New Trends in Blockchain Gaming: Social Attributes May Become the Key to Breaking the Circle

As the cryptocurrency market rebounds from its bottom, Bitcoin's price has risen from around $16,000 at the beginning of the year to about $40,000, establishing a consensus on the early stages of a bull market. Over the past four months, inscriptions, the Bitcoin ecosystem, and blockchain gaming have become the three main engines driving this bull market. So, what new narratives and opportunities will Web3 games present in this new round of bull market?

1. A Three-Year Review of Blockchain Games

The story of blockchain games can be traced back to early 2021. At that time, DeFi was very popular, attracting a large amount of outside capital. For ordinary users, games seemed easier to understand, so early blockchain games can be seen as DeFi wrapped in a gaming shell, or adding a "metaverse" narrative to the DeFi economic model.

The year 2021 coincided with a crazy bull market, and the wave of blockchain games swept through the entire crypto space. With the support of the bull market, various economic models seemed feasible, but a purely Ponzi model inevitably falls into a death spiral. The Luna and FTX incidents in 2022 taught newcomers a lesson. Without the buff of a bull market, the survival cycle of most products is significantly shortened.

The project team has begun to try to attract users with game quality and playability. Many Web2 game teams are confident that they can use game quality to outperform Gamefi1.0 products. However, as of now, a blockbuster level Web3 game that can surpass Axie or StepN has yet to emerge. Perhaps everyone is waiting for the right timing and circumstances to collide again, and the opportunity may arise in the bull market of 2024-2025.

In 2023, powerful traditional Web2 giants finally entered the market. They not only brought better quality games under big IPs but also the old capital from the gaming circle trying out funds in the new track. Typical representatives include Matr1x, Seraph, Metalist, Metacene, Crystal fun(Outer), and others.

Insiders refer to projects that have both financial strength and professional capability as Web2.5 chain games. Compared to the pure Ponzi model of Gamefi 1.0, Web2.5 chain games have made leaps in playability and quality. Their long-term rhythmic approach to NFT asset series during operation has also deepened Web3 users' recognition of such products.

2. Is enhancing playability the only way out?

Improving the quality of blockchain games is undoubtedly an upgrade path that the entire sector must take. But is emulating traditional AAA games to enhance playability the only way forward for the blockchain gaming sector? Will existing Web3 game users be receptive to this?

Let's first analyze the current user characteristics of Web3 games. After two years of a bear market, those who remain are mostly seasoned investors. For them, high-quality blockchain games not only represent high playability, but also signify that the project has capital, a team, and technology, which is referred to as "value investment."

Most users do not believe that big productions can necessarily attract more users from outside the circle. Their logic is: big productions mean high investment, and the likelihood of the project running away is low. The vast majority of veteran investors come purely for profit.

For new users, there haven't been a large number of newcomers entering the market, making it difficult to identify.

It is worth noting that well-funded crypto giants do not spend too much time playing games. This leads to large funds being used only for purchasing assets, without truly entering the core mechanisms of the game. Large players are more inclined to place their funds in DeFi for mining. In games, most of the funds are small, engaged in PVE gold farming or mutual competition. The survival cycle of the game is limited by the speed at which new users join, the amount of funds from the project team, and the ability to attract funds from outside the circle.

Therefore, the current user profile of Web3 games still highly overlaps with that of crypto users, who are primarily here to make money, rather than being genuine gamers. Improving the playability of games may not necessarily meet the current needs of Web3 game users. Users' thinking is: high playability of games → good project background with money → early users are likely to make a profit.

Moreover, high playability is easy to say but requires a huge investment to achieve. What’s more awkward is that the current Web3 game users are mostly not real gamers and may be insensitive to the additional investment made by the project team in UI and art design. The project team wants to convey the value investment concept through high-quality production, but users lack sufficient judgment, making it difficult for both sides to resonate.

So, aside from improving playability, are there other development paths for blockchain games to attract both old and new users? The answer is yes—social. In 2024, the casual game series BAC Games will debut with the concept of "playing Web3 games is playing social."

3. "External Strong Social Interaction in Games" May Become the Key to Breaking the Circle

The social aspect of gaming tracks is defined differently from traditional social interactions. The social aspect of gaming products is: bringing a group of people together through game mechanics, initially bonding over common tasks, expanding the conversation beyond the game, gradually capturing the emotional value of users, and ultimately achieving the effect of "the game is no longer fun, but this group of friends is quite interesting." Gaming becomes a medium for connecting people.

Web3 games have unique advantages in social aspects. Web3 users are mostly involved in distributed work, and their daily social needs are strong.

Introducing social interaction into blockchain games, with multiple members discussing decisions together, having fun together, and engaging in national battles together, what effects will this bring?

First of all, the cost-conscious blockchain game gold farmers will gradually transition from rational individuals to emotional individuals. When the alliance is bullied and they upgrade their equipment to fight back together, will they still consider the extended payback period?

Secondly, the disharmony and lack of unity generated by social interactions, as well as disputes and confrontations among members, can lead to friction in production and extend the token selling pressure cycle.

4. BAC: Innovative Social Game Mechanics

BAC is a blockchain game that focuses on social interaction, more accurately described as "socializing outside the game." The core model of the game is designed as "Group to earn." Based on the current information, the gameplay of BAC in terms of social concepts is as follows:

1. Closely tied to the EVM Layer 2 blockchain Blast. The game name "Blast Auto Clubs" is a play on words, which can be understood as "Speeding Car Club" or interpreted as "Car Club on Blast". The Blast team has strong capabilities in social aspects, and their "Group Staking ETH for Airdrops" is a social innovation that directly addresses pain points.

2. BAC Games is a series of casual game combinations, with the first game BAC adopting a special "Group to earn" economic model. Users must join a car club to participate in operations to share profits, and the car club is similar to alliances in traditional games.

3. Clever grafting: BAC directly airdrops Vetoken to Blast ETH users who stake ETH, for upgrading character NFTs and opening clubs in the game. This provides liquidity options for ETH users locked in Blast.

4. The project team emphasizes the need to let early users make money to create initial traction, as social interaction cannot be achieved without a sufficient user base.

BAC Games is a key project supported by Ultiverse. Ultiverse has received a $950 million investment from well-known institutions such as Binance and Sequoia Capital, and has recently attracted attention due to airdrop expectations on its tokens. The Electric Sheep NFT under its name has recently performed well, with prices continuously rising. The community leader of Ultiverse, Moonlight (a gold medal host on Binance Live and a top KOL in the crypto circle), has become an ambassador for BAC Games.

The relationship between BAC Games and the Blast team has not been officially disclosed, but the launch time of BAC closely aligns with the mainnet launch of Blast, basically confirming that BAC will be the first chain game on Blast.

The currently published V1 version economic model is as follows:

Users randomly obtain 3 types of character NFTs by purchasing blind boxes, corresponding to the production of different materials. Users join the car club, contribute materials to build cars, and deploy the cars in different cities to drive Uber, providing BAC token income for the club, which is automatically distributed according to member contribution points.

Vetoken is used to build clubs and upgrade character NFTs. Initially, most holders of Vetoken are users who staked ETH in Blast. Currently, Blast has attracted over $1.3 billion in ETH staking, providing a large user base for BAC.

The V1 version is expected to launch with the Blast mainnet in February to March 2024. Before the mainnet launch, there will be a closed beta test with 300 participants, and the community is competing for beta test qualifications. The beta test whitelist will be converted into a guaranteed Genesis Role NFT.

The V2 version is scheduled for an update in Q2, which will not only include three levels of PVP but also introduce new features such as car enthusiasts, elections, and auctions, even adding content related to inscription assets. In the future, avatar-type NFTs will also be released as top-tier empowerment for the BAC Games series.

5. Chain Games More Suitable for Web3 Users

The BAC Games team has a clear vision:

1. The current Web3 gaming user base is more suited for casual games.
2. It is necessary to quickly guide to social scenarios and consolidate community consensus.

Therefore, BAC has two major highlights in its economic model design: a hybrid model + "Group to earn", which is similar to Blast's "fleet model" approach, directly addressing the pain points.

"It's not that 3A games can't be afforded, but that social games offer better cost-performance ratio" — In 2024, the blockchain gaming sector is flourishing. In addition to the competition among top blockchain games in terms of game quality and playability, can projects like BAC Games, which adopt a "lightweight" gameplay style and focus on light gaming and social attributes, also find a unique path? Let's wait and see.