Reflections on the WEB3 Carnival in Hong Kong: The Future and Challenges of the Blockchain Gaming Track

After attending the 2024 Hong Kong WEB3 Carnival, various scenes from the meetings and encounters keep replaying in my mind. Although I could only attend three or four events and already feel exhausted, I still envy those who can participate in seven or eight events in a single day. On the flight back, I started to sort out some thoughts from this event.

Has the WEB3 gaming track been falsified?

Although there hasn't yet been a phenomenon-level blockchain game like Axie and StepN from the previous bull market, my view remains firm: if you are optimistic about WEB3, you should be bullish on WEB3 games. History has proven that games are an important entry point for emerging industries to enter the application layer.

From the perspective of the development of the computer industry, gaming has always been an important factor driving chip upgrades. Fifty years ago, the popularity of the Atari game console directly promoted the development of the chip industry. In recent years, NVIDIA started with gaming graphics cards (GPUs) and has now become a global tech giant in the wave of AI.

Games are an important medium for the general public to pursue joy and excitement. Those who can succeed in the C-end must first make achievements in the gaming field.

Why is the development of WEB3 games currently slow?

The main reason is the short development time and deviation in direction. Since Axie became popular in 2021, blockchain games have truly formed a cluster effect, and the development time is still very short. We can look back at the first two transformations of video games:

1. 25 years ago, the shift from hardware sales to software sales was driven by the popularity of personal computers, leading to the rise of PC gaming.
2. Fifteen years ago, the proliferation of mobile devices drove the rise of free-to-play and pay-to-play models, making service-oriented games mainstream.

The second transformation has had a profound impact on the gaming industry, including increased personnel costs and the rise of casual games.

The future third transformation may be related to WEB3 gaming. The core advantage of WEB3 gaming lies in the convenience of payments and transactions, which will be its biggest difference from traditional gaming.

Currently, the development direction of WEB3 games has deviated, mainly because the first hit blockchain game Axie led to the Play to Earn model, resulting in many projects blindly imitating it. However, in the long run, the real WEB3 gaming bull market has yet to arrive, and greater opportunities are still ahead.

How to Embed Circulation and Payment in WEB3 Games?

Designing an economic model for WEB3 games is a complex task that requires consideration of multiple factors. Here are some thoughts:

1. Initially, moderate centralized control is needed to avoid overly liberal circulation of tokens, in order to prevent interference from external speculators.

2. As the ecosystem matures, different development models can be chosen: one is to focus primarily on asset appreciation, rapidly increasing the total value of the economy; the other is to achieve sustainable development through the establishment of a reasonable tax mechanism. The ideal strategy is to first adopt the first model and then transition to the second model.

3. Improving the convenience of circulation and payment is key. If WEB3 games can surpass WEB2 in this regard, they may lead industry transformation.

Overall, successful WEB3 games in the future need to make breakthroughs in the following three areas: eliminating circulation and payment barriers, establishing decentralized consensus mechanisms, and keeping up with new technological developments in the gaming industry (such as AI and VR).

We have reason to believe that a new blockbuster WEB3 game will eventually emerge; the key is to maintain patience and continuous innovation.