The gaming world has evolved remarkably over the past decade, and considering the changes since 2000, the pace of evolution is astonishing. From the early days of Pacman and Doom, where players' imagination and competitive spirit were paramount, to modern blockbusters like Cyberpunk 2077 and Baldur's Gate III, which immerse players in rich, imaginary worlds, gaming is now on the cusp of its next evolutionary leap. From in-person LAN parties to daily multiplayer tournaments with global participants, the social fabric and competitive spirit have transformed, transcending physical boundaries as every digital player becomes a potential worthy opponent.
This transformation has heightened the focus on competitive gaming and the rise of esports, a new competitive paradigm. Despite its revolutionary approach to digital competition, esports still grapples with challenges that hinder its expansive potential, such as converting skill into monetary rewards and aligning players' incentives with developers' visions. Players are still looking for a place where their mastery pays off, no matter the level.
The Rise of Competitive Gaming
The inherent human desire for competition has always been a driving force in the gaming industry, with numerous MMORPGs dominating the scene for years before the rise of the esports industry. All because the competitive spirit demanded more standardized and fair gameplay, allowing players to test their skills and climb the ranks without falling victim to cheats or bots, a common issue in popular MMORPGs. This is how esports came to life and this is what led esports to enter a stage of explosive growth, filling stadium arenas with fans, attracting millions of viewers to championship tournaments, and offering monetary prizes that many can only dream of.
However, the current competitive gaming landscape, led by esports, has inherent limitations that do not seem to be anywhere near being solved. The professionalization of esports means only a small fraction of players can monetize their skills, leaving the majority without meaningful incentives beyond in-game rewards with no real-world value. Additionally, the reward systems in many competitive games often fail to align with players' efforts, leading to dissatisfaction and disengagement as mastering a skillset often results in nothing more than climbing the abstract ranks, with minimal chances of monetizing one's skills in the future.
Blockchain and the Future of Competitive Gaming
The first wave of blockchain games taught us valuable lessons and revealed which incentives are not ideal for scaling to millions of users. Early attempts at on-chain gaming often misused blockchain technology, introducing value-extractive mechanisms and misaligned token incentives that didn't enhance the gaming experience. However, these early experiments showcased blockchain's potential to create new gaming experiences that could address the shortcomings of traditional competitive gaming, and we've already seen significant successes in this field. With Telegram's shift to hosting web3 applications and on-chain games, hundreds of millions of users now have access to casual and hyper-casual games like NotCoin, Hamster Kombat, TONRoll, and Snake TON directly from their favorite messaging app. These solid foundations and peak accessibility mark just the beginning of what web3 gaming will bring to the mainstream in months to come; watch as we take the gaming world by storm and prove all the web3 gaming doubters wrong.
If you've followed our previous blog posts, you know that Elympics is integrating with Telegram to build the greatest web3 gaming platform ever seen, and with recent Pantera investments, there is even more fuel for the explosive growth of what we are building together.
Using blockchain to store match histories, reward players with NFTs for their achievements, and offer a model where players earn meaningful rewards enhances the gaming experience up to the point that users not only feel rewarded, but they can build their digital reputation that is fully owned by them, no matter the platform. On the other hand, developers are rewarded for creating games that attract the masses, realizing a dream that is becoming a reality before your eyes and all this is just a fraction of what Elympics brings to the table.
By encouraging meaningful competition, players engage more deeply with competitive games, and incentives align perfectly with both players and game creators. Elympics introduces a monetization model that allocates a small percentage of each prize pool directly to the developer's wallet. The more popular the game, the more revenue the developer earns. This model incentivizes developers to create high-quality, competitive games that attract and retain players, and if you couple this with millions of active users on Telegram, there is a huge market opportunity for developers to grab. On top of all this you should add shorter feedback loops that allow for rapid iterations to suit players’ needs, and you get a highly flexible and rapidly evolving gaming landscape ready to fit any trend and create new trends that will go viral, thanks to Telegram's vast user base.
Until recently, monetization in web3 gaming often involved practices like Pay-to-Win, which did not improve the web3 space. However, the shift towards fair competition and social gaming with money competitions introduces a new paradigm where web3 gaming can finally create positive-sum games by introducing fairness and overall quality to create a positive feedback loop, strengthening Elympics' position in the web3 space. The shift from value extractive, to zero-sum games made in a positive-sum environment is how you rise to the top.
As web3 expansion accelerates, Elympics is set to become the Competitive Web3 Gaming Protocol that not only brings social gaming with money competitions to newly created games, but also allows existing games with large user bases to implement Elympics' principles, introducing real money competitions based purely on players' skill and game mastery.
The Return of Liquidity
One critical factor driving the next wave of web3 gaming is the return of liquidity to crypto markets. Without liquidity, interest in web3 diminishes, and attracting new users becomes more than challenging as at the end of the day, most of the efforts turn out to be pointless. However, recognizing the importance of timing and market cyclicality, where attention from both liquidity and users begins to rise, presents endless opportunities. This inflow of capital and resources, such as skilled developers and venture capital backing, will fuel the growth of numerous gaming projects, leading to a surge in web3 game releases and innovations. This is particularly evident in Telegram's web3 games built on the TON blockchain using Elympics as their Competitive Web3 Gaming Protocol. The tides are shifting, and soon the broader web3 gaming world will take notice.
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