By
Mayowa Adebajo
March 13th, 2024
The era of notorious Loot Boxes and Pay-to-Win schemes seems to be over with blockchain-based “Merge: Eternal Battleground” video game entering the industry.
With a $109 billion revenues in 2017 and 2.2 billion active players around the globe, game market has huge possibilities for blockchain tech. Strangely, there are still very few blockchain projects which aim to unlock its potential.
There are serious problems pestering game industry. One of the biggest issues is a exploitative monetization model which provokes a big outrage amongst players. A model is based on notorious Loot Boxes and Pay-to-Win which are not only hated by players but attract harsh criticism from legislators around the world.
The popular monetization scheme is based on selling in-game assets to the players. Very often those assets are sold hidden in Loot Boxes and booster packs. The buyer doesn’t know exactly what’s inside. Only after buying a Loot Box player finds out what they paid for. Basically, player buys a chance to get what they want.
A slim chance at best. Because game corporations are keen to sell as much items as they can. Naturally, when unreasonable amounts of assets are sold, only the rarest items have some value. Basically, players are forced to pay for tons of Loot Boxes full of worthless items hoping to find a gem.
Most of The Crypto Games Solve Nothing
Recent explosion of crypto games may look like a revolution in gaming industry. Sadly, it’s not a case. Absolute majority of crypto games use the same old monetization model mounted on blockchain.
They don’t solve any real problems and introduce nothing new. Even worse, most of those games don’t have engaging gameplay. They are only a poorly disguised money-grab schemes fishing for unaware contributors.
A Fresh Approach to Blockchain and Gaming
There is one blockchain based game which utilizes the tech in the right way. “Merge: Eternal Battleground” in its monetization approach puts emphasis on token based free market model.
In the traditional Trading Card Game model, players who spend more money can get better Cards than everyone else. “Merge: Eternal Battleground” idea is not to sell any Cards. Instead, players will only gain Resource Cards by playing, use them to craft unique Character Cards, and let the free market decide their value.
Monetization comes from in-game token based free market creating and preserving a community through value of gameplay, while introducing game mechanics never seen before and providing a complete gaming experience.
When the game launches, all players will have equal opportunities to acquire Resource Cards to craft Character Cards only by playing the game. The more they play, the more Experience Points they get, the more Resource Cards they acquire to Combine different Character Cards… and the more the value of their Characters grows.
At last, a game on blockchain which has a sustainable business model and innovative game mechanics enters the landscape. A game that can become a next big thing in real video game market.