Weekly Crypto Gaming News – Steam, Epic, Ubisoft, Animoca Brands, My Neighbor Alice, Dreams Quest, Ethermon

Welcome, all Player 1s and Player 2s!

Read in the gaming digest today about: 

• Steam bans all blockchain games, while Epic welcomes the abandoned.
• Ubisoft invests in Animoca Brands, the portfolio of which includes Alien Worlds, CryptoKitties, Splinterlands, Decentralands, Axie Infinity, Nine Chronicles, My DeFi Pet, The Sandbox, etc.
• My Neighbor Alice will get its own launcher. Other crypto games should consider this too following Steam’s restrictions. 
• Recent partnerships: Dreams Quest, POCOLAND, Chainlink, Bomb Crypto, Ethermon, and others.

Steam vs Epic on P2E: A Turning Point in the Gaming Industry?  

The biggest news in the crypto gaming sphere last week came from outside the crypto world. Steam, one of the biggest online video game distributors, shocked the gaming industry with the news that it will no longer allow any gaming projects that feature blockchain, NFTs, or crypto in their virtual store. The company updated its policies and added: “Applications built on blockchain technology that issue or allow exchange of cryptocurrencies or NFTs,” to the list of what may not be published on the platform. 

Conversely, its main rival, Epic Games Store, welcomed all those abandoned by Valve. However, they warned projects to be fully compliant with financial laws, have a clear blockchain usage policy, be 18+, and to use their own payment systems instead of Epic’s. 

In response to these events, Enjin responded in their blog with a critical opinion piece. The article opened with the line “A lost Gameboy nudged one of my colleagues to join Enjin,” and a story about the lost Charizard on the Gameboy. 

Flipsider:

• Come to the dark side, we have cookies and NFTs. 🙂
• Indeed, uncle Gabe Newell never lost his Pokémon, so he wouldn’t understand the ideology of blockchain gaming.

Ubisoft Invests in Animoca Brands Together with Justin Sun

Conversely to Valve, Ubisoft seems very enthusiastic about blockchain technologies. Animoca Brands, one of the giants of blockchain gaming, raised $65 million in funds from various investors, including Ubisoft and even Justin Sun, the founder of Tron. 

So far, the portfolio of Animoca Brands includes such big blockchain gaming projects as Alien Worlds, CryptoKitties, Splinterlands, Decentralands, YGG, Axie Infinity, Nine Chronicles, My DeFi Pet, The Sandbox, Aurory, and REVV. 

After this latest investment round, the company is valued at $2.2 billion, which makes it a double-unicorn.

Flipsider:

• It’s very likely that Ubisoft will continue investing in blockchain companies. On the other hand, they won’t be switching their own games over to blockchain in order to stay risk-free. 

My Neighbor Alice Will Get Its Own Launcher

We live in a time where games can be launched on a web browser, on smartphones, or directly from a marketplace. Back in the 2000s, it was cool to fill up half of your desktop with game icons. 

Team Alice, the developers of My Neighbor Alice, announced the start of the development of their own launcher for the game. According to them, it will increase accessibility because the game will be ready to play right with just a few clicks. It will also make testers’ work easier. 

Flipsider:

• After the recent Steam restrictions, it may be time for the other developers to think about their own launchers. 

Recent Partnerships in Crypto Gaming: Dreams Quest, POCOLAND, Bomb Crypto, Ethermon

• Dreams Quest has integrated a pack of Chainlink’s oracle services. Dreams Quest is an RPG card game, similar to Splinterlands or Hearthstone.
• POCOLAND has integrated Chainlink’s Price Feeds and Chainlink VRF. The game is mechanically similar to Axie Infinity and My DeFi Pet.
• Bomb Crypto has teamed up with blockchain expert and developer, Verichains. The company will consult Bomb Crypto on smart contract implementation and ICO. 
• Ethermon has partnered with Dfyn for the implementation of high-yield farm staking.