Blockchain in the Gaming Industry
By: Token News
Tags: Blockchain, Videogames, Finance, Gaming, Cryptocurrency

This week we will focus on various industries within blockchain and the companies that are helping push blockchain into mainstream adoption. One of the most exciting areas for blockchain technology to be integrated is the gaming industry. As gaming is a $100 billion global industry, there is plenty of opportunity to grow this industry for many years to come. Let’s look at some of the companies that are trying to bring this new technology to the gaming world.

GameCredits(GAME)

Game Credits

Market cap: $39,500,000

Circulating Supply: 64,355,352 GAME

Max Supply 84,000,000

GameCredits is a company which includes people who are experts from both the blockchain and gaming industries. It began operations in 2016 and consists of several original founders of the GameCredits (GAME) cryptocurrency. They have partnered with Datcroft which is a gaming development and marketing company having over 12 million registered gamers. Together with GameCredits, they are committed to designing a frictionless payment gateway and blockchain-based in-game monetization platform for the gaming industry.

By using the GameCredits cryptocurrency and the GameCredits platform, 3 key aspects of the gaming industry will be services where traditional currency and gaming platforms fall short.

Gamers

In traditional platforms, gamers have low currency deposit limits, there is a low amount of security and anonymity for their identities, and they can’t transfer money or credits seamlessly across different games which they have earned in one game. As a result of not being able to transfer credits whenever they switch games, they have to pay a fee to banks for making an in-game purchase.

Gaming Industry

In traditional gaming platforms and payment solutions banks take a cut of revenue which effects the profits of gaming companies.

Game Developers

For developers, the traditional way brings a lot of challenges. They need to wait for weeks (minimum 60 days) for their earning to get processed. Moreover, when their payment arrives, it is up to 30% less than the actual profit because of the publishing platforms like the App Store and Google Play who take their cut first.

There are also some gamers who make fraudulent payments in which developers lose their earnings.

FirstBlood (1ST)

First Blood

Market Cap: $13,600,000

Circulating Supply: 85,558,371

Total Supply: 93,468,691

FirstBlood is a decentralized application that allows users to bet on eSports games. It runs on the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and it is powered by 1ST tokens.

When a user opens the FirstBlood Web or Desktop software and bets on a match with 1ST, the tokens are sent to and held by the FirstBlood smart contract system that functions as a decentralized escrow. After the match takes place, Witnesses connect to the game API, analyze the results, and communicate the result to the Smart Contract System. If the result is uncontested, the prize will be sent to the winner and a fee is paid to the witnesses for the service provided. If the result is contested, however, the result will be voted on by a Jury Voting Pool (JVP).

Witnesses are users that are running automated witness nodes. Two witnesses are randomly chosen to analyze the results of each match. The results are published on the blockchain and the witnesses are paid a fee for their service. This process is automated, so witnesses do not need to perform any action while reporting the result of a match, but they need to have a 1st balance and to send a special transaction to the smart contract to signal that they want to participate in the witness pool. The bigger the share of a specific witness in a pool, the higher the chances of that witness being chosen.

In order to encourage a healthy and competitive environment, FirstBlood will implement ranking and reputation systems like the Global Ranking (leaderboard style), the Match-making Ranking (MMR), and the User Reputation System (URS).

The Global Ranking system allows users to earn a reputation based on achievements and match results. This ranking system encourages competition amongst FirstBlood players. Once a player has reached a high enough ranking, he will be able to become a mentor, and teach less-experienced players in exchange for 1ST tokens.

Additional features of the FirstBlood platform are the ability to host tournaments and a referral program that allows users to be rewarded for inviting active players. FirsBlood also wants to make 1ST tokens redeemable for goods and services through a partnered network of retailers, dapps and other participants, thus creating additional demand for 1ST tokens.

MobileGo

MobileGO

Market Cap: $18,500,000

Circulating Supply: 98,028,877

Total Supply: 100,000,000

MobileGo Coins are used for in-game purchases in selected online games presented on the developer’s platform. In this way, players can buy specific and valuable items in the game and use them virtually. More than 150 developers have already offered their games in which this special form of currency can be used. The credits are purchased by credit card or other means of payment and converted into coins in the game. Mobile Go Tokens are required to reward and promote the active participation and loyalty of players to the platform. In this way, the platform can attract new players as rewards always attract new prospects. This also enables the use of Smart Contract technology.

Marketing costs and branding of the GameCredits Store are financed and facilitated by the issuance of the MobileGo Tokens and MobileGo Crowdsale.

FunFair

Market Cap: $135,900,000

Circulating Supply: 5,010,848,189

Total Supply: 10,999,873,621

FunFair is an Ethereum-based platform for online casino gambling. Targeting the $47B online gambling market, FunFair isn’t a casino in itself. Instead, the underlying gaming technology is licensed out to casinos and other gambling platforms. As a casino operator, you can license the FunFair technology and launch a casino quickly and efficiently. The platform is flexible and allows you to fully customize the gaming experience for your users. Even more important than providing an easy set-up, FunFair removes the hassle involved with acquiring and retaining users. There are many reasons why someone may choose not to use an online gambling platform, blockchain-based or otherwise. Many users are put off by having to download an app that takes up a phone’s limited storage space. On top of that, the complicated sign-up processes involved with gambling to comply with KYC (Know Your Customer) regulations can be a stopping point in user onboarding. All of FunFair’s games are built in HTML5 and run in a web browser, so there is no need to download a separate app. The company is also planning on utilizing Civic identity verification to provide a simple, one-click registration process for users.

Most Ethereum-based gambling platforms are novel concepts but have trouble with user adoption. Relying on miners and network speeds causes games to become unbearably slow whenever there’s any spike in congestion.

The gas fees associated with making bets is also unreasonably high — sometimes up to 50% of the original bet. This will only get worse as the price of Ethereum increases. To combat these issues, the FunFair team has built and integrated Fate Channels into the platform.

When you play at a traditional online casino, you have no way of knowing whether the advertised game odds are truthful. Operating in an industry that’s often in a legal gray area, it’s no surprise that casino trust is low amongst gamblers. FunFair uses verifiable smart contracts to prove that gameplay is fair and the odds are as advertised.

FUN is an ERC-20 token that you use in every part of the FunFair platform. It’s the only token accepted for in-game credits, how game creators in the marketplace are paid, what casinos must pay their licensing with and receive revenues in, and all fees on the platform must be paid in FUN.

A total of 11,000,000,000 FUN tokens were created on June 22, 2017, and no more will be created. With a fixed supply, the token is deflationary and should experience sharp increases in price over time as demand for it increases. Furthermore, the FUN that’s paid as fees will be burned for the first two years which should further drive price upwards. Casinos can also stake the FUN tokens in their bankrolls to receive additional dividends.