Blockchain technology is set to power the next phase of exponential growth for the gaming industry.
Big studios are taking note, with more than 70% developing web3 games in-house or directly investing in web3 gaming projects, blockchain game development, or hiring for blockchain-related positions.
Read: Why 70% of top gaming studios are investing in web3 gaming
But for most gaming companies it doesn’t make sense to build everything in-house.
Why?
Building your own web3 gaming platform from scratch is expensive
It is tempting for gaming studios to consider building their own web3 platforms. After all, you know best what your game needs, right?
But picking the right chain, assembling all of the right product integrations from the ground up, and actually getting everything to work together in harmony to provide a great gaming experience is a monumental task that can be a massive drain on your resources. These are funds that would otherwise fuel your game’s development directly.
Here’s a rundown of some of the line items you need to concern yourself with while building your own web3 gaming platform:
- You need to hire one or more solidity engineers to build your smart contracts
- You need to partner with “Node as a Service” providers, or run your own nodes
- You need to audit all your smart contracts by a reputable third party
- You need to integrate with a trustworthy web3 wallet provider
The list goes on and on. You need to think about how you’re going to incentivize and attract liquidity to your platform. You need to integrate with analytics platforms, block explorers, subgraph providers, and crypto price trackers. You need to develop safe multi-sig UI, and make sure you don’t run afoul of sanctions.
Here’s an example of what all these blockchain expenses look like for a real game studio:
This non-exhaustive list does not even include all the additional features needed to create a seamless and smooth web3 gaming experience for your players, such as a marketplace checkout system and on-chain data analytics.
Just like building a game, it’s easy for the costs and timeline to rapidly exceed expectations when it comes to blockchain infrastructure.
Deploying and maintaining your own blockchain infrastructure is a risky, operational nightmare
And the challenges don't end with deployment.
As you build your own infrastructure, you’ll also need to maintain relationships with multiple 3rd party vendors, with frequent communication cadences, documentation updates, changing dependencies, and ongoing maintenance.
The true test comes in keeping everything functional. The operational overhead of managing a blockchain platform is a continuous commitment, not a one-off project. It involves not only technical upkeep, but also navigating the ever-evolving landscape of regulatory compliance, further complicating the task at hand and introducing risks that can jeopardize your game’s success and longevity.
Additionally, if you take custody of user funds and facilitate peer-to-peer transactions, you need a money transfer license in every country, state, and territory your game does business. As you can see in the preceding table of blockchain expenses, it’s a massive cost that is often overlooked by aspiring web3 game developers. This not only introduces significant costs and complexity, but also opens you up to a large amount of regulatory compliance risk.
The bottom line here is that building your own web3 gaming platform is an operational nightmare full of potential vulnerabilities, pulling your focus away from the core of your business — creating unforgettable gaming experiences.
Building on Immutable eliminates 90% of the cost and risks associated with deploying your web3 game by delivering a fully integrated end-to-end solution
At Immutable we charge a flat 2% protocol fee on primary sales. When compared to the costs of building your own platform that roughly translates to a more than 90% cost savings across the board.
So what do you get for this? Well, a lot as we offer an end-to-end solution covering all the line items for building your web3 game from scratch:
Moreover, you’ll be building on industry leading web3 gaming-focused blockchains. Whether you choose Immutable X or Immutable zkEVM to build your game on, these are robust, secure, scalable solutions that can stand the test of time.
You will be part of the largest and fastest-growing web3 gaming ecosystem, with more than 220+ highly funded games using our technology stack. Immutable also boasts multiple industry-defining partnerships, such as Polygon, Ubisoft, Unity SDK, Amazon Web Services.
Read: Momentum at Immutable: what we have in store for 2024
One of the most significant advantages of choosing Immutable is that we abstract away the technical complexity of web3 game development, allowing studios to fully dedicate their resources to game design. Here’s how we do that:
- Smart contract templates: We have ready-to-deploy contracts that remove the need for in-house in-depth blockchain expertise.
- No-code solutions: We empower game developers to implement blockchain features without writing a single line of code.
- Limitless liquidity. With Immutable Orderbook and our rewards on Immutable zkEVM, you don’t have to worry about bootstrapping liquidity from the ground up.
- Full Immutable product suite: An end-to-end web3 gaming platform that can deliver a seamless gaming experience to your players, from sign-up to checkout.
And we are so focused on delivering a seamless gaming experience to your players, that any games building on Immutable zkEVM will be gas-free for gamers.
Finally as mentioned, web3 game development also introduces a new set of regulatory challenges that can be daunting for game studios. Immutable takes this burden off your shoulders by managing all necessary licensing requirements, from money transfer licenses for peer-to-peer transactions to compliance with global regulations.
And throughout the whole development process, you’re only talking to one party: Immutable.
Start building your web3 game on Immutable today
Building your own web3 gaming platform is expensive, risky, and diverts essential resources from game development.
You should focus on what matters: building a great game.
The Immutable gaming platform makes it easy for game studios and independent developers to safely and confidently build and launch successful web3 games.
Our product suite includes pre-built solutions optimised for usability, helping developers get to market faster without sacrificing security or player experience. Builders get personalised web3 guidance, live support for their communities, and access to the largest ecosystem in gaming, with over 200+ games building on Immutable.
For more information, please visit: https://www.immutable.com/
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