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Web3 firm Animoca Brands has become the largest validator on The Open Network (TON) blockchain. This move strengthens the TON Foundation’s bid to bring more game players onto Web3 via Telegram.
Animoca Brands will help the TON Foundation better understand user engagement through funding, research, and an analytics portal. According to the Foundation’s Director of Growth, Justin Hyun, Animoca’s research and analysis align with TON’s vision.
Animoca May Grow TON Web3 Game Footprint
Hyun said that one of TON’s ambitions is to make Web3 gaming seamless for Telegram users. Ripe for new investment from the likes of Animoca is a tool set that allows developers to port any web game into Telegram, which has an 800 million user base.
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“Together, we will infuse Web3 seamlessly into the daily experiences of Telegram users, particularly in gaming, for a global audience to enjoy,” Hyun said.
The developers of Telegram and Dr. Nikolai Durov first floated the idea for a Layer 1 open-source network in a 2018 white paper. Eschewing advertising, they wanted to use Telegram to onboard users onto TON and promote the broad adoption of cryptocurrencies.
The TON testnet was eventually launched in January 2019 and used a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism. Toncoin is the primary currency used for securing the blockchain and paying transaction fees.
The blockchain has since gained significant traction in the Web3 gaming space. In September, it onboarded the most Web3 games of any chain (29), followed by Sui and WEMIX (nine each). A month later, in October, the Toncoin Ecosystem Report revealed that the number of Toncoin accounts rose 250% in the previous year.
Immersion is Key for Web3 Games
The offerings in the Web3 gaming space are still relatively unknown compared to those released by major studios. For example, most of the games that went live on TON, namely TON Planets Mars, TON Squid, Battle Planes, and Tonlanders, are not as widely known as, say, Call of Duty from Activision Blizzard or Assassin’s Creed from Ubisoft.
One of the challenges Web3 developers must overcome is preserving immersion, argues Michael Sanders of Horizon Blockchain Games, a developer who is building tools for Web3 developers. A gamer should not have to pause playing to conduct a blockchain transaction, for example. Gamers must also not feel that developers are taking advantage of them, Sanders warns.
In a nutshell, gamers must not know whether they are playing Web2 or Web3 games, argued Jerome de Tychey, another industry voice. While first-generation games like Axie Infinity focused more on economics, second-generation efforts must prioritize the experience to win gamers.
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