Gabby Dizon, CEO and co-founder of Yield Guild Games, anticipates a significant shift in the Web3 gaming landscape in 2024. Dizon predicts that the most successful Web3 games will transition from play-to-earn (P2E) models to entirely free-to-play structures, eliminating financial and technical entry barriers.
Dizon highlighted the evolving business model, emphasizing the importance of making games accessible to millions by prioritizing a free-to-play approach. Unlike games like Axie Infinity, which necessitate NFT ownership from the start, Dizon envisions a new wave of Web3 games where players can engage without the initial requirement of owning NFTs.
This shift toward a free-to-play model aligns with a broader industry effort to prioritize gameplay over tokenomics. Dizon sees this move as a solution to speculative Web3 gaming bubbles, aiming to create games that players genuinely enjoy and choose to reinvest in, preventing the in-game economy from becoming solely profit-driven.
The change in strategy also addresses concerns stemming from the decline in crypto prices and the fallout from the Axie Infinity-related asset value collapse in late 2021. Dizon believes that the forthcoming wave of Web3 games, set to launch in the fourth quarter of 2023, will mark a turning point, bringing high-quality games and innovative tokenomics and earning models.
Dizon pointed to the introduction of the ERC-6551 token standard, or “token-bound” accounts, as a reason for excitement in the future of blockchain-based games. Some developers are using this standard to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) into games, allowing players to automate certain tasks and reduce the need for extensive “grinding.”
According to Dizon, this development could herald a new game genre where players interact with AI, setting parameters for automated actions within the game world and focusing on the enjoyable aspects of gameplay.
As the Web3 gaming landscape continues to evolve, Dizon’s insights provide a glimpse into the anticipated trends shaping the industry in the coming years.
