentralization game public chain ecosystem based on it.

This model relies on the influence of a single game, requiring the first product to ignite the market. However, if the game is difficult to produce, the value of the public chain will also decline. Transitioning from a single game to a public chain may become a "shackle" for the studio, and there are security risks associated with the infrastructure related to the public chain.

Development Engine Mode

The decentralized development engine is built on blockchain technology, providing more freedom and creativity. Fragnova and Cocos-CBX are two representative projects.

Decentralization game engines have many advantages over centralized engines, such as better protection of game data and user assets, providing developers with more freedom, and achieving a fairer and more transparent gaming ecosystem.

But this is also the most difficult one among the three paths. Traditional game development engines like UE and Unity are already quite mature, while the Decentralization platform still has a significant gap in ecosystem and community size.

distribution platform model

Due to light assets and heavy operations, the distribution platform model has become the choice for many decentralized gaming platforms. TreasureDAO is one such representative, evolving from the first revenue protocol of the Loot ecosystem to the largest decentralized gaming platform on Arbitrum.

Gala Games has chosen a different operational model, focusing more on using tokens to incentivize the community and conduct governance, in order to attract more quality games.

Compared to centralized gaming platforms, decentralized platforms still have a significant gap in terms of the quantity and quality of games. However, in recent years, the number of blockchain games has grown exponentially, providing opportunities for decentralized distribution platforms.

Development Space and Challenges

Regardless of the model adopted, creating a hit game or attracting a hit game is key. The future development of vertical public chains is worth looking forward to, especially after the improvement of modular blockchains and Layer 3 architecture, building dedicated Appchains for single games can further enhance performance.

For the development engine and distribution platform, the priority is to attract more game developers and studios to win by "quantity." Compared to traditional gaming companies, decentralized platforms still have huge growth potential.

The main challenges include:

• How to better utilize blockchain technology to protect user rights
• How to attract more players and developers to join, improving the quality and quantity of games
• How to compete with traditional platforms in the blockbuster game sector and attract more traffic and users

The advantage of decentralized platforms over centralized platforms lies in the innovation of production relations. When user experience and security are sufficiently good, decentralized platforms are expected to completely replace centralized platforms, returning more rights to users and developers.

In the coming years, decentralized platforms will face numerous challenges such as technological improvements, creating blockbuster products, and market competition. Continuous innovation and development are key to achieving success.