The The AAA gaming space is absolutely huge (“AAA” refers to the biggest games produced by the biggest developers). To put it into context, it’s bigger than the film and music industries combined – almost 300% bigger. The stories are better and stronger, and the overall experience is more satisfying and enriching.
A good example of this is the Grand Theft Auto (GTA) 6 trailer, viewed more than 184 million times since December. Massive games like GTA have firmly established themselves as a gaming phenomenon and a cultural and economic powerhouse within the entertainment industry.
This opinion piece is part of CoinDesk’s GameFi Week 2024. Jack O’Holleran is the co-founder and CEO of SKALE, a gasless EVM-compatible blockchain designed for Ethereum scaling.
Take Bethesda Game Studios, for example. The number of developers behind each game increased by 266% between Fallout 4 and Starfield. From AAA console games with huge budgets to the massive virality of mobile phones, there is parallel growth in the esports industry and the associated revolution in content consumption, led by streamers on YouTube and Twitch. The Esports audience has transcended 640 million – an increase of over 140% since 2019. The versatility of gaming in the field of entertainment is consuming all media.
How Web3 is changing the game
Implementing Web3 technology into the stack would transform the AAA economic model and open the marketplaces to a global audience of gamers and enthusiasts who want to watch more than play and participate in the economy. Gaming companies will be able to make money not only in their walled garden, but also in any global NFT marketplace. In addition to opening up to a broader market, the number of purchases would also increase enormously. Land, properties, cars, skins, equipment and more would be open to buyers, fans and enthusiasts around the world.
This all sounds great, but so far it hasn’t had an impact due to technical complexity, UX friction, and scaling issues. These have been a major barrier to mass adoption. The answer to this UX and scalability conundrum is to implement an invisible blockchain experience – and this is what it would look like.
Recent innovations in UX-focused products such as wallets, fiat ramps, frictionless compliance tools, and easy-to-use marketplaces have helped overcome the UX hurdles. Yet scaling up to serve hundreds of millions of smart contracts and daily transactions via one blockchain has been a blocker. With the help of modular app chains, this global scaling challenge is finally being addressed.
Read more: What Hamster Kombat Did: How Telegram Built a Web3 Gaming Giant
To be clear, this type of game would clearly not be built on the ETH mainnet and would frankly be too much for any monolithic chain in its current state. There’s too much happening at once in a large global game that the older technology of monolithic chains or rollups can’t handle when a true on-chain gaming experience is desired. This is mainly due to congestion caused by ‘gas hog’ applications or ‘noisy neighbours’. The only real solution would be a horizontally scalable blockchain, coupled with modularity and a gas-free experience for end users.
Modularity Appchains solve the noisy neighbor problem
The “noisy neighbor” problem is a major hurdle in blockchain networks, where one resource-consuming application can monopolize network resources, causing performance issues and security risks for all users. This problem is similar to a noisy tenant in an apartment complex disrupting the entire complex. In blockchain, a single application that consumes excessive resources can create bottlenecks, slowing down transactions and increasing latency for everyone sharing the network. This can be especially problematic with popular gaming or viral AI apps that drive up blockspace prices and cause network slowdowns.
Modular app chains address these scalability challenges through horizontal scalability and modularity. They provide a solution that improves the performance and security of decentralized applications by functioning as independent blockchain networks within a larger ecosystem. Each app chain functions like a soundproof apartment, ensuring that a disruptive application on one chain does not affect others.
Read more: David Z Morris – 5 Blockchain Games: What Works and What Doesn’t
Each modular appchain has its own dedicated compute, storage, and bandwidth, preventing a single application from taking up resources and maintaining balance within the network. Despite their independence, these appchains inherit security properties from the entire network of nodes, providing robust protection, similar to a high-security building where every apartment benefits from common security measures.
Modular app chains also support seamless chain communications, allowing applications to securely communicate, bridge, and share data at no cost. This ensures that residents enjoy privacy, but can still collaborate and share information when necessary.
The Web3 industry is now equipped with the technology to support the next generation of AAA gaming, aiming for an “invisible Web3 experience” where players simply play games in a global marketplace without having to worry about the underlying technology . This creates a win-win scenario, generating more revenue for games and providing players with a superior experience with improved transparency, trust and true asset ownership.
The infrastructure is ready –– the next step is the arrival of big games.
Note: The views expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of CoinDesk, Inc. or its owners and affiliates.