Analysis of the Development Path of Decentralization Platform

Decentralization games have always been a hot topic in the crypto market. 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, in contrast to Gala Games, which is 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 of Traditional Gaming Platforms

Before discussing the development of decentralized gaming platforms, we need to understand the development history of traditional gaming industry platforms. Gaming platforms are mainly divided into three types: studio model, development engine model, and distribution platform model.

Studio Mode

The studio model started from game studios and gradually developed into large companies with multiple game IPs. These companies attract players by continuously launching new games or sequels and make adjustments and improvements based on game performance. A typical representative is Blizzard Entertainment. Established in 1991, Blizzard was initially a computer game development studio, with its first game being Warcraft. With the launch of World of Warcraft, Blizzard became one of the leaders in the gaming industry. Today, Blizzard has become part of the American gaming company Activision Blizzard, owning multiple well-known game IPs, including World of Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo.

Top game companies in the world and their representative works:

• Nintendo: Super Mario series, The Legend of Zelda series, Pokémon series, Animal Crossing series
• Sony Interactive Entertainment: The Elder Scrolls series, God of War series, Marvel's Spider-Man, Uncharted series
• Microsoft Game Studios: Halo series, Gears of War series, Forza series, Dead Rising series
• Electronic Arts: FIFA series, Battlefield series, Need for Speed series, The Sims series
• Ubisoft: Assassin's Creed series, Far Cry series, For Honor series, Rainbow Six series
• Blizzard Entertainment: World of Warcraft, Diablo series, StarCraft series, Overwatch
• Capcom: Resident Evil series, Devil May Cry series, Monster Hunter series, Street Fighter series

( Development Engine Mode

The engine development model is a relatively new platform model, and Roblox is one of the most famous examples. Roblox is a community-based virtual world platform that allows users to design and create their own games, as well as share and enjoy them on the platform. It provides an ecosystem for creating and sharing games, including game development tools, a virtual currency system, and commercialization features.

The advantages of the Roblox platform lie in providing open tools and engines that allow developers to relatively easily create their own games and share them with others. This openness and interactivity stimulate innovation and collaboration, encouraging more people to participate in game development. Users can write games using the Lua programming language and design game elements through visual development tools.

However, the development engine model struggles to ensure consistency and standardization in game quality. Since games on the Roblox platform are created by community developers, the skill levels and design styles of these developers can vary greatly, which may lead to a disparity in game quality, affecting the overall reputation of the platform and the user experience.

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( distribution platform model

The distribution platform model takes Steam as an example, starting from its flagship products ) such as DOTA2 and CSGO ###, gradually developing into a game distribution platform. Steam provides players with convenient channels for game purchase and download, and also offers developers a wide promotion and distribution platform.

Today, almost all PC games can be found on Steam, which has become a monopolist in this field. Steam helps developers handle game publishing and distribution, allowing them to focus on game development. At the same time, it provides players with a convenient way to purchase and manage games, and they can also interact with other players through the Steam community. Steam supports online multiplayer gaming and user-generated content creation, increasing player interaction and engagement.

Other game development teams have also launched their own game distribution platforms, such as Blizzard's Battle.net, EA's Origin, and Ubisoft's Uplay. For development companies that continuously produce excellent works, they prefer to control the distribution rights rather than sharing profits with pure distribution platforms.

Development Path of Blockchain Gaming Platforms

( Game Studio Mode and Public Chain Ecosystem

This path has gradually developed in the crypto world to first create popular games and then launch public chains. Representatives include the Flow public chain issued by Dapper, the company behind Cryptokitties, Ronin launched by Axie Infinity, and ImmutableX issued by God Unchained. With the "one-click chain issuance" technology becoming increasingly mature, products with traffic may issue their own Appchain or L2, or become the future development path for blockchain games.

In new projects, many have begun to adopt this approach. Taking Fusionist as an example, they launched their mainnet Endurance, which improves user engagement, transparency, privacy, and security by storing all user actions and achievements on the chain. Fusionist plans to launch three games on this new chain: Colonize, Conquer, Unite, creating a Decentralization gaming public chain ecosystem.

This approach relies on the influence of a single game, requiring the studio's first product to create a sensation upon release. However, if the game is made for the public chain, the uncertainty of the game's popularity may lead to long-term underuse of the public chain. If the game faces difficulties in development, the value of the public chain will also decline. The core of the studio model may still lie in how to create an enjoyable game, rather than telling a grand story.

Additionally, transitioning from a single game to a public chain may become a "shackle" for studios. The infrastructure of public chains, such as nodes, cross-chain bridges, and wallets, all pose security risks. The Skymavis studio behind Axie can be said to have succeeded and failed with Ronin. After the theft of Ronin, users lost trust in this public chain, and other games or developers had to stay away from this public chain that carried the Axie ecosystem, which was a significant blow to the development team behind it.

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( Development Engine Mode

The decentralized development engine is built on blockchain technology, providing more freedom and creativity, allowing game developers and players to participate better. Fragnova)Fragcolor### and Cocos-CBX are two representative decentralized development engines that continuously promote the development of decentralized game development engines.

Fragnova's game engine provides developers with a secure environment, allowing them to freely create, build, and share their game works. Developers can create games on the Fragnova Network and publish them for distribution through the platform. The Fragnova Network places a greater emphasis on the concept of Decentralization, offering developers more control and flexibility. For example, developers can freely choose the game economic model and decide which public chain to run their games on. At the same time, the Fragnova Network ensures the security and fairness of game data, as well as the authenticity and transferability of users' digital assets, by running all games on the blockchain.

Decentralized game engines have many advantages over centralized game engines. First, they better protect game data and users' digital assets. Second, they provide developers with more freedom and control, better meeting the diverse needs of different games. Finally, by storing game data on the chain, they achieve a fairer and more transparent gaming ecosystem, attracting more users and developers to join.

However, this does not mean that decentralized game engines do not have drawbacks. On the contrary, this is the most difficult of the three paths, as traditional game development engines are already good enough. The competitors of these products are not just Roblox, but also development engines like UE and Unity. Large engines like UE and Unity have occupied an important position in the market, providing more complete tools and technical support, and having a more stable and mature ecosystem, which remains the first choice for mainstream game developers. The ecosystem and community of decentralized platforms are relatively small and may lack some important resources such as tools, materials, and plugins. Therefore, compared to centralized platforms, decentralized game development engines still have room for improvement and enhancement in terms of technology.

( distribution platform model

Due to the light asset and heavy operation model, the distribution platform model has become the entrepreneurial model for many decentralized gaming platforms. Taking TreasureDAO as an example, from the first revenue protocol Magic in the Loot ecosystem to the largest decentralized gaming platform on Arbitrum, after much searching, TreasureDAO has showcased a bit of web3 magic and has now become a representative of the distribution platform model.

In terms of profit models, traditional platforms usually rely on game sales, virtual item sales, and other methods to generate revenue. In contrast, decentralized platforms can profit through token rewards, NFT transactions, platform fees, and more. Regarding user protection, traditional platforms typically protect user rights through intellectual property protections, while decentralized platforms can safeguard user rights through technologies such as smart contracts.

However, from the list of 18 games launched by TreasureDAO, it can be seen that most games are still at the "mini-game" level. Compared to prominent games like Zelda and Animal Crossing, there is a decades-long industrial gap that cannot simply be made up by quantity, not to mention top IPs like Pokémon and Mario.

However, from another perspective, frequent low-cost trial and error is beneficial for discovering "hit products." As the development path of blockchain games is not clear, mini-game platforms can release multiple games to test player preferences, and then conduct in-depth development after identifying player demands. Compared to initially investing heavily in creating a AAA game that ends up being neglected after release, this approach is more capital efficient. The Beacon on Treasure generated a significant response from the community after its launch, and they can use this as a starting point to further expand the universe of TreasureDAO.

Gala Games has chosen a different operating model for its distribution platform. Compared to the asset on-chain and asset interoperability that decentralized games focus on, they pay more attention to how to use tokens to incentivize the community and conduct governance, and to launch more high-quality games. The decentralized node network is what sets Gala apart. According to official data from Gala Games, during its peak period in 2021, its monthly active users exceeded 1.3 million, with over 26,000 NFTs sold. However, as the GameFi market cooled down, the price of the GALA token began to gradually decline after reaching a new high in November 2021.

From the official Gala Games website, it can be seen that they currently have 15 games listed, from multiple game developers, covering various platforms such as PC/WEB/mobile. However, only 3 of these games are actually live, while the others are still in development, and the few that are live still have relatively low playability.

Compared to the mainstream gaming platforms currently on the market, decentralized gaming platforms have a significant gap in both the quantity and quality of games. However, it is fortunate that with the emergence of several hit games like Axie Infinity, the number of blockchain games has shown an increase in the last two years.