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The co-founder of Solana game MixMob, Pavel Bains, says that most of the funding for Web3 and NFT games is granted for the wrong reasons. He said the key to a successful game is a pool of developers with experience in multiple industries to improve on the likes of Axie Infinity.
Bains said that the true innovation lies in combining human capital and technology. An impressive pitch deck may impress investors, but the resources required for such games are often overlooked.
How Games Could Move Beyond Axie Infinity
Bains said it takes time to build good Web3 games. Those in 2024 will benefit from the lessons learned in first-generation games like Axie Infinity.
Read more: Top 14 Play-To-Earn NFT Games
For example, the newer games will learn to improve in-game tokenomics from Axie’s mistakes. They could also improve aspects of gameplay to preserve a user’s immersion, Bains surmised.
“A lot of those games that started development in 2022 and 2023 will have playable versions in 2024. We don’t need five or ten games to be awesome. All you need is one or two.”
If, for example, a player has to pull out of the game to enter their crypto wallet address to exchange in-game assets, the experience is ruined. Gamers also don’t like being taken advantage of, according to Michael Sanders, a builder of infrastructure for NFT and Web3 games.
Web2 gamers are also more interested in gameplay than blockchain. To win them over to Web3, developers must prioritize gameplay, Sanders suggests. All crypto-related transactions and activities should be carried out behind the scenes, without the gamer needing to be concerned about crypto keys and wallets, for example.
Read more: Crypto Gaming: What Is It and How Does It Work?
Will These NFT Games Convince Gamers?
DappRadar’s NFT gaming report predicts which titles will be popular in 2024. Most have vastly improved graphics compared to first-generation games and may have a better chance of attracting traditional gamers.
Illuvium, a game built on Ethereum rollup ImmutableX, is an open-world game allowing players to own land NFTs and capture Illuvials creatures. Open-world Web2 games like Far Cry and Unchartered have proven popular with gamers, which could be a good sign for Illuvium.
Torque Drift 2 is a car racing and drifting game still being developed on Polygon. According to its developers, the game captures the drift culture of Tokyo in its gameplay.
This focus could attract fans of similar games on Web2. The game also has no native token but is part of a decentralized REVV ecosystem.