Play-To-Earn Dies Out as Stablecoins Enter the Arena

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Snail Games, the publisher behind Ark: Survival Evolved and other notable games, has established a dedicated subsidiary, Snail Coins LLC, to launch its own USD-backed stablecoin amid favorable regulatory developments.

The move is against the backdrop of the passing of the GENIUS Act, which provides federal oversight for stablecoins.

While many gaming companies have explored blockchain integration with mixed results, the speculative nature of gaming tokens and the big development strain blockchain features put on studios were always deal breakers. 

Snail's stablecoin pathway suggests a lighter approach to bridging traditional gaming revenue models with decentralized finance infrastructure that addresses the deal breakers we mentioned previously. The move aligns with larger web3 gaming trends of utilising blockchain tech without the speculative nature of crypto.

That said, while the announcement seems to be moving in the right direction, Snail Games has been severely criticized in the past for abandoning or mismanaging ambitious projects, often failing to deliver on their promises with regards to features and content.
Moves like this should be transparent from top to bottom, with funds on publicly available wallets for everyone to see. For small and mid-size studios that don’t need the added risk, an established, widely used stablecoin seems like the better option. Maybe for billion-dollar Publishers and Studios there is an argument to be made that the risk of launching their own stablecoins is worth taking, but for everyone else, already established options are there. While launching a stablecoin is not overly complicated, it’s also not a task an indie or mid-sized studio should undertake.

Web3 Games Economies Evolving

On a similar note, the Pirate Nation team announced that they’ll be implementing heavy changes in the game’s economy. It marks the most significant iteration yet, as they’ll be ending $PIRATE emissions for Infinite Tides, and that marks their departure from the Play to Earn model, which they consider broken. They said that they “develop a token framework for the future”, although the announcement did not go into further details.

Possibly something similar to AppTokens? This change in direction may also potentially affect the Proof of Play token (the studio behind Pirate Nation). It’s certainly a very intriguing development, as the Proof of Play team has been constantly experimenting and the changes they implement are always derived from many accumulated learnings.

Off the Grid’s Steam launch and backlash

Off the Grid’s journey on Steam is underway. 

We saw a 12,648 peak player count, while hitting ten to twelve thousand daily, in their first week.

There have been 904 reviews with 60% positive, meaning a mixed rating has been achieved. An interesting takeaway from the negative reviews, is that they don’t stem from blockchain features, but from the game’s optimization and balancing, issues that are addressable.

There were some reports of worrying activity. Off the Grid was accused of botting their Steam numbers and reviews, although the data so far doesn’t necessarily substantiate such activity.

It is known that Steam takes several actions against games found to be manipulating metrics. They can remove fake reviews in bulk, adjust player statistics, issue warnings to developers, and in severe cases, remove games from the platform entirely. The Steam algorithm also becomes less likely to recommend games with detected artificial engagement. Several games have been caught over the years, though Steam doesn't always publicly announce specific cases.

🎮 More Gaming & Web3 Stories

• Tokyo Beast announced that they are officially shutting down, August 24th. [Read more here]

• Doodles is launching a new telegram game [Read more here]

• Ragnarok Libre, an idle RPG, is launching on LINE as a mini Dapp. [Read more here]

• Craft World’s mainnet is launching on July 29th. [Read more here]

• Sappy Seals is expanding to Roblox with Surf on a Seal, a racing game. [Read more here]

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