Games need bots? Illivium CEO admits ‘it’s tough,’ Web3 games 42X upside: Web3 Gamer

Is a game even a game without bots? Pixels CEO doesn’t think so

Some think that bots in games is a sign of the apocalypse, or perhaps just the makers trying to fill up an empty venue to make it look popular.

But Pixels founder and CEO Luke Barwikowski says that conversely, if people aren’t trying to fill your game with bots, then it’s probably because the game isn’t exactly the talk of the town.

“If people aren’t trying to bot your game — it’s not because they can’t — it’s because they don’t care enough to do it.”

According to Barwikowski, if you’re making a game that doesn’t have any bots and flaunting it, that’s not something to boast about.

“It’s not always the flex you think to say you don’t have any bots in an ecosystem,” he declares.

To be fair, bots do bring with them some perks – such as shorter wait times for gamers and a guaranteed opponent whenever you are up for a game. But the bots are starting to take over.

In November last year, anti-botting company Jigger analyzed more than 60 games and services and found 200,000 bots. 

About 40% of all GameFi users are bots, and for certain titles like MetaGear, AnRkey X, and ARIVA, it’s a massive 80%. And brace yourself — for Karma Verse Zombie, it’s a mind-blowing 96%.

Web3 Games: The easy pick for crypto firms to throw shade at

Web3 Games have been catching a lot of flak lately, with frequent criticisms including their sky-high failure rates and that many games aren’t much fun. 

A recent CoinGecko highlights that three out of four blockchain games have flopped since 2018. This year, a whopping 70% of games launched have bitten the dust. Still, their figures are unusual, suggesting the failure rate in 2022 was a mind-bogglingly unlikely 107%.

Kieran Warwick, co-founder and big boss of Illivium, isn’t second-guessing the numbers, though. He tells Magazine that creating a Web3 game ain’t a walk in the park like releasing a memecoin.

“It makes sense; it’s tough for a game to be successful,” he says. “You need a combination of fantastic gameplay, huge funding and effective marketing,” he declares.

Although he’s on the same page with the masses about NFT games being a letdown.

“Almost every game released has been sub-par when you add the need to create sustainable economic models using bleeding-edge blockchain technology, the likelihood of succeeding declines again.”

Fortunately, Warwick believes there is a ticking clock on when these crazy failure rates in Web3 game reports are gonna turn around.

“Good games also take a long time to build. In the next few years, once the games that have been in development for 3-5 years start releasing, sentiment will quickly shift,” he declares.

Warwick believes there’s no magic moment when everyone’s gonna ditch regular gaming for Web3. He suggests it’s not rocket science; it’s just straight-up logic for when the switch will happen.

“Once gamers experience a blockchain game just as good as its mainstream competitor and have ownership of their assets, they aren’t returning to the game they used to play,” he says.

Meanwhile, crypto analyst Miles Deutscher recently told his 383,000 followers that crypto gaming is still a small fry in the vast gaming world. But that just means it has a lot more potential.

“The total gaming space is projected to hit $610b by 2032. Crypto gaming is currently valued at just $14.5b. That’s a 42x discrepancy. We’re still so early.”

Hot take: Galaxy Fight Club

Galaxy Fight Club is a PvP battle game built on the Polygon blockchain. It has a fairly impressive turnaround time from downloading the game to being able to jump right into the chaos of online shooting with random players in no time.

Getting matched into a game had a similar ease to joining a game in Call of Duty or Battlefield. 

You can dip your toes in as a guest, get a feel for the game, or go all in by creating an account linked to your crypto wallet. 

If you’re sitting on some NFT characters – you can bring them to the brawl. 

However, it is a shame you cannot communicate with other players on your team. Sometimes, you feel like you are left deciphering the thoughts of a character on the screen when you’re right in the middle of virtual warfare. 

Not trying to be overly picky, but those attack buttons are a bit off-center. It might feel a tad awkward for the thumbs, especially if you’re used to playing shooter games on those smaller iPhones.

The developers compare it to Super Mario Bros, but instead of facing off against Pikachu with Mario, you’re in for a brawl with an Ape from Bored Ape Yacht Club or a Cool Cat throwing down with a Cryptopunk in the game.

But don’t stress if you’re NFT-less; you can start with a default character and level up from there.

I’m actually on the grind playing the game trying to grab some NFTs for myself. My original NFTs are stuck on a MetaMask account from a phone I lost, and I can’t seem to track down the seed phrase. 

Total rookie move.

Luckily, getting your hands on NFTs is pretty straightforward when you win matches.

Score a win, and you can grab some Silver Key Fragments. Combine those, and you might even score some lootbox keys to unlock virtual weapons and armor NFTs.

Even better, when you eventually get bored of the game, you can cash in. Everything—your loot, keys, and even those fragments — can be sold on OpenSea or any other NFT marketplace.

Animoca Brands backs The Open Network (TON)

Animoca Brands is going all-in on TON’s blockchain, the fully decentralized layer-1 blockchain originally cooked up by Telegram. They’ve grabbed the top spot as the biggest validator on the blockchain.

Yat Siu, co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands, believes it will help more traditional gamer types make the move over to Web3.

“This strategic investment in TON is a key part of our broader commitment to help onboard the next million Web3 users by facilitating a seamless transition from Web2 to Web3.”

The gaming giant insists it’s not betting on a flop.

“Animoca Brands undertook extensive research before deciding to invest in TON’s ecosystem,”  the company declares.

Other News

— Amazon Prime Gaming just joined forces with Immutable’s TCG Gods Unchained. Now, if you link up your in-game account with Amazon Prime Gaming, you score monthly access to some exclusive in-game perks. 

— The founder and CEO of G2 Esports, Carlos Rodriguez, joined the board of blockchain gaming metaverse Farcana. 

— Fintech company Ramp Network announced that it is integrating its on-and-off ramp products with the blockchain gaming development studio Games For A Living.

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Ciaran Lyons

Ciaran Lyons is an Australian crypto journalist. He’s also a standup comedian and has been a radio and TV presenter on Triple J, SBS and The Project.