The Number of Blockchains Out There Is Becoming a Problem for Blockchain Gaming, Says Web3 Gaming Executive

According to Sebastien Borget, co-founder of The Sandbox and president of the Blockchain Game Alliance, the vast number of blockchains means that users

Web3 Gaming Exec: The Number of Blockchains Out There Is Becoming a Problem Sebastien Borget, co-founder of The Sandbox and president of the Blockchain Game Alliance, thinks that the vast number of blockchains out there is becoming a problem for blockchain gaming.

According to Borget, the huge number of blockchains means that users are spread out across many different networks, with no single one boasting a large user base.

“We can no longer say that Ethereum is the gaming or NFT blockchain, as ImmutableX, Solana, Aptos, and now The Open Network have many more DApps and active users,” he tells Web3 Gamer.

“Too many blockchains” is one of the biggest challenges in the industry, Borget adds.

Gaming companies have to figure out which blockchain ecosystem to choose, with so many options, including ImmutableX, Base, Avalanche, Ronin, BNB Smart Chain and more, among all the layer-1, -2 and -3 blockchains.

“With so many blockchains out there, each one is offering more ‘grants and incentives’ to lure in gaming developers from the pack,” says Borget.

“But beyond the perks like transaction speed, trust and transparency, do these blockchains really have enough users and a well-developed ecosystem?” he asks.

He also noted that convincing rich venture capitalists to fork out some cash is getting tougher and tougher for the Web3 gaming industry.

Borget explains that there are “lesser investments than ever and more constraining token vesting and release schedule conditions that affect the viability of projects tokenomics on a longer-term.”

He also mentions that launching an NFT isn’t the hot trend in Web3 gaming anymore.

However, Borget thinks that in 2024, the Web3 gaming industry has “matured” in that the quality of games is finally meeting players’ expectations.

The Blockchain Game Alliance (BGA) is teaming up with Web3 advisory firm Emfarsis again to run the 2024 State of the Industry Survey. It’s open until Sept. 20 and invites everyone in the Web3 space — from blockchain developers, marketers, project managers and anyone else — to share what they love and what bugs them about the Web3 gaming industry.

The game you play should pass the “100 milliseconds” test. If it doesn’t, players probably won’t stick around Lag has been a major pain point for gamers ever since online multiplayer gaming began, but Huddle01 CEO Ayush Ranjan puts a number on it, saying that if it’s any more than a tenth of a second, the game becomes unbearable.

“In fast-paced multiplayer games, the round trip time for game updates must be less than 100 milliseconds,” Ranjan tells Web3 Gamer, adding that if it’s any slower, gamers are probably not going to stick around.

“Any delay beyond this can result in disrupted gameplay, where characters might lose progress or even be kicked out due to an inability to update in real time,” Ranjan says.

Huddle01 claims that its decentralized real-time communication network drastically reduces these round trip times by utilizing a network of “globally distributed media nodes” instead of centralized servers, which minimizes the data’s travel distance.

Ranjan says this makes updates faster, so players can stay immersed in their game without any interruptions.

He reiterates that “crystal-clear communication” between the network is vital for team-based games, where “precise coordination and quick decision-making are essential.”

Ranjan says that existing software development kits are “quite high priced,” arguing that a game such as the popular first-person shooter Call of Duty should be paying “$200 million or higher for their usage.”

He said that the high costs affect accessibility for developers just starting out as they don’t have “access to those kinds of funds.”

Ranjan claims that Huddle01 wants to break down that barrier for newer entrants.

“By offering low-cost, decentralized infrastructure, Huddle01 allows developers to focus on creating innovative gameplay experiences rather than worrying about the high price point,” he says.

Huddle01 is teaming up with Xai and Aethir, two big names in blockchain gaming, to offer developers a super affordable Unity SDK — 95% cheaper — to help them create more budget-friendly and immersive games that attract more players and improve the user experience.

“The Unity SDK will be operating on our dRTC network — also ensuring minimal latency between players,” Ranjan says.

Sui Network wants developers to be able to easily verify how random their game really is Randomness is super important for making sure a game isn’t rigged by the developers. Now, layer-1 blockchain Sui has rolled out a new stable onchain randomness feature on its mainnet to keep things unpredictable.

“Developers now have access to a new