Gaming Distribution platforms and their transition to Web3
Digital distribution in the videogame industry changed the perspective of playing games. Earlier, there used to be Arcade machines, later, they became more compact like ROM cartridges, Optical Discs, CDs and Flash memory cards. Currently, this process is dominated by Online distribution over Broadband internet.
To facilitate the sale of games, various Game publishers and console manufacturers have created their own platforms for Digital distribution. Steam paved the way for this model and shown what it can do followed by Origin, Xbox Live marketplace, Google Playstore, Epic Store etc.., to provide centralized services to purchase and download games/content for either specific consoles or PCs or mobiles.
According to a study by Super Data Research, the volume of digital distribution of games worldwide was $6.2 billion per month in February 2016 and reached $7.7 billion per month by April 2017. The numbers even went up as the Digital Gaming market is valued at $183.26 billion in 2020 and expected to reach $614.19 billion by 2028 with a CAGR of 16.32% over the forecast period.
One can also say that increasing demand for the freemium subscription model, high adoption of PCs, consoles and mobiles and increasing internet penetration are some of the major factors during the growth of the Global Digital Gaming market.
The most dominant digital platform here in this narrative is Steam.
In 2004, Valve released the Steam platform for Windows PC as a means to distribute Valve - developed videogames. Steam has a specialty where the users don’t buy games instead, get a right to use these games, much like renting (You can say limitless renting). But note that Steam can revoke the game’s ownership when violation of End-user agreement is seen by Valve. Steam later began to sell to independent developers and major distributors and has since became the largest PC distributor ever. By 2011, Steam has approx. 50% - 70% of the market for downloadable PC games, with a userbase of approximately 40M accounts.
And if we look at the various platforms for Gaming,
Mobile Gaming :
Digital distribution has become the dominant method of delivering content on mobile platforms like IOS and Android. Lower barriers of entry and F2P (Free to Play) has allowed more developers to create and distribute games on these platforms, with the Mobile gaming industry growing considerably as a result.
The Apple Appstore and Google Playstore have millions of games between them and the low barriers to entry and familiarity of these platforms make them the go to for most players. But, with thousands more games added daily, discoverability is the major issue which should be solved by successful marketing.
These platforms offer amazing opportunities to scale but they suffer from poor retention and therefore a smart approach needs to be taken when targeting them.
Console Gaming :
These days, all the current main consoles like Nintendo Switch, Xbox, Playstation has their own digital distribution platforms to sell games exclusive to digital formats and digital versions of retail games like Xbox Gamestore, Nintendo E-shop, Sony’s Playstation store which all sell full retail games along with DLCs and stuff.
As much as I do not prefer Consoles to PC or Mobile to play, the Console has been a platform for some of the best games which would only feel better playing on the native console.
![Screenshot] Playstation Store has terrible sorting issues. How is this game with a base price of $14.95 ranked higher than games with base price of $99.95?! : r/PS4](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcd29aca1-ffeb-47e8-b7a9-3dbaa0781d52_1120x819.png "Screenshot] Playstation Store has terrible sorting issues. How is this game with a base price of $14.95 ranked higher than games with base price of $99.95?! : r/PS4")
PC Gaming :
Now the most played and most popular platform among any other platforms is PC gaming where almost any game can be playable with suitable hardware/software. PC gaming has seen most adoption than any other platform because of its easier customizability for a wide variety of games to choose from.
The early innovator of the digital distribution idea on PC was Stardock which released Stardock Central in 2001 to digitally distribute and sell its own PC titles. In 2008, Stardock announced Impulse, a third-generation digital distribution platform which included independent third-party games and major publisher titles. The platform was sold to Gamestop in May 2011.
The period between 2004 and now saw the rise of many digital distribution services on PC such as Amazon Digital Services, Impulse, GameTap, GameStop, Games for Windows – Live, Origin, Battle.net, Direct2Drive, GOG.com, GamersGate etc..,
In 2008, GoG.com (Good old Games) was started, specialized in distribution of older classical PC games. While all the other digital distribution services allow various forms of Digital rights management (DRM), GoG.com has a strict non-DRM.
Desura was launched in 2010, which was notable for having a strong support for modding community which has an open-source client called Desarium. A new EA Online (Electronic Arts Online) store called Origin was released in 2011 to compete with Steam and other distribution platforms.
Cloud Gaming :
Cloud gaming, sometimes called Gaming on demand or Gaming-as-a-service or game streaming, is a type of online gaming that runs video games on remote servers and streams them directly to a user's device, or more colloquially, playing a game remotely from a cloud. It contrasts with traditional means of gaming, wherein a game runs locally on a user's video game console, personal computer, or mobile device.
Cloud gaming requires significant infrastructure for the services to work as intended, including data centers and server farms for running the games, and high-bandwidth internet connections with low latency for delivering the streams to users. The network infrastructure required to make cloud gaming feasible was, for many years, not available in most geographic areas, or unavailable to the consumer market.
Nvidia first announced its cloud gaming service, Nvidia Grid (later rebranded as GeForce Now), as a combination of hardware using its graphics processing units and software in May 2012, initially intending to partner with Gaikai for games on the service. Ubitus GameCloud was also introduced alongside Nvidia's Grid. GameCloud was designed as white-label service based on Nvidia's Grid that other providers could use to offer game streaming to their customers.
In 2014, Dragon Quest X was brought to Nintendo 3DS in Japan using Ubitus for the streaming technology. At the Game Developers Conference in 2019, Google officially announced its cloud gaming service Stadia, which officially launched on November 19 of that year. Both GeForce Now and Stadia announced plans in November 2020 to release iOS versions of their streaming services as progressive web applications that would be run through a Chrome or Safari browser on iOS devices, as allowed for by Apple, to support cloud gaming. Microsoft has also announced plans to use a similar approach to bring the xCloud game streaming technology to iOS via the browser sometime in early 2021.
The infinite possibilities of Gaming distribution are endless in Traditional gaming and they’re still evolving.
Now if we talk about Web3 gaming distribution, the whole idea is not new as the Web3 games started on the basis of Web2 games and as they have the need to onboard Web2 players into Web3 to acquire more player base.
Web3 Distribution platforms :
Web3 gaming distribution platforms have been on the rise since what more profitable than making a single game? Create a game distribution platform and launch multiple games to earn a larger community and even greater revenue. We have seen this with Gala Games launching multiple successful games and even included multiple economic layers around these games. Many projects are following similar procedures or adding a bit of creativity and coming up with gaming platforms on their own.
Some of these platforms include Myria which has a separate Myria L2 with Zero gas trading fee. Any game can be launched and scaled in hours. Some games in Myria include Metarush, Mr. 360 cricket, Moonville Farms etc., and many more..
Elixir is a platform for game communities which provides a state of art distribution tech for Web3 games to distribute their games privately and publicly, increasing sales, faster user acquisition and unlocking new businesses and game models by making Web3 games accessible to masses with a deep focus on network effect. Allowing players to become active gamers in their favourite games. Earth From Another Sun, LifeBeyond, Synergy Land, Metastrike etc., are some of the games on the Elixir Launcher.
Players are able to play games through Ultra.io and even lend their hand in the development of current and future titles. Sites such as Steam and Epic Games store are industry leaders in the distribution of PC games, Ultra are looking to change this as the stream of revenue from many PC games is largely distributed to the above brands causing a somewhat unfair monopoly.
Rather than offering 30% distribution fee that the likes of Steam charge, Ultra.io offers a 12-15% distribution fee instead making a level playing field for developers alike. Marketing tools are also given to development teams, making it easier for new gaming projects to get their foot in the industry door.
Players are able to buy NFTs via the designated marketplace for their favourite games and are also able to use the platform socially, interacting with their friends and other gamers. Players are also able to tune into gaming tournaments and also gaming livestreams making this platform THE HUB for blockchain gaming.
Vortex is simplifying blockchain technology to empower the next generation of gaming. The "Vortex Client" is a desktop application providing users with a library of blockchain games to download and play. It’s a Web3 gaming launcher/distribution platform which onboards various blockchain games and allows users to browse, download and play audited games without worrying about downloading malicious code. It is a platform for gamers to find new titles, compare games, and connect with other players, all in one platform. On the initial launch, they feature a few free-to-play games available for download, with a fully integrated friends and social section and a beta release of the community section.
Moving forward, Web2 gaming platforms too are showing interest in adopting Web3 games and looking to interact with a wide variety of gamer communities. Mythical games turned so many heads when Blankos Block Party offered their first NFT through Amazon Prime gaming for free, and after a while, the game was launched on Epic game store and gained so much exposure. Recently GRIT from Gala Games has also launched on Epic Game Store following Blankos Block Party, Star Atlas too recently too recently launched its game gallery in Epic Game Store, While Steam has been a little hesitant towards NFTs and Blockchain games and Apple demanding a 30% fee for trading NFTs, Epic took lead and launching Web3 games injecting some traditional gaming methods and attract all types of gamers. Many Web3 gamers are moving towards this direction to reach a wider base. Some Web3 gaming platforms and studios include INK Games, Earn Alliance, Playmint etc. are planning to create games of their own and planning to launch and distribute on their own.
The critical component for this type of distribution platforms to reduce friction is interoperability and compatibility, especially when connecting identity and reputation across games. Distribution platforms can reinforce greater degrees of interoperability through building a wide reach of tools like SDKs and fiat on-ramps.
Distribution platforms could offer features like:
Non-custodial wallets
Social and messaging layers
Integrated NFT marketplaces
Fiat on and off ramps
Integrated decentralized crypto exchanges
All of which help games streamline the onboarding experience and process for their users.
Unlike the discovery-driven models of mobile app stores, where content is mostly recommended based on genres or categories, platforms like Amazon and Steam lean more toward an intent-driven approach. The distinction largely depends on the user’s ability to search and find what they want with a degree of specificity.
This type of systematic approach is beneficial and more games can be bought into the limelight if they’re good enough. By optimizing for breadth, or providing consumers with a larger pool of suggested games, distribution platforms can help users find more personalized options and reinforce more robust feedback loops for the company to create the most relevant and desirable experience possible.
Conclusion :
With everything we discussed above in mind, even though the transition of Digital distribution platforms from Web2 to Web3 is not smooth and easier as we thought, Web3 game distribution platforms have a slight edge as they just need to implement the iteration of Traditional distribution platforms, but also the challenge occurs as they have to do it better with Web3 core in the software which should attract and satisfy both Web2 and Web3 players with easier traversal through the platform to find best games and weave these core tenets of security, ownership, interoperability and identity into their value proposition in a credible manner which will proceed to advance with the growing Gaming Industry in Web3.
Well, you did it, you made it to the end!
By now you should have a complete understanding about Gae distribution platforms and how their transition into Web3 has been working so far. Now if you still have any doubts or issues, you can hit me up on Twitter, I am most active there and post blockchain gaming content. Feel free to reach out and connect via DMs.
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