Imagine spending thousands of dollars on virtual items you can’t gift, sell, or truly own. This is the reality for most gamers today, as a recent survey of 2,000 U.S. gamers commissioned by Unstoppable Games and supported by StarkWare revealed. They invest countless hours and sometimes significant amounts of money to win battles and beat levels, only to log off empty-handed, with nothing to show for their efforts in the real world.
Now, before this starts sounding like yet another shill post listing the benefits of blockchain gaming that no Web2 gamer cares about, the results of the survey indicate that they do care. Gamers spend around $6,425 on virtual items over their lifetimes, and 51% feel frustrated they can’t gift or resell those items.
Blockchain games hold the key to resolving the asset-ownership problem and many other frustrations faced by gamers today, and yet 4 in 5 gamers have never tried an onchain game. So, what do gamers need to know in order to buy in?
The current state of gaming
The online gaming world is huge and always evolving, with 1.1 billion online gamers from around the world spending $26.14 billion on online games in 2023 alone. As mentioned, the Unstoppable Games survey found that gamers spend about $6,425 on virtual items over their lifetimes, which comes out to around $104 a year, with the most common purchases being resources, weapons, and extra lives. This shows just how committed gamers are to boosting their in-game experience.
In-game purchases are a big part of gaming today, giving players the edge they need to level up and win. But the real potential of in-game purchases is wasted when gamers invest real money into assets that they can’t really own. If the gaming studio of a particular game decides to shut down that game, all the time and effort players put into it are lost—as are the assets they purchased. When more than 60 games were shut down and 11 game studios closed their doors in 2023 alone, causing players to lose all their in-game assets, that’s a real problem. According to the survey, over half of U.S. gamers are frustrated by this limitation.
On top of that, 23% of gamers are annoyed by how hard it is to manage and transfer their digital assets. The current setup of most gaming platforms makes these processes difficult and restrictive, leaving gamers feeling like they have no control over their purchases.
The benefits of blockchain gaming
The gamer’s feelings of frustration from losing all their in-game assets is where blockchain gaming offers a unique opportunity. Unlike traditional games, where a gamer’s virtual items are at the mercy of the game developers and can disappear if the game shuts down, blockchain games ensure players truly own their in-game assets.
Instead of storing game data on a centralized server controlled by a company, fully onchain blockchain games store data on a decentralized ledger (blockchain). When games are fully onchain, gamers have more control and verifiable ownership over their permanent in-game assets, over which they take custody in blockchain wallets the same way they can own cryptocurrencies or NFTs.
Because their assets are stored on the blockchain, they are less susceptible to a gaming studio disappearing on them. In simple terms, gamers keep control of their assets regardless of what happens to the game.
Blockchain gaming also provides players with the following benefits:
- Interoperability: In-game items can potentially be transferred and used across different games and platforms, enhancing their value and usability.
- Monetization: Players can trade assets with verifiable ownership, often earning real-world value.
- Enhanced security: Blockchain’s cryptographic encryption and decentralized structure create a tamper-proof ledger, significantly reducing the risk of hacking and fraud.
- Decentralized governance: Blockchain games often employ Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), letting players vote on game updates and rules and giving them a direct influence on the game’s development.
For more information on the benefits of Web3 gaming – read here.
So why does blockchain gaming remain on the sidelines?
Even with all its perks, blockchain gaming is still a mystery for many. The Unstoppable Gaming survey showed 52% of gamers have never even heard of blockchain games, and 32% know about them but haven’t tried them. This lack of awareness keeps gamers from exploring what blockchain gaming can offer.
At least part of that skepticism can be attributed to the perception that blockchain games focus so much on earning that they sacrifice gameplay—and while earning is a nice perk, most gamers game for the purpose of having fun. While true that some early play-to-earn (P2E) games did fall into the trap of emphasizing earnings over gameplay, the industry is largely moving away from that approach, instead focusing on integrating the advantages of blockchain seamlessly into gameplay—making blockchain work for games, rather than the other way around.
Another barrier to the adoption of blockchain gaming is poor user experience (UX) compared to that of Web2 games. Let’s face it, seeing your wallet add-on pop up every time you attack your opponent, or having to go through the tedious private keys process every time you sign in isn’t exactly the smoothest way to play a game. Not quite so fun compared to the slick action of “Call of Duty,” is it?
Gamers are just that: Gamers. They aren’t crypto investors. They don’t want to have to learn an entirely new industry or jump through hoops to play, regardless of the benefits. And, of course, putting games fully on blockchain requires signing transactions to take various actions in the games, which incurs fees, and particularly hefty ones when games are built directly on Ethereum.
That’s where Starknet comes in.
Gaming on Starknet: As easy as traditional games
Starknet tackles many of these challenges head-on with its native account abstraction. The de-facto setting on Starknet, native account abstraction empowers decentralized applications (dApps) to offer Web2-like features that enable smoother gameplay. Thanks to this crucial feature, games built on Starknet can deploy session keys, which enable gamers to sign their wallet at the start of the game only, and then play without any interruptions for a given period of time.
Starknet’s native account abstraction enables a wide range of other UX improvements as well. Think of things like using face ID and fingerprint ID to sign into a game, rather than needing to remember complex private keys.
Of course, Starknet completely eliminates Ethereum’s fee problem too, making transactions super fast and extra low cost (fees as low as $0.002 recently). That alone goes a long way toward making blockchain gaming economically feasible.
If you're a developer, check out the Dojo gaming engine →Bridging the gap for Web2 gamers and blockchain games
Both Web2 and blockchain gamers believe in the importance of owning the assets they purchase. Despite this, 80% of gamers have never tried blockchain games, even though they’re attracted to the idea of real ownership. This gap shows a clear need for more accessible blockchain gaming experiences, which Starknet enables.
Unstoppable Games is bridging this gap with its blockchain game, Influence, a sci-fi MMO game set in space newly launched on Starknet mainnet, where players navigate an asteroid belt, build their colonies, and engage in strategic battles. Starknet was chosen as the network of choice for Influence because it offers high throughput and low latency, ensuring smooth, scalable gameplay, along with the native account abstraction feature that provides for excellent UX. The lower transaction fees also mean players save money, making it more affordable. Plus, the user experience on Starknet feels a lot like traditional Web2 games, making it an easier switch for gamers used to the old ways.
The gaming world is evolving, and blockchain is at the forefront of this transformation. Don’t get left behind–explore blockchain gaming in the Starknet ecosystem and experience blockchain gaming’s opportunities for yourself.
Want to see how great Web3 games can be? Play Influence today >>
FAQs
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Blockchain gaming integrates blockchain technology into video games, allowing players to own, trade, and transfer in-game assets across different platforms. Unlike traditional gaming, where assets are confined to a single game, blockchain gaming enables true ownership and interoperability of digital assets.
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Starknet, as a layer-2 solution, enhances blockchain gaming by providing scalability and reducing transaction costs. This allows for smoother gameplay, faster transactions, and the ability to handle a large number of users simultaneously without compromising the security and decentralization of the blockchain.
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In blockchain gaming, NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) represent unique in-game assets, such as characters, items, or land. These NFTs are stored on the blockchain, giving players true ownership and the ability to trade or sell these assets on various marketplaces, independent of the game itself.
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Starknet uses advanced cryptographic techniques and a decentralized architecture to ensure the security of in-game assets and transactions. By operating as a layer-2 solution, Starknet inherits the security of the underlying Ethereum blockchain while offering faster and cheaper transactions.
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Developers building on Starknet benefit from scalability, lower costs, and access to a growing ecosystem of tools and resources. Starknet’s infrastructure supports complex game mechanics and large user bases, enabling developers to create more engaging and innovative blockchain-based games.
