TL;DR
- Web3 gaming makes use of NFTs, and there are several platforms building NFT gaming ecosystems.
- NFTs may be used for in-game characters and items, and as membership passes for gaming platforms.
- Many Web3 gaming projects are building on Polygon, which has attracted a growing number of developers.
NFTs may have been going through a rough time lately, but one area with plenty of activity, along with real utility, is NFT gaming. You might also see this referred to as Web3 gaming or blockchain gaming, but it’s the same thing: games development that makes use of NFTs and crypto.
There are various ways to use NFTs in games, and they could represent characters, or in-game items and collectibles. In these cases, the NFTs are part of a game’s mechanics, but they can also be held, transferred and traded outside of the game.
Another common trend is for projects to offer NFT passes which function as limited supply membership tokens, and provide benefits to holders such as access to future NFT drops, and early access to games. Sometimes, initial NFT drops will combine these functions, acting, for example, as a membership pass, an in-game character, and maybe as a PFP too.
Passes that guarantee access to future mints can be particularly worth getting hold of, since they mean you’ll be in line to receive an ongoing supply of potentially valuable new assets.
Oh Baby Games
This Web3 gaming platform has generated growing interest, and attracted a burst of attention back in January when it was announced that it had raised $6 million in funding from investors including Kevin Lin, the co-founder of Twitch, and Synergis Capital. Marking out Oh Baby Games as deeply immersed in crypto/NFT culture, investors also included Inversebrah and CL207 of eGirl Capital, who are well known figures in the world of crypto Twitter.
Oh Baby Games is currently working on four games, with a Mario Kart-style product called What The Kart creating hype. There are plans to allow assets to be used across titles on the platform, and there will be wallet-to-wallet social connectivity. No NFTs have been released as yet, but you can sign up on the website to get involved in Alpha Testing.
MapleStory Universe
An interesting point about MapleStory Universe is that if you watch the introductory video on their website, you’ll find Daehyun Kang, the COO of Nexon (the company behind MapleStory) directly addressing the negative perceptions of crypto held by many gamers. He’s critical about P2E, observes that online and mobile gaming were both viewed negatively in their early days, and he lays out Nexon’s intentions to use blockchain as a way of enabling open ecosystems and exchangeable value, and not just as a P2E mechanism.
MapleStory Universe is creating an ecosystem in which NFT assets will be usable across various games and products. There will also be tools and resources for developers to make use of, with the aim of facilitating an expanding platform with multiple contributors and its own free market economy, and all powered by its own native token.
The platform has an initial advantage as it makes use of the IP around MapleStory, a game franchise that has been around for about twenty years and has over 180 million registered users. And by the way, MapleStory is operating on Polygon, which is growing fast as an attractive network for NFT gaming and other Web3 projects.
Pluto
As the first project from Magic Batch, also building on Polygon and with strong backing from Polygon’s investment arm, Polygon Ventures, Pluto is one to keep a close eye on. Just to remind you, Magic Batch is an influential launchpad/incubator that itself launched this year and is focused on supporting new Web3 platforms and protocols.
As for Pluto, this is not solely a gaming project, but aims to overlap across art, gaming and fashion, creating interlinked brands and an active community along the way. The project has plans to drop a Genesis Collection of NFTs which could bring valuable utility to holders, although details have yet to be clarified, and it appears that a mini-game called Sunbeam will launch soon, although again, details are not out in the open yet.
Delabs Games
You remember Nexon, the company behind MapleStory Universe? Well, web3 is an interconnected world in which everyone knows each other, and the former CEO of Nexon, Joonmo Kwon, is now the CEO of a new platform called Delabs Games, which is executing a plan that puts it in competition with MapleStory.
Delabs is stylish and cleanly put-together, and is proceeding along a similar path to Nexon, developing a Web3 gaming system in which NFTs are transportable and tradable. There are three impressive-looking games in development including, as at Oh Baby Games, a title reminiscent of Mario Kart, called Rumble Racing Star. Another similarity with Oh Baby Games is the feeling of being simpatico with NFT culture, as Rumble Racing Star ties in PFPs from big NFT collections including Bored Ape Yacht Club and A Kid Called Beast.
You can currently buy a DeLabs Adventure Pass for under 0.1 ETH on secondary, with these items promising future NFT airdrops along with other benefits, and with a staking system coming soon. And in case you were wondering, yes, this one is on Polygon too.
Symbiogenesis
Not a platform this time, but an individual, impressive-looking game, this one is worth paying attention to since it’s made by Japanese gaming industry giant Square Enix. Symbiogenesis aims to combine artistic collectibles and gaming, looks like an epic production, and is also building on–you guessed it–Polygon.
It has a science-fiction setting, features narrative-driven gameplay, and plans to release 10,000 NFTs that will function as artworks, PFPs, and usable, in-game characters. In-game items, which are discovered through completing quests, will also be represented as NFTs which can then be traded on secondary markets. There are also Member Card NFTs, which allow holders to gain rewards, and are awarded to community participants.
