Analysis of the Development Path of Decentralization Platform

Decentralization games have always been a hot topic in the crypto market. Recently, the decentralized platform Magic on Arbitrum has exploded in popularity, sparking widespread discussion in the market. Some have compared it to the "Nintendo" of the crypto world, while Gala Games is referred to as the "Web3 version of the Steam platform." These two completely different models raise the question: Which development path should decentralized platforms choose?

Development Models of Traditional Gaming Platforms

The development of the traditional gaming industry platform mainly has three models: studio model, development engine model, and distribution platform model.

Studio Mode

The studio model starts from small game studios and gradually develops into large companies with multiple game IPs. These companies attract players by continuously launching new games or sequels and make adjustments and improvements based on game performance. A typical representative is Blizzard Entertainment, which evolved from a small studio established in 1991 into a giant in the gaming industry, owning well-known IPs such as World of Warcraft and StarCraft.

Development Engine Mode

The development engine model is a newer platform model for gaming, with Roblox being the most famous example. Roblox is a community-based virtual world platform that allows users to design and create their own games and share them. It provides game development tools, a virtual currency system, and monetization features, forming an ecosystem for creating and sharing games.

distribution platform model

The distribution platform model is represented by Steam, which started from its own leading products and developed into a game distribution platform. Steam provides players with convenient channels for purchasing and downloading games, and also offers developers a wide platform for promotion and distribution. Today, Steam has become a monopolistic platform for PC game distribution.

Development Path of Blockchain Gaming Platforms

Game Studio Mode and Public Chain Ecosystem

This path has gradually developed in the cryptocurrency world to first create blockbuster games and then issue public blockchains. Representatives include the Flow public blockchain issued by Dapper and Ronin issued by Axie Infinity. In the future, products with traffic may issue their own App chains or L2, which may become the development path for blockchain games.

New projects like Fusionist have also started to adopt this approach, launching their own mainnet Endurance, and plan to build a decentralized gaming public chain ecosystem based on this.

This model relies on the influence of a single game, requiring the first product to ignite the market. However, if the game fails, the value of the public chain will also decline. The core of the studio model is still how to create an enjoyable game, rather than telling a grand story.

Development Engine Mode

The decentralized development engine is built on blockchain technology, providing more freedom and creativity. Fragnova and Cocos-CBX are two representative projects.

Decentralization game engines have many advantages compared to centralized engines:

• Better protect game data and user digital assets
• Provide developers with more freedom and control.
• Achieve a fairer and more transparent gaming ecosystem

But the Decentralization engine also faces challenges:

• Traditional engines such as UE and Unity have dominated the market.
• The ecosystem and community are relatively small.
• There is still room for improvement and refinement in terms of technology.

Distribution platform model

The distribution platform model has become the choice of many decentralized gaming platforms due to its light asset and heavy operation characteristics. TreasureDAO is a typical representative, evolving from the first revenue protocol of the Loot ecosystem to the largest decentralized gaming platform on Arbitrum.

Decentralization platform can profit through token rewards, NFT trading, platform fees, and other methods. In terms of user protection, technologies such as smart contracts can be utilized.

However, most games on the current decentralized platform remain at the "mini-game" level, which is a huge gap compared to traditional AAA titles. However, frequent low-cost trial and error is beneficial for discovering "blockbusters," and finding player demand before further development may be more capital efficient.

Gala Games adopts a different model, focusing more on using tokens to incentivize the community and governance, and to list more high-quality games. Decentralization node network is its feature.

Overall, decentralized platforms still have a significant gap in both the quantity and quality of games compared to mainstream platforms. However, the number of blockchain games has been growing exponentially in recent years, and with further improvements, decentralized platforms are expected to become a hub for the traffic of these games.

Development Space and Prospects

Compared to traditional gaming giants, decentralized platforms still have dozens or even hundreds of times the growth potential. The following issues need to be addressed in the future:

• How to better utilize blockchain technology to protect user rights
• How to attract more players and developers to join, improving the quality and quantity of games.
• How to compete with traditional platforms in the hot game sector

The advantages of decentralized platforms over centralized platforms are similar to how decentralized finance disrupts traditional finance, not as a supplement but as a revolution. When decentralized products offer sufficiently good user experience and security, their advantages in production relations will completely replace centralized platforms, returning more rights to users and developers.

In the coming years, decentralized platforms will face numerous challenges and opportunities. Technologically, continuous improvement and refinement are required, while the market needs to create more blockbuster products to attract users. Only by continuously innovating and developing can greater success be achieved in the fierce market competition.