Blockchain Gaming: Separating Signal from the Noise

Since the launch of CryptoKitties - a digital cat-breeding game built on ethereum - roughly a year ago, games have provided a digitally native playground for early adopters to experiment with the unique benefits of open protocols.

While there's a lot of early excitement in the blockchain gaming space, there's some rightful skepticism.

At its core, his post argues that incumbents in the gaming industry likely won't embrace blockchain because true digital scarcity breaks their existing business models.

We'll begin by exploring the existing business models for early blockchain games.

The bull run in crypto made it difficult to weed signal from noise in the tech's gaming sub-sector.

Enter CryptoKitties: a digital cat breeding game and the first mainstream-oriented blockchain gaming experience.

Because little gaming infrastructure existed on ethereum, CryptoKitties built everything themselves.

One could be a compelling layer one gaming experience, designed from the beginning with shared incentives to build layer two experiences.

EVE Online has many characteristics of a blockchain game.

The audience of the game could expand dramatically: purely financially-motivated traders might enter the ecosystem, as well as casual gamers who enjoy only specific layer two experiences that branch off the original game economy.