BCGW #133 | Ultra - building Steam on steroids for blockchain gaming

Jon Jordan and BlockchainGamer.biz editor Jenny Jordan talk through the week's news including:[0:45] Pixels' new ecosystem-wide PIXEL staking feature is now live, supporting three games.[1:57] Pixels' daily activity has declined a lot, as has the PIXEL token price over the past year. [2:58] Pixels' vision now is to better target its rewards towards committed players.[4:30] Staking and the future vPIXEL token (June) use the Apptoken standard which gives devs more control.[7:03] You stake PIXEL into any of the supported games, which return a share of their overall rewards.[10:37] The goal is to build a platform any web3 (or web2) game could also plug into.[15:05] PC RPG MapleStory N will launch on 15th May.[16:56] This is a big IP for Nexon to release on blockchain and it's been very careful in the design.[19:58] Blockchain gaming platform Ultra announced a partnership with Vaulta (ex-EOS).[24:11] Wildcard streaming platform Thousands generated almost $78,000 from one 2-hour stream.[29:15] To-date the platform has a payer conversation rate of 51% and ARPV (per viewer) of $109.[35.27] Nintendo appears to have integrated web3 tech into the mobile version of Pokemon Home. [40:55] Epic Games Store will now let devs - including of blockchain game - earn $1M of IAP without fee.[45:25] This could be important for experienced mobile devs like Mythical and Limit Break.

Jon Jordan talks to Pixels CEO Luke Barwikowski about the game’s forthcoming adoption of the new Apptokens standard, which as well as seeing the launch of the spend/stake-only vPIXEL token, will also herald a new staking model, which will use the token to boost marketing for Pixels and its partner games.[4:42] Games like Axie and Pixels have been massive successes. We need to make them sustainable.[5:25] Some of the issues for web3 games are just gaming issues. Web2 games are not doing well.[7:50] DAUs is not the primary metric for Pixels. It's secondary compared to net revenue.[9:00] We thought we could convert DAUs into paying users. We can but the rate is very low.[11:45] In particularly, it's hard to convert paying users into net paying users.[13:53] We're doing a lot of work to figure out who are the right users to give incentives to.[18:20] The three elements that are required to make a great web3 game. [19:10] Explaining how ERC721C enforced NFT royalties aligns incentives for devs and NFT traders.[20:50] Apptokens (ERC20C) do something similar for fungible tokens. [21:38] A lot of the players we give PIXEL tokens to just sell them - this is misalignment.[21:50] Apptokens allows us to give more tokens to players who spend them in-game. [22:25] We're doing this with our new vPIXEL token, which can only be staked or spent, not sold. [23:48] We want to preference players who use the PIXEL tokens through its tokenomics.[27:36] This is going to be the industry-standard soon. [28:41] The new staking system embraces all the games published in the Pixels ecosystem.[28:50] This sees 28 million PIXEL distributed monthly via these games, giving rewards to stakers.[33:17] This won't be limited to Ronin games, although the staking contracts will be on Ronin.[34:47] How the core Pixels game will fit into this new multi-game PIXEL token ecosystem.[36:35] Pixels is launching a mobile-first Tamagotchi-style pet app in June/July.[38:27] Players who want to convert vPIXEL to PIXEL will pay a c.50% withdrawal fee.[40:47] It doesn't matter how web3 a game is. What matters is whether it works.[42:30] Pixels has given out over $100 million of rewards in terms of PIXEL tokens.

Jon Jordan and BlockchainGamer.biz editor Jenny Jordan talk through the week's news including:[0:25] Immutable and Ubisoft have announced Might & Magic Fates.[1:05] Ubisoft have been making blockchain games since 2017/18.[2:35] Might & Magic feels like a reasonable IP to experiment with a web3 TCG.[3:08] But do we need another TCG? Another web3 TCG?[5:40] Web3 will be optional for players and won't give gameplay advantages.[7:55] Ready Makers Inc's lawsuit against Ready Maker (Gibraltar) has been thrown out.[16:22] Did the lawsuit impact the price of the PLAY or would it have gone down that much anyway?[17:16] Pixels is the first game to announce it's using Apptokens.[18:10] Apptokens are an attempt to stop token holders immediately cashing out.[20:40] This means the new vPIXEL token can be given away without impacting the price of PIXEL.[22:08] More developers are talking about using Apptokens, including Sky Mavis.[25:20] Mythical Games' FIFA Rivals is going into pre release in some countries in May.[29:41] Jon's been enjoying The British Museum experience in The Sandbox.

Jon Jordan and BlockchainGamer.biz editor Jenny Jordan talk through the week's news including:[2:10] A year ago, Immutable launched The Main Quest. People have been collecting gems ever since.[3:45] However, it wasn't clear what the purpose or value of these gems was.[4:10] Main Quest has been renamed Perpetual Rewards. You can earn more gems by playing games. [5:05] Your wallet has to be verified by phone number and social login.[5:34] You buy one key per wallet for 500 gems that drops random rewards, mainly IMX tokens.[6:51] In the first week, I got an epic key, which dropped around $30 of IMX.[8:00] This week, the total prize pool was $230,000-worth of IMX. It drops to $90,000 next week.[9:08] The top wallet in week 1 won around $9,000 of IMX.[10:26] How effective will this system be in terms of engaging players in Immutable games?[11:49] It is part of a wider trend to target rewards to your most committed players c.f. Pixels.[13:16] Immortal Rising 2 has seen a 91% decline in DAUWs since its IMT token launch.[14:52] Treasure and Aavegotchi have both announced they are shutting down their L3s.[17:07] Companies launched L3s in 2024 because they could sell new tokens to investors.[17:50] But these chains cost money to operate and their games didn't have (m)any users.[19:35]Treasure said its chain cost $450,000 a year to operate.[23:48] An investor has tweeted Off The Grid has +200,000 MAUs and +$14M in annual runrate.[27:09] Jon is conflicted about Off The Grid; "I want it to work but there's a lack of transparency".[32:34] KGeN has announced it's setting up its MENA HQ in Bahrain.[36:20] Shrapnel announced more details of its Chinese expansion including a separate marketplace. [37:12] It has gained a rare license allowing Chinese players can spend fiat money to buy NFTs.[38:28] Chinese players will be playing in the same servers as all other players, however.

Jon Jordan talks to Ultra's new CEO Gus van Rijckevorsel about why the entrepreneur decided to invest in the company. He explains his ambition for Ultra, including competing with Steam and turning the platform into a unicorn that will shake up the entire games industry.[2:38] Gus van Rijckevorsel's previous career as a serial enterpreneur.[4:10] Why he created a French TV show to build his credibility.[9:02] Why Gus "fell in love" with Ultra and wanted to invest. [12:55] Previously Ultra had two co-CEOs, which wasn't the ideal structure for scaling. [16:24] Ultra's just raised $12 million in bridge finance with more funding due later in 2025.[19:29] Web2 gamers don't care about web3. They're here just to play games.[20:00] We are here to eat a chunk of Steam.[21:08] I am convinced we will make money by pleasing game developers.[22:20] We are the game distribution platform with the best technology.[23:55] Can any company compete with Steam when it's so dominant?[26:18] The three different types of gamer that Ultra will support - players, streamers and spectators.[28:52] What are the key things Ultra needs to do to drive its success in 2025?[31:35] We want people to open Ultra in the morning and have it open all day. It's the gaming OS.[32:58] Blockchain will completely change the next 50 years of the digital world. [34:50] We don't have the traffic yet, but one thing's for sure is that we will have the traffic. [35:12] As dollars are linked to the price of oil, so UOS needs to be linked to gaming.[38:15] Ultra needs to be all along the value chain. We need thousands of games on Ultra.[39:18] Ashes of Mankind is one of Ultra's exclusive titles. There will be more in future.[40:06] Call to action for the Ultra community - support us with constructive criticism.

Jon Jordan and BlockchainGamer.biz editor Jenny Jordan talk through the week's news including:[0:30] The Sandbox's Alpha 5 Season is now live with Jurassic World being the lead brand.[3:27] Ultra has raised $12 million, with more expected later in 2025.[3:57] Jon's been talking to the new CEO Gus van Rijckevorsel about his vision for the company. [7:05] How this funding will be used to generate momentum for the future funding.[9:38] Three tokens have launched this week. All of them are performing badly.[12:22] Immortal Rising 2's IMT token is down 74%. It ran a long airdrop campaign but lack utility.[13:09] At present, the only thing a token will do is drop in price, because of bad market sentiment. [14:15] Anyone who gets a free token, the only sensible thing is to sell it straight away.[15:17] GUN token was higher profile and more anticipated but is down 61%.[16:25] A controversy was GUN went live via Binance Launchpad so wasn't distributed to gamers.[18:30] RavenQuest's QUEST token also went live; down 25%.[19:35] How does this compared to February 2024 when the MAVIA token successfully went live?[24:52] 99.99% of blockchain games will fail because they can't get anyone to value their assets.[25:09] One strategy would be to only let people buy your game token from within the game.[25:44] Forgotten Runiverse will be adopting Pixels' PIXEL as its game token.[29:55] We need to educate gamers to spend tokens on in-game assets, not HODL them.[32:30] Jenny's Game of the Week is ONE Fight Arena.

Jon Jordan talks to Marco van den Heuvel, the co-founder and CEO of Beam about the formation of what was originally called Merit Circle as an Axie guild in 2021, then becoming a game investment DAO, and which rebranded as Beam in 2024 as it moved to focus on gaming infrastructure, something it will double down in 2025 with the launch of the Abu Dhabi-based Beam Ventures fund and accelerator. [2:15] Marco's journey in crypto starting with Bitcoin in 2017.[3:30] Started his first company around crypto community management.[3:45] Merit Circle started in 2021 when Axie Infinity blew up.[7:35] Merit Circle started as a guild breeding Axie but quickly expanded to other games.[9:26] It also moved from play-to-earn to become an investment DAO and now running Beam.[12:07] How much of this shift away from P2E was luck[12:44] The data showed that demand for Axies was dropping fast in fall 2021.[15:55] Did Merit Circle invest too widely? Would it have been better to put 200% into 50% of deals?[20:54] Why Merit Circle started making games like Edenhorde.[22:00] We're not a game developer. We intend to become a leading player for gaming infrastructure.[24:35] Why Merit Circle rebranded to Beam. [27:25] It also caused a strong upward valuation on the BEAM token.[28:55] How does Beam compete with Ronin, Immutable, Mythos etc?[30:27] Beam's tech stack can support multiple blockchains such as Immutable, Sophon etc.[31:58] What games should we check out? Trial Xtreme Freedom, Forgotten Playland, Rumble Arcade[34:20] Abu Dhabi-based Beam Ventures fund and accelerator is gearing up for launch in 2025.[37:56] How significant will AI agents be for blockchain gaming?

Jon Jordan and BlockchainGamer.biz editor Jenny Jordan talk through the week's news including:[0:25] Ultra has appointed a new COO, on top of the new CEO added in December 2024. [2:00] Ultra is a Steam-on-blockchain distro platform. It's suffering from the cold start problem.[3:00] Ashes of Mankind is its first party shooter, going into early access in Q2.[4:30] The role of the CEO in modern business and why Ultra's co-CEO structure didn't work.[6:40] But the new CEO and COO don't have any previous game industry experience.[8:04] Gunzilla's GUN token is going live on Binance on 31st March. [10:50] Once the mainnet is live, we'll finally get an idea how many people are playing Off The Grid.[13:32] Gunzilla has also bought Game Informer for reasons no-one can understand.[16:10] The Sandbox Alpha Season 5 goes live on 31st March with dinosaurs.[20:43] There are moves to shut down Arbitrum's Gaming Catalyst Program - DAOs a mess! [27:56] Boomland has taken over MultiversX mobile shooter Cantina Royale.[34:09] Jon's been playing Immutable MMORPG RavenQuest and enjoying it -- it's our GotW.[36:00] RavenQuest's QUEST token is going live today in-game, with a proper TGE coming "soon".[41:28] Immortal Rising 2's IMT token is live, and Jon has staked his $3-worth of the airdrop.

Jon Jordan and BlockchainGamer.biz editor Jenny Jordan talk through the week's news including:[2:07] GDC 2025 was quiet and not just for web3 gaming.[4:06] Immutable's financials for the period FY22/23 were released. [5:13] It lost $50 million on revenue of $27 million.[6:20] This compared to a loss of $31 million on sales of $19 million in FY21/22.[8:35] It still has around $140 million in cash and liquid crypto in the bank.[15:05] Immutable's revenues are rising but clearly it also needs to cut costs and have a hit game. [17:43] At least six blockchain games are now developing for console.[26:17] Gabe Leydon was talking up Apptokens at GDC 2025. Jon loves Apptokens. [30:26] Other blockchain games are already using similar features to those in the Apptokens standard.[33:20] Gabe's view is that crypto has become web2-focused. It needs to be less focused on CEXs.[36:04] Jurassic Park dinos are coming to The Sandbox in Alpha Season 5. [40:24] YGG is launching a simple Pudgy Penguins-themed Monopoly Go-style game on Abstract.

Jon Jordan and BlockchainGamer.biz editor Jenny Jordan talk through the week's news including:[0:34] Much anticipated game Wildcard dropped its whitepaper.[1:09] CEO Paul Bettner worked on Age of Empires, created Words With Friends. Very smart.[3:00] This was the first time we got insight about how its blockchain works and it's not the game. [4:08] The blockchain bit is Thousands, an integrated Twitch-like spectator platform.[4:34] Wildcard is a F2P PC/console game with cosmetic IAPs. No NFTs. No crypto. [5:40] The WC token is 100% for the community. 20% has already been airdropped. [6:32] You can stake the token and also use it for prediction markets about the game's esport events.[7:55] There will also be Wildorgs, which will act as team franchises.[8:51] It looks like Wildcard will use blockchain for the things it's good for.[10:36] It's interesting that the developer and the investors aren't getting any tokens.[12:33] While Wildcard isn't using Apptokens, we see more games using Apptoken-style controls.[14:31] Pre-registrations for Axie Infinity: Atia's Legacy have passed 2.5 million.[24:44] For a successful web3 game, you need people spending fiat currency as well.[26:06] Even in this market, some games are growing - Alien Worlds, Nine Chronicles, Axie etc.[27:42] What's interesting are games that couldn't exist without using [35:47] "If EVE Online is Rome, EVE Frontier is the building of New York," says CCP Games' CEO.[38:46] EVE Frontier: it's like CCP Games building a specific sandbox platform for EVE games.[40:25] What's really interesting is what new sort of games can we build with blockchain.