Blockchain Gaming World
By jon jordan
Blockchain Gaming WorldAug 17, 2018
167 | YGG and the future of guilds
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In episode 167, Jon Jordan talks to YGG co-founder Gabby Dizon and LongHash VC Shi Khai Wei about the future of guilds in blockchain gaming.
166 | Why Midnight is building the Evergreen multiverse
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In episode 166, Jon Jordan talks to Steve Wade, the CEO of Midnight about Evergreen, something he describes a gaming multiverse, which will start releasing its first games in Q4 2024 and hopes to build out an interoperable platform for items and trading.
165 | Building The Sandbox
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In episode 165, Jon Jordan talks to Sebastien Borget and Nicola Sebastiani from The Sandbox to discuss what's going on with the UGC metaverse platform, which is due to transition from alpha to beta in 2024.
164 | How Shrapnel becomes a crafting UGC shooter
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In episode 164, Jon Jordan talks to Shrapnel's head of studio Don Norbury about feedback from the extraction shooter's early access, the future introduction of item crafting and UGC, whether web2 gamers are playing Shrapnel, game dev sentiment around blockchain, how Shrapnel can become a console game, and why the game's underlying Mercury tech platform is opening up to thirdparties.
163 | The rise of in-game NFT marketplaces
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In episode 163, Jon Jordan talks to Sequence's head of strategy and partnerships Sam Barberie about the shift from thirdparty NFT marketplace such as OpenSea to in-game marketplaces, and why this is vital for developers to make the most of the opportunities provided by player-owned economies.
162 | How Minecraft ban built Hytopia
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In episode 162, Jon Jordan talks to ArkDev about the history of what was originally called NFTWorlds and is now called Hytopia and its Hychain blockchain.
161 | HyperPlay and native Web3 game distribution
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In Episode 161, Jon Jordan talks to Jacobc.eth about HyperPlay, a game distribution store for web3 games, as well as an aggregator of other game stores, about competing with Steam, Apple and Google and how the disruptive power of web3 in this sector has been underestimated.
160 | Building mech shooter MetalCore
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In episode 160, Jon Jordan talks to Studio 369's CTO Dan Nikolaides about the development process for F2P PC-based combined arms shooter MetalCore, which is currently in closed beta.
159 | Oh, the stories Yat Siu tells...
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In episode 159, Jon Jordan talks to Animoca Brands' chairman Yat Siu in a wide-ranging talk covering everything from:
- John Locke and meme coins,
- to how Mocaverse helped the growth of Pixels,
- what is the Moca Foundation,
- why web3 is fundamentally better for gamers than web2,
- why Animoca Brands has invested in 450 web3 companies,
- why DAOs need to be messy, and
- why Yat thinks western gamer designers are "quite socialist"
158 | Gaming on Moonbeam
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In episode 158, Jon Jordan talk to Moonbeam's head of ecosystem Sicco Naets about the opportunities arising from the Polkadot-based L1 and its cross-chain EVM-compatible design.
157 | Building the first web3 meta economy game
Check out Jon's daily Substack. In episode 157, Jon talks to Voya Games' Oli Loffler about his project Angry Dynomites Lab, which is currently playable on testnet as Craft World; something he describes as “the world’s first meta economy game”.
156 | Telling the tale of Nine Chronicles M
Check out Jon's daily Substack at https://gamestx.substack.com/ In episode 156, Jon Jordan talks to JC Kim, the CEO of South Korean web3 developer Planetarium about the story behind its idle RPG Nine Chronicles M, which is now out for PC and mobile, with around 100,000 MAUs.
155 | Why Mythical Games is bullish on web3 gaming via app stores
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In episode 155, Jon Jordan talks to Mythical Games' CEO John Linden about its decision to build on Polkadot, the formation of the Mythos Foundation and why its games are all going to be distributed through Apple and Google's app stores.
154 | The ground-up rise of Pixels
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In Episode 154, Jon Jordan talks to Pixels CEO Luke Barwikoswki on the remarkable rise of the social RPG, which was triggered by its relaunch on Ronin in November 2023
153 | Autonomous worlds and godless games
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In episode 153, Jon Jordan talks to Playmint CEO David Amor about the rise of fully onchain blockchain games, including Downstream, its currently in-development title.
152 | How Kratos is building a global gaming community
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Read the transcription at BlockchainGamer.biz
In BCGW #152, Jon Jordan talks to the founder of Kratos Studios Manish Agarwal about how it's building out a global community of gamers. Starting in India, with the acquisition of IndiGG, but now in Indonesia, Brazil, Nigeria, Turkey etc, Kratos has over 1 million players, organized in 14,000 clans and has distributed >$1 million to players as they complete quests in both web2 and web3 mobile games. As Agarwal says it, Kratos is all about solving the LTV>CAC equation for every type of game.
151 | Blockchain games in 2024
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We kick off 2024 with a discussion between Jon and BlockchainGamer.biz editor Jenny on our predictions for blockchain gaming in 2024. Subjects covered include:
- 2023 was a bad year for blockchain games
- Is the biggest threat external forces or get-rich-quick mentality?
- Remembering the Axie Infinity boom in late 2021
- Will the hit games of 2024 be the ones we currently know
- Shrapnel, Off The Grid, Pixels
- Is UGC the future of blockchain gaming?
- Is mobile the future of blockchain gaming?
- Are fully onchain games the future of blockchain gaming?
- Should we even talk about "blockchain games"?
150 | 2023 review of blockchain gaming biz
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In BCGW #150, Jon Jordan and BlockchainGamer.biz editor Jenny Jordan discuss the key news stories of 2023.
149 | Making web3 games secure and accessible with Sequence (Peter Kieltyka)
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In BCGW #149, Jon Jordan talks to Horizon Blockchain Games CEO Peter Kieltyka about his love of open source coding, why Horizon developed TCG Skyweaver in order to build all-in-one web3 stack Sequence, and the difference between non-custodial and self-custodial wallets.
148 | State of web3 gaming in 2023 with Game7
Check out Jon's daily Substack at https://gamestx.substack.com/ Check out Game7's State of Web3 Gaming report at https://research.game7.io/state-of-web3-gaming-2023
In BCGW #148, Jon Jordan talks to Game7's head of research George Isichos about the State of Web3 Gaming report the DAO has released.
147 | From STEPN to Gas Hero w/ Shiti Manghani
Check out Jon's daily Substack at https://gamestx.substack.com/ In BCGW #147, Jon Jordan talks to Find Satoshi Lab's COO Shiti Manghani about what it was like to experience the rapid success of move-to-earn game STEPN in early 2022, why the company has built out an ecosystem including a DEX and NFT marketplace, and what's next including new social mobile game Gas Hero.
Blocklords | Start as a farmer, become an NFT king
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In BCGW #146, Jon Jordan talks to MetaKing Studios' CEO David Johansson about strategy PC MMOG Blocklords, which is now playable in open beta via Epic Games Store in its early iteration.
David talks about the vision for the game, which is a MMO with strategy elements and epic battles, where you start off as a farmer, gathering resources, but in which you can create a family dynasty and work your way up to become a king of your region. MMO game with strategy elements, epic battles but where you start off as a farmer but you can work your way up to be a king
BCGW #145 | Why Trophy is giving away 98% of its revenue
Check out Jon's daily Substack at https://gamestx.substack.com/ In BCGW #145, Jon Jordan talks to Superlayer's Kevin Chou about his career in gaming (Kabam, Gen.G, Rally, Forte) and new launch Trophy, a games ID and discovery platform in which players can earn 98% of their ad revenue by sharing data with advertisers.
BCGW #144 | Proof of Play's 100% onchain gaming vision
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In BCGW episode #144, Jon Jordan talks to Proof of Play CEO Amitt Mahajan about his career - as a co-creator of FarmVille etc - and why he's so excited about building fully onchain games - such as debut Pirate Nation - which are fully composable and unlock new experiences both for developers, players and their communities.
BCGW #143 | SKALE Network's new gaming chops
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In BCGW #143, Jon Jordan talks to SKALE Networks' Jack O'Holleran about the Ethereum-based scaling solution's recent rise as a blockchain for high performance games.
BCGW #142 | League of Kingdoms redux
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In BCGW #142, Jon Jordan talks to NOD Games director of BD Dan Lee about the web3 veteran dev's expansion for its 4X game League of Kingdoms, and how it's moving also into publishing and advising other South Korean companies about web3 including NHN.
BCGW #141 | Reignition of Star Atlas
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In episode #141, Jon Jordan talks to ATMATA CEO Michael Wagner about Star Atlas; how he's dealt with the past 12 months of difficulties while maintaining his grand vision for the space combat and trading MMO, which is currently releasing multiple different experiences.
BCGW #140 | Wreck League is building the perfect esport mechs
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Jon Jordan talks to nWay CEO Taehoon Kim about the company's background in real-time multiplayer fighting games, its first web3 experiment, and how it hooked up with Yuga Labs to launch season one of its mobile mech NFT builder-and-battler Wreck League, which goes live on 14th September.
BCGW #139 | Blockchain gaming offers huge upside despite slow adoption says Com2uS
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BCGW #139 | Jon Jordan talks to Com2uS' US president Kyu Lee about the South Korean game company's early experiments in blockchain games and why it's currently taking a very controlled approach to introducing these mechanics into games such as Summoners War: Chronicles.
BCGW #138 | Why Delabs is all-in on blockchain games
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In BCGW #138, Jon Jordan talks to Delabs' head of web3 strategy Quinn Kwon about the South Korean developer's approach making high quality blockchain games.
BCGW #137 | No wallet, just stream: Ember Sword’s mass market plan
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In BCGW #137, Jon Jordan talks to Mark Laursen, the CEO of Bright Star Studios about its forthcoming MMORPG Ember Sword.
BCGW #136 | Extending blockchain game economies with Moonstream
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In BCGW #136, Jon Jordan talks to Moonstream CEO Neeraj Kashyap about how the company helps blockchain game companies control and expand their economies, including reference to how Moonstream has worked with Crypto Unicorns.
BCGW #135 | Fableborne: the build-and raid mobile RPG
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In BCGW #135, Jon Jordan talks to Pixion Games' CEO Kam Punia about Fableborne, its forthcoming mobile RPG in which players build and raid each others' bases for rewards and leaderboard placement.
BCGW #134 | Building Infinigods' interoperable gaming ecosystem
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In BCGW #134, Jon Jordan talk to Infinigods' co-founder Owen O'Donaghue about how it's building out its interoperable ecosystem of games, which offer different gaming experiences but share NFTs, while also allowing players to earn tradeable assets through gameplay in a sustainable manner.
1:33 Owen talks through his previous career at Microsoft and Facebook/Meta 6:47 Axie Infinity, NBA Top Shot and CryptoKitties and the rise of blockchain games 9:00 The value of open economies in F2P games 11:41 The setting of Infinigods' games with respect to mythology, IP and scaling the universe 15:50 "We think shared NFT assets [between games] is really cool" 17:34 "We though about doing a larger Clash of Clans-type game" 21:50 Explaining InfiniMerge's play-to-earn element, using NFTs not ERC20 tokens 25:20 "People can consistently mint an Ark for $10 and sell them for $22" 29:24 Game release schedule in the coming months and the scaling strategy 33:02 Positive around using app stores to distribute web3 games 35:45 The browser-based market is not big enough. You need to be on app stores.
BCGW #133 | Ultra - building Steam on steroids for blockchain gaming
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In BCGW #133, Jon Jordan talks to Ultra co-CEO Nicolas Gilot about the long gestation and potential synergetic potential of the blockchain-based PC game distribution ecosystem, which also includes a streaming channel, NFT marketplace and esports tournament platform.
BCGW #132 | Crypto Unicorns - building for core, expanding via casual
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In episode #132 Jon Jordan talks to Laguna Games' CEO Aron Beierschmitt about the first year of running its resource farming game Crypto Unicorns, including the launch of new more accessible mobile-first experiences such as Unicorn Party and the Fall Guys-esque Rainbow Rumble. Full article here
0:46 The first year of running Crypto Unicorns 2:00 Launching at the peak of the bull 4:00 We have runway until the end of 2024 6:21 The inspiration for those cute Crypto Unicorns 7:40 Why we pivoted from mobile F2P 10:40 We're seeing great success on Facebook marketing (c.5% CTR) 12:35 Average playtime is 1 hour a day across 5 sessions. DAU/MAU ratio is 67% 14:35 Success of the RBW marketplace for P2P trading: $10M in volume to-date from 2,300 MAUs 18:50 New game experiences in development 24:55 The transition to a non-profit org for the DAO, including the Crypto Unicorns' IP 27:08 New games in development -- Match-3 vs autobattler vote and Unicorn Party 30:12 Still uncertainty around app store distribution 31:24 Our focus has been to build extreme depth into our economy to monetize high LTV players 32:11 Our ARPU is +$400, our D7 retention is 75%, D180 is 38% 34:20 New game Rainbow Rumble -- Fall Guys with Unicorns 39:05 It's very hard to build a sustainable ecosystem in this space
BCGW #131 | Azra's Legions & Legends is a F2P mobile-first "web3-sensitive" game w/ Mark Otero
In BCGW #131, Jon Jordan talks to Azra Games' CEO Mark Otero about Legions & Legends, his forthcoming 9th hero collection RPG; notably covering why Otero thinks blockchain and true ownership are important, and why he describes the game as being a "web3-sensitive" title, which will also have a "token of fun".
1:30 Legions & Legends will be your 9th RPG so what does blockchain add to the mix? 2:30 The value of true ownership of game assets 4:00 How can blockchain make the game experience stronger? 6:15 The influence of D&D in Mark's history 7:29 How blockchain plays into new features for collectible games 9:38 The vital important of camera system in a game with small and large characters 14:00 Why did you launch The Hopeful PFP collection? 16:33 Why Legions & Legends is a "web3-sensitive" game 18:50 We will never do anything within our game that corrupts the entertainment value 28:00 To-date we've seen some interesting but ultimately unsustainable business models 28:50 I think more people are now talking about fun in blockchain games 29:49 What are your thoughts about having an in-game token? 30:25 Explaining Legions & Legends' token of fun Read Jon's daily Substack at GamesTX.
BCGW #130 | Building Serum City
Jon Jordan talks to Lior.eth from Mutant Cartel and Alex Paley from Faraway Games on their collaboration Serum City, a forthcoming citybuilding game that uses both Bored and Mutant Apes and Mutant Cartel's own NFTs to create new narratives and experiences. We particularly discuss the concept and actualities of NFT interoperability.
BCGW #129 | The blossoming of Ronin w/ Jeff Zirlin
Jon Jordan talks to Sky Mavis co-founder Jeff Zirlin about the blossoming of the Ronin blockchain, both in terms of its decentralization, as well as the announcement of the first non-Sky Mavis games that will launch on it.
BCGW #128 | Immutable's future w/ Robbie Ferguson
Jon Jordan talks to Immutable president and co-founder Robbie Ferguson about what its new partnership with Polygon means and how he sees the blockchain game sector developing in 2023.
BCGW #127 | Launching auto chess battler Mojo Melee
Jon Jordan talks to Mystic Moose CEO Mike Levine about the forthcoming launch of auto chess battler game Mojo Melee, as well as its wider Planet Mojo ecosystem.
BCGW #126 | Why Japanese game companies are going blockchain w/ Oasys
Jon Jordan talks to Daiki Moriyama and Ryo Matsubara from Oasys about how the gaming blockchain is leveraging the growing interesting in web3 from Japanese game companies ranging from Sega and Square Enix to Gumi and Bandai Namco.
BCGW #125 | How Magic Eden accelerates blockchain gaming w/ Chris Akhavan
Jon Jordan talks to Magic Eden's chief gaming officer Chris Akhavan about his journey into blockchain gaming and how he hopes Magic Eden will accelerate market adoption.
BCGW #124 | Future for blockchain games with Yat Siu
We start the year in style as Jon Jordan talks to Animoca Brands' chairman Yat Siu about the aftermath of 2022's crypto crash and where the blockchain game sector goes next as we head into 2023.
BCGW #123 | 2022 in review w/ David Amor & Will Luton
Jon Jordan discusses what happened in the blockchain game sector during 2022 with David Amor (Playmint) and Will Luton (Village Studio)
BCGW #122 | Guild of Guardians with Derek Lau
Jon Jordan talks to Immutable's game director Derek Lau about its mobile squad-RPG Guild of Guardians, which is currently in alpha testing, prior to its 2023 launch.
BCGW #121 | Building the Unioverse w/ Wyeth Ridgway
Jon Jordan talks to Random Games' CTO Wyeth Ridgway about Unioverse, its project to create a "Roblox for triple-A devs" via tools, royalty-free game assets ... and blockchain!
BCGW #120 | The future of NFTs w/ Alex 'Sillytuna' Amsel
Jon Jordan talks to NFT OG Alex 'Sillytuna' Amsel about what's going on with creator royalties, as well as his two ongoing projects -- game Clodhoppers and NFT remix project Soulcast.
BCGW #119 | Blockchain Brawlers & Tyranno Studios w/ David Kim
Jon Jordan talks to David Kim about the rebranding of WAX Studios to Tyranno Studios and its games Blockchain Brawlers and the forthcoming Music Mogul.
BCGW #118 | Games + Community = Angry Dynomites Lab (w/ Oliver Loeffler)
Jon Jordan talks to ex-Kolibri Games co-founder Oliver Loeffler about his new web3 project Angry Dynomites Lab, which has just minted the second of its four elemental dynos NFTs.