Do you recall the first time you heard about Bitcoin? Perhaps you learned about it through media coverage of Silk Road, or a friend told you about this magical internet money they were creating on their computer. Whatever the case, it’s safe to assume it took you a moment to wrap your head around the concept of digital cash with no central issuer. But once it clicked, it’s also safe to assume you “got it.”
When web3 gaming first emerged, around a decade on from Bitcoin’s genesis block, its advocates also felt compelled to explain this nascent concept to the uninitiated. Attempts included:
“It’s video gaming but on blockchain”
“It’s player-owned gaming”
“It’s incentivized gaming that rewards players”
There’s a degree of truth in all of these descriptions, but perhaps the problem in explaining it to mainstream users wasn’t in the elevator pitch – perhaps it was in the name itself. What does “web3 gaming” mean – does it have to be played on the internet? Is it desktop-based? MMO-based?
Web3 developers have been grappling with how best to “sell” their gaming framework for some time now, with the well-meaning belief that if they can convince video gamers of its merits, players will take the plunge and onboard in their millions. But there’s a growing school of thought that now opposes this theory. Instead, it espouses the view that the secret to mainstreaming web3 gaming isn’t to bang on about blockchain, tokens, and incentive mechanisms. Instead, it’s simply to focus on creating great games.
In other words, web3 studios should throw all their energy into creating the most immersive, addictive, unputdownable, original, interactive games possible. Because if they can achieve that, gamers won’t get involved because it’s web3 – they’ll do it despite that. People don’t play technology after all: they play games, and thus, the key to accelerating mass adoption of web3 gaming is to master the playing experience.
One of the advocates of this thesis is Mythical Games, the web3 studio that has made major inroads into putting web3 gaming on the map. What’s significant about its achievements is that half its players don’t even seem to know they’re playing a web3 game.
Nate Nesbitt, Head of Communications at Mythical Games, said, “If your game’s greatest selling point is a token model or low network fees, it’s not a game – it’s a tech stack. It’s not that these considerations don’t matter in web3 game design – they do, just not to players. Focus on creating great gaming experiences, and you’ll get the player base you deserve. Not because of what’s under the hood, but because of what’s on their screens. That’s how we’re mainstreaming web3 gaming.”
Mythical Games, led by CEO John Linden, arrived on the scene in 2018 just as web3 gaming was getting started in earnest. It very quickly became apparent that while it was proud to be an early ambassador for web3 gaming, the company was intent on doing things differently from how other studios were operating at the time. There would be no Play-to-Earn ponzinomics and no low-energy games, rushed to market to cash in on the web3 gaming craze.
Instead, Mythical’s approach has been guided by the following principles:
Web3 should be the framework, not the USP
Games must stand or fall on their own merits
Games must be pick-up-and-play – no messing around with web3 wallets
Use of tokens should be optional rather than essential for game advancement
Highly engaged communities make for great games
These unwritten rules have defined the games that Mythical has released to date (NFL Rivals; Blankos Block Party), and the titles it’s currently developing that are poised for imminent release (FIFA Rivals; Pudgy Party). And with its first web3 game, Mythical struck gold. NFL Rivals has proven one of the most successful web3 games of all time, racking up over six million downloads and counting.
NFL Rivals is arguably known to more traditional gamers than any other web3 game to date. While the foregoing principles, such as abstracting web3 components and avoiding blatant tokenization, have aided NFL Rivals’ mass market success, there is, of course, a greater factor at play here: IP. The fact that Mythical was able to convince the NFL to entrust it with its intellectual property has been a major factor in accounting for the millions of installs the game racked up in such a short space of time.
Precious as this IP has proven in mainstreaming NFL Rivals and web3 gaming at large, it’s not the only attribute that makes Mythical different from the majority of web3 studios. There are many other qualities that have been instrumental in Mythical’s success.
While the majority of studios have long since moved on from the P2E model, the best of them are leaning into game-first design that appeals to players of all stripes and technical abilities.
Token rewards won’t be mainstream in web3 gaming. Nor will NFTs or the prospect of player ownership and community governance, useful as all these things are. The next era of web3 games won’t be defined by the tech. Not because the tech doesn’t matter, but because there are far more compelling reasons for players to play. As studios are discovering, the key to mainstreaming web3 lies in creating unique gaming experiences. Achieve that, and the players will come.