Gaming giants in talks with Immutable to launch token: Web3 Gamer

More multibillion-dollar gaming giants to jump into crypto soon: Immutable co-founder

Gaming giants who once treated crypto like a shady mystery are now stampeding to get in on the action, according to Immutable co-founder Robbie Ferguson.

“I can tell you right now, we’re in conversations with multibillion-dollar gaming companies about them launching a token, which we would have been laughed out of those rooms 12 months ago,” Ferguson tells Magazine during a sit-down interview at Token2049 in Singapore.

Ferguson says the change comes as US lawmakers inch closer to regulatory certainty with the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, which aims to clarify the roles of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and other financial agencies that regulate the crypto market.

“We’re gonna see a huge uptake from games looking at tokens as ways to have incentives, loyalty schemes and retention for their players and an increasingly competitive acquisition environment,” he says. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong recently said the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act has “a good chance of getting done.”

Players do want real economies in games

According to Ferguson, the penny has finally dropped, and traditional gaming publishers are starting to realize that players actually want in-game “real economies.” Ferguson says he’s hearing from Web2 executives things like: “Hey, we want to spend, and use this as our infrastructure to grow, rather than spending dollars on Facebook or Google ads.”

“That, to me, is the most compelling sign that we are expanding,” Ferguson says.

In April, gaming giant Ubisoft partnered with Immutable to launch Might and Magic: Fates, a blockchain-powered strategy card game.

Magazine is contractually obliged to ask Ferguson the million-dollar question…When is the Web3 gaming bull run coming? He says he’s more interested in bringing more people into the space.

“I don’t really care when narratives trade. I think narratives shift incredibly quickly in the space,” Ferguson says.

“The real opportunity is, how do we bring more people onto the blockchain through something that they find incredibly valuable, but they don’t need to learn what a private key is,” he adds.

‘Web3 gaming is dead’ is actually great for the industry, says Axie Infinity founder

The oft-said phrase “Web3 gaming is dead” may actually be a hidden blessing for the industry, argues Axie Infinity co-founder Jeff “Jiho” Zirlin.

“The proliferation of this logic is very good for the remaining hardcore builders in the space,” Zirlin said in an X post on Monday, referring to the “Gaming is ded…don’t build in Web3 gaming” arguments commonly thrown around the place.

“You want attention and capital to concentrate around a few winners,” Zirlin said.

Zirlin pointed out that during the last cycle, gaming soared partly because capital didn’t have a million different options to scatter into. “There was only one option for capital to go into for ~ 90% of the cycle,” he said.

“This setup is emerging once again,” he added. Critics argue that Web3 gaming is dead based on tokens missing out on the bull run, which was a major issue for games that placed tokenomics ahead of actual game design.

However, gaming commentator LevindiPro recently said that Web3 gaming sentiment “depends on which part of the globe you find yourself in.”

“There is more demand, activity and user base in certain regions of the world as opposed to others,” the commentator said.

Web3 gaming has no token ‘tearing into the stratosphere’ –– SEI founder

The area showing the most interest at the moment is Asia, Sei founder Jeff Feng tells Magazine during Token2049 in Singapore.

Feng explains that several factors are likely involved, such as the imbalance between men and women in countries like Korea — since men are usually more drawn to gaming — as well as fewer job opportunities, which can push people to look for forms of escapism.

Feng added that Web3 gaming isn’t especially exciting at the moment because “there isn’t an associated token that’s tearing into the stratosphere.”