💣Challenges of Gaming Platforms

The value of a gaming platform originates from the network effect built by its users. However, most Web2 and Web3 gaming platforms have failed to maximize this network effect due to the following challenges.

Web2 Gaming Platforms

  • A gaming platform’s values are defined by the player base that plays the games on the platform.

  • Web2 gaming platforms, while lacking reward mechanisms, take the whole extracted value of the platform for themselves.

  • These extracted values are then leveraged to empower the platform provider’s bargaining power.

  • Player engagement is fragmented by the games they play. The platform fails to provide enough incentives for players to move between games on the platform and participate on the platform level.

Web3 Gaming Platforms

  • Asset ownership, one of the core pillars of Web3, provided a new paradigm shift to the gaming platform model where players can be owners of their assets and the platform’s values can be shared through tokens and governance.

  • However, current Web3 gaming platforms have mostly failed to convert the extrinsic (financial) motivation of users to an intrinsic (fun and engaged) one, providing an unsustainable motivation structure for users.

  • Web 3 gaming platforms have failed to align the core motivations of the two following groups:

    • Gamers

      • Want participation in the games they play.

      • Have limited interest in the governance structures.

    • Stakeholders

      • Want to invest and earn from the potential value of the platform.

      • Show relatively little interest in the individual games.

Gaming Platforms in General

  • Gaming platforms in general have failed to generate value on the platform level.

  • Player liquidity is not platform-native but rather game-dependent.

  • There is a lack of synergies created between the different games on the platform.

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