Is there ‘too much’ blockchain in gaming? Sui’s randomness feature: Web3 Gamer

According to a Web3 gaming executive, the sheer number of blockchains is creating problems for blockchain gaming.

According to Sebastian Borje, co-founder of The Sandbox and president of the Blockchain Game Alliance, the sheer number of blockchains means that users are spread across many different networks, none of which boasts a massive user base.

Borget told Web3 Gamer that one of the industry’s biggest challenges is that there is “too much blockchain.”

Gaming companies need to figure out which blockchain ecosystem to choose among the many options available, including Layer 1, Layer 2, and Layer 3 blockchains such as ImmutableX, Base, Avalanche, Ronin, and BNB Smart Chain.

“You can no longer say that Ethereum is a gaming or NFT blockchain, because ImmutableX, Solana, Aptos, and now The Open Network have far more DApps and active users.”

Borget says that as more blockchains launch, each is offering more “subsidies and incentives” to attract game developers to their ecosystem.

But Borget raises a question: Beyond the benefits of transaction speed, reliability, and transparency, do these blockchains actually have enough users and a well-developed ecosystem?

He also noted that convincing wealthy venture capitalists to invest money in the Web3 games industry is becoming increasingly difficult.

“With less investment than ever before and token vesting and release schedule terms becoming more restrictive, this impacts the viability of the project’s token economics in the long term,” Borget explains.

He also noted that launching NFTs is no longer a popular trend in Web3 games.

But Borget believes the Web3 games industry will be “mature” by 2024, as the quality of games finally meets players’ expectations.

The Blockchain Game Alliance (BGA) is again partnering with Web3 advisory firm Emfarsis to conduct the 2024 State of the Industry Survey. Running until September 20, we invite everyone in the Web3 space, including blockchain developers, marketers, project managers, and more, to share what they love and what annoys them about the Web3 games industry.

Does your game pass the “100 millisecond” test? Huddle01 CEO claims it probably should.

Lag has been a major pain point for gamers since the advent of online multiplayer gaming, but Huddle01 CEO Ayush Ranjan says that when lag lasts longer than a tenth of a second, a game becomes unbearable.

“In fast-paced multiplayer games, the round-trip time for game updates should be under 100 milliseconds,” Ranjan told Web3 Gamer, adding that any slower and gamers won’t continue playing.

“Any delay longer than that can cause gameplay to grind to a halt, leading to characters losing progress or being forced to leave the game due to the inability to update in real time,” Ranjan said.

Huddle01 claims that its decentralized real-time communications network dramatically reduces these round-trip times by utilizing a network of “globally distributed media nodes” instead of a centralized server, minimizing the distance data has to travel.

Ranzan said this allows updates to be released more quickly, allowing players to stay focused on the game without interruption.

He repeatedly stressed that “clear and transparent communication” between networks is essential in team-based games, as “precise coordination and quick decision-making are essential.”

Ranjan said existing software development kits are “quite expensive” and that games like the popular first-person shooter Call of Duty cost “over $200 million in royalties.”

He said the high costs make it inaccessible to developers just starting out, as they “don’t have access to that kind of funding.”

Ranjan argues that Huddle01 wants to break down that barrier for new entrants.

“Huddle01 provides an affordable, distributed infrastructure that allows developers to focus on creating innovative gameplay experiences rather than worrying about high price points,” he says.

Huddle01 has partnered with two of the biggest names in blockchain gaming, Xai and Aethir, to provide developers with a 95% cheaper Unity SDK, enabling them to create budget-friendly, immersive games that attract more players and improve user experience.

“The Unity SDK works on the dRTC network to minimize latency between players,” Ranjan said.

Sui Network wants developers to see how random their games are.

Randomness is crucial to ensuring that games aren’t manipulated by developers. Now, layer 1 blockchain Sui is launching a new stable on-chain randomness feature on its mainnet to keep things unpredictable.

“Developers now have access to a new source of randomness generated by the Sui validator and can use it in their testnet apps,” Sui said.

“The most obvious use cases,” Sui explains, are games such as lotteries, card games, loot boxes, raffles and casino games.

They claim that “on-chain native randomness” allows gamers to have peace of mind knowing that they don’t have to trust the game operator alone, as the network is ensuring everything remains random.

Since it is on-chain, gamers can verify the randomness themselves if they start to doubt, which increases “transparency and trust.”

But honestly, there’s nothing worse than losing for hours and then finding out that the game wasn’t rigged and you were just plain unlucky.

“This use case extends to more complex games, such as determining whether a character has hit an enemy in an RPG,” Sui explains.

“NFTs could open the door to creativity in the design and use of NFTs by incorporating genetic traits or random mutations in breeding scenarios.”

Decentralized oracle network Chainlink says randomness is the absence of patterns or predictability. For something to be truly random, it must be unpredictable, unbiased, provably tamper-proof, and non-reproducible.

Likewise, the Web3 native communication network Push Protocol believes that randomness serves as a “fundamental building block that underpins security and fairness”, ensuring that “the process is free from bias and manipulation.”

Other News

— Sony Group has created a blockchain called “Sonium.” Users can access Sonium through apps that are compatible with the network, and through these apps, they can interact with Web3 games, NFT marketplaces, and other entertainment services provided by these apps.

— Immersive on-chain RPG Pirate Nation claims to be “the world’s first multi-chain game” by launching on a second blockchain, the Boss chain, allowing players to “trade with each other across chains without bridging.”

— Game7 introduces “Factions,” groups within the Game7 community that compete for the top spot on a new Faction Leaderboard.

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Sheeran Lyons

Ciaran Lyons is an Australian cryptocurrency journalist. He is also a stand-up comedian and has worked as a radio and TV presenter on Triple J, SBS and The Project.