According to Gabby Dizon, CEO and co-founder of Yield Guild Games, the most successful Web3 games in the coming year will shift from play-to-earn (P2E) to focus on being completely free-to-play in order to attract more players.
In an interview with Cointelegraph, Dizon explained that unlike games such as Axie Infinity, which require players to purchase nonfungible tokens (NFTs) to play, the new wave of successful Web3 games will aim to remove financial and technical barriers to entry.
“There’s this big realization that for millions of people to be able to get into a game, they have to be free-to-play first.”
Dizon suggested that the new business model for Web3 games will allow players to start playing for free and then, at some point, earn tokens or mint NFTs as they continue playing.
This shift to a free-to-play model is part of a larger effort by Web3 game developers to prioritize gameplay over tokenomics, according to Dizon. He believes this will help prevent speculative gaming bubbles and create games that players want to continue playing.
Following the decline in crypto prices, blockchain games experienced their own downturn as players and revenues moved away from the ecosystem. However, Dizon is optimistic about the future, anticipating the release of new high-quality Web3 games with innovative tokenomics and earning models.
Dizon also highlighted the introduction of ERC-6551 token standard in gaming, which allows for the integration of artificial intelligence into games. This, he believes, will reduce the need for grinding in games and introduce a new game genre where players can interact with AI without having to play the game constantly.
“It’s going to get really interesting, man.”
