The gaming industry, despite being one of the most technologically advanced, is largely considered to be one of the most conservative when it comes to blockchain adoption.

The reasons behind this, as highlighted in our previous publication, may be attributed to different factors, some of which include scalability concerns with the majority of blockchain networks.

Aside from blockchain-based games such as CryptoKitties, Decentraland, and their likes which are integrated on the blockchain system by default, the vast majority of the regular game titles are yet to integrate blockchain technology in any form whatsoever.

Integrating Blockchain Into Pre-existing Infrastructure

Although several blockchain developers have attempted to bridge the gap between blockchain technology and traditional game developers, none have been able to create a future-proof solution like Hoard Exchange.

The three-year-old blockchain gaming startup wants to assist regular game developers in integrating blockchain, particularly the feature of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), into their existing gaming infrastructure.

In his exclusive interview with DailyCoin, Radoslaw Zagorowicz, the CEO of Hoard, discussed the important role of triple-A gaming titles in promoting the mass adoption of blockchain in the gaming industry.

According to Zagorowicz, once blockchain is broadly adopted in the gaming sector, it will be adopted in the wider world.

“We believe that the real mass adoption of blockchain in the gaming industry will basically lead to the mass adoption of blockchain in general because the gaming industry is huge. However, of course, this mass adoption in the gaming industry will change the blockchain position in the whole space,”

Zagorowicz noted.

Triple A’s For Mass Adoption

With the above in mind, Zagorowicz emphasized the need to focus on the regular AAA (triple-A) game creators in achieving widespread adoption in the gaming industry. 

Thankfully, doing so, according to Hoard’s CEO, “is something which is very natural for the team, and should be done very soon.”

“By integrating the blockchain into the gaming industry, here, I’m not talking about typical blockchain games like CryptoKitties or Axie Infinity which are already integrated on the blockchain by default. Instead, I’m referring to other regular games which account for the majority in the industry.

In comparison, typical blockchain games are relatively new to the market and have a fewer number of active users, players, or subscribers. Regular games, on the other hand, particularly triple-A gaming titles such as Minecraft and Call of Duty, among others, already have the numbers required to disrupt the industry,”

Zagorowicz explained.

Fully aware of what is required to take on the gaming industry, Zagorowicz believes aiming for the top dogs in the industry will speed up mass adoption and, as such, they “would like to make it possible as soon as possible.”

Helping The Users To Understand

Zagorowicz also opined that the idea is to make people understand blockchain as an underlying infrastructure, and not necessarily all the products that are built on it. 

“When you ask people on the street about Bitcoin, some may answer correctly what it means and how it is used. However, the majority may fail to answer correctly, or perhaps have partial knowledge of what it means. 

When you ask people if they've heard of blockchain in the future, we believe they'll say yes. They will respond affirmatively, such as ‘Of course.’ In the gaming context, for example, someone may remark, ‘This is the technology that allows me, as well as many other players, to truly own our in-game items,"

Zagorowicz opined.

The end goal, according to Zagorowicz, is for people to realize that “these items, beyond being in-game items, are now owned not just by the game developer studio, but by the real players and, in the end, by the real people.”

By integrating blockchain in the gaming industry, Zagorowicz says end-users i.e gamers will be able to make a lot of transactions.

“Gamers will be able to exchange the in-game items on blockchain as well as make use of this item to interact with other DeFi’s and NFT projects on the blockchain. “

He added that all of these will be possible on the Ethereum blockchain, because in his opinion, “there is no real-world for NFTs behind the Ethereum blockchain.”

Helping Developers Do the Integration

When asked how the company would approach a potential partner’s onboarding request, Zagorowicz said the integration process “depends on the extent of a partner’s understanding of blockchain.”

“If they are newbies, but are aware of blockchain and its boundless potential, which include redefining gaming experience, then we’ll just cartwheel them through the entire process. 

Specifically, we will help the gaming companies in this category to find out how the blockchain can be integrated with their games, but also for example, how the game logic can be designed or tailored to make the blockchain feature more interesting for players,” 

Zagorowicz explained.

Given the complexity of the integration process, Zagorowicz noted that his team includes a variety of gaming professionals.

According to him, their team is comprised of game developers and designers that assist these gaming companies during the onboarding process as well as participate in the process of creating the game, game logic, and so on. He rounded up on that note, saying  “this is how the company works right now.”

On The Flipside

• While the gaming industry is still very conservative towards the idea of blockchain adoption, triple-A game developers are the hardest to convince given their size and larger user base.
• Presently, Hoard is exclusively focused on the Ethereum blockchain, which is one of several blockchain systems available. If the project does not provide cross-chain compatibility in the long run, it will be constrained.

Why You Should Care?

The gaming industry is a host for a huge number of tech enthusiasts, who account for a significant percentage of the world’s tech-savvy population. The larger world is opened up to the beauty of blockchain when integrated into as many triple-A game titles as possible. Regular games, particularly triple-A game developers that jump on board early enough, are able to lay a footprint for others to follow.