Roundtable Discussion: The Journey of NFT and GameFi

Source: IOSG Ventures

The year 2021 can be regarded as the explosive year for NFTs and GameFi. Behind the wild growth of the industry, there are also opportunities and challenges lurking. We invited outstanding OGs (original gangsters) from the industry to reflect on their surprises and gains over the year, and to engage in in-depth and heated discussions on topics such as the metaverse, DAOs, and the future development prospects of the industry.

On December 18, 2021, at the eighth edition of IOSG's Friends Reunion event, we invited Dieter Shirley, CTO of @Dapper Labs, Robbie Ferguson, co-founder of @Immutable X, Jiho, co-founder of @Axie Infinity, Andrew Gross, technical product marketer of @xDai/Gnosis, and Daren Frankel, head of strategy and operations at @Palm NFT Studio; the discussion on "The Journey of NFTs and GameFi" was hosted by Jesse Johnson, co-founder of @Aavegotchi. Let's take a look back at these exciting viewpoints!

Jesse

Alright. First, welcome everyone to the 8th Friends Reunion. I believe we will gain a lot from this discussion. Our discussion will cover various topics related to the future direction of the metaverse, gaming, and the crypto industry.

I am your host today, Jesse, from Pixelcraft Studios, where we develop a blockchain game called Gotchiverse, which is a virtual world for Aavegotchi. I am very happy to gather with everyone today at this roundtable to discuss how interoperability connects us. First, could each of you introduce yourselves? We can go in alphabetical order, starting with Mr. Andrew Gross.

Andrew

Hello everyone, I am Andrew, a technical documentation engineer for the xDai chain. The xDai chain will soon be renamed Gnosis Chain. We are currently undergoing a merger, which is a token merger.

If you are not familiar with xDai, it is a scaling solution for Ethereum. It provides stable transactions, or stable tokens for transactions. We have some interesting projects related to NFTs. You may know POAP (Proof of Attendance Protocol), which uses xDai for minting. "The Dark Forest" is a blockchain game on xDai that has recently gained popularity.

Daren

Hello everyone, I am very pleased to meet you all here. I am Daren Frankel, responsible for strategy and operations at Palm NFT Studio. Palm NFT Studio is a versatile entity. We are primarily a creative studio that collaborates with the largest consumer content brands in the arts and entertainment industry.

This includes movies, games, and contemporary artists. We have collaborative projects with many contemporary artists, including Damien Hirst, as well as Warner Bros. DC Comics is our latest client. At the same time, we also operate the technical infrastructure to support other participants in building their own NFT experiences.

In addition to entertainment and tools, we are also one of the creators of the Palm Network. This is an Ethereum sidechain for NFTs, primarily aimed at supporting high-end consumer content NFTs, which also brings us the challenges of sustainability and scalability that mainstream Ethereum faces today.

Dieter

Hello everyone. It’s great to be here with you all. I am Dieter Shirley, CTO of Dapper Labs. Our most famous product is the NFT platform NBA Top Shot. However, today we are testing the digital platform for the NFL, with the first public beta currently underway. We also have the UFC launching on LaLiga soon.

Before this, I was a co-founder of CryptoKitties and the author of ERC 721, which I believe most of you have heard of. I am also the chief architect of the Flow blockchain. Flow is Dapper Labs' blockchain product, an independent layer one blockchain for general-purpose applications.

For NFTs, Flow provides strong support because we place great importance on NFTs. Additionally, it has a fantastic smart contract language called Cadence, which we developed based on the difficulties we encountered. We have built some of the most commonly used smart contracts on Ethereum but also discovered the limitations of existing programming models.

Cadence uses resource-oriented programming, which is more suitable for the logic of smart contracts. In our view, it is one of the best development environments for smart contracts.

Jiho

Hello everyone, I am very happy to join you. I see some old friends and some new faces. I am Jiho, also known as Jeff, co-founder of Sky Mavis and designer/creator of the game Axie Infinity. We also created an NFT scaling solution called Ronin.

Initially developed for Axie, we have gained 2.8 million daily active players, processing transactions from over 800,000 unique addresses daily. Ronin is currently the cross-chain bridge with the highest TVL, holding about $8 billion in tokens, ranking first on Dune Analytics. We are very excited about this.

We believe that the combination of gaming, collectibles, and art with scalable infrastructure and community will become a superstar combination, making crypto a part of culture and daily life.

Robbie

I am Robbie, co-founder of Immutable. My story is similar to Jiho and Dieter; we initially focused on blockchain games. We were one of the first companies to develop multiplayer games on the blockchain. The game was called Etherbot, which launched about a week after CryptoKitties.

Subsequently, we focused on developing NFT scaling solutions on Immutable. One of the main ones is the trading card game Gods Unchained. You may have also heard of Guild of Guardians. The core is leveraging Ethereum's liquidity and security. We built a scaling solution on Immutable's Ethereum using ZK Rollup, which now processes tens of thousands of transactions per second.

Continuing to scale at a pace akin to Moore's Law. You may have heard about our recent partnerships, including TikTok, ESL, IMVU, and Playco. We help them build NFTs on Ethereum.

Jesse

That's fantastic, it's great to learn so much about Ethereum-related content. Very cool. So everyone here is outstanding. The OGs have been dedicated to creating everything we see today for many years.

This year can be said to be a fruitful year, entering broader fields, especially in NFTs and gaming. So today we will discuss the current situation, compare it to a year ago, and reflect on the surprises of this year, what surprised you the most, whether good or bad. We can start with this question. I think it can lead to some open discussions. Andrew, can you start?

Andrew

Sure. It has been an exciting year for NFTs. Seeing the business grow so much, we can also see the actions of big companies. Pepsi has an announcement out today. Budweiser and other large companies are following suit.

At xDai, we have also seen some government agencies getting involved in blockchain, one project being the crypto stamps released by Austrian Post. They are using blockchain for the legal currency of stamps, issuing stamps as NFTs. Users can use these NFTs to pay for postage. Other government entities are also joining in, which will bring some interesting use cases and scenarios.

Dieter

Regarding surprises, I was asked this question before. My answer might disappoint some of you. I actually expected to see more creativity around NFTs. Aavegotchi and Axie can be said to be the leaders in creativity this year, and they have profited significantly, especially Axie.

For me, it’s puzzling to see that people are not trying bolder things. More people are just copying very basic art NFTs. That’s understandable; I get that people want to follow successful cases, but I am disappointed that more people are not trying new things. I hope that in the new year, we will see more new attempts.

Truly creative new ideas often take longer to develop, and perhaps that’s why we haven’t seen them yet. But now this so-called NFT craze has lasted for nine months, and creativity is increasing. But to be honest, I hope to see more. So I hope there will be more creative projects emerging.

Daren

Let me share my own experience. This year I further immersed myself in NFTs and followed many artists I admire. I was surprised to find that many creative people had been silent before. Like others, I often spend time browsing Twitter to see what’s trending or what I like.

I followed some artists and noticed who they were talking about, and then their works suddenly appeared. Whether it’s 3D animations or 2D static images, many artists are looking for ways to reach a broader audience, hoping to attract attention, and they may have been behind the scenes before, which is quite surprising. This has changed many people's lives.

So I am looking forward to it. Although the current use cases are still quite limited, art is just art. The works of these artists are excellent and inspiring, and I am looking forward to the digital art industry leveraging NFTs to create scale and value, thriving rather than just right-click saving the works. Everything happening here, this form of sponsorship, still shocks me today.

Jiho

This year, in such a bull market, we will see more opportunists, which is expected. However, for OGs, those who think about these issues first are often the ones who can monetize first. Under the spotlight, everyone is excited. The creators who are getting involved now are enthusiastic, and in the next phase, over the next two and a half years, they will create more exciting things.

Regarding surprises, perhaps Ethereum still dominates in terms of scale, so there are still more collectible works and cases emerging because artworks do not require massive throughput. I am surprised that there haven’t been as many games as I expected. Now many people want to make games, especially seeing how popular Axie is.

But I originally thought at least one such team would emerge to develop a popular game with hundreds of thousands or even millions of users, allowing us to learn from each other. Although everyone is rushing into gaming, we haven’t seen that many game products. This also means that we may need to wait another year or two before the next excellent, fun, and large-scale game appears.

Robbie

The explosion of art indeed surprised me, the growth rate is insane. I remember when I gathered with the Lava Labs team in 2018, the floor price for a punk art piece was only around $200. What surprised me is that most participants come from the art and gaming industries.

I actually have my doubts, and I have mentioned in discussions with others that many tech company founders place great importance on gaming. Like Stanford and other top universities in the U.S., their best graduates are developing games. I think we have reached a consensus. Seeing games like Axie scale up, many people will flock in. I like capital allocation; I enjoy seeing bad games also participate and take advantage, which is an attractive way to draw people in.

Attractive crypto products can attract more funds. But ultimately, it will all come down to utility, and higher-quality gamers will eventually join. So I believe that based on the success of some of these games, we will see a large number of game studios join in, especially in the mid-market. Next year, many high-quality games will emerge. They will utilize the crypto economy and play-to-earn designs that have already been proven effective over the past year.

Jesse

Now let’s move on to the next question and take turns discussing what will happen next. As Jiho mentioned, if we look at the next two years, will we see a completely different gaming market? Or will play-to-earn dominate? Will this new model become a distinction from traditional gaming? Robbie, what do you think? Could you elaborate on your views?

Robbie

I personally believe that the two will merge. We have already seen some very interesting experimental explorations involving crypto economies and digital currencies, and I think high-quality games will complement them.

People do not want mundane gaming experiences. Playing games itself becomes the goal. The fusion of the two will undoubtedly be beautiful; if you suddenly have such a strong community, like Axie combined with another game that people are continuously developing, even integrating into the same NFT according to people's wishes. We will definitely see large-scale other attempts. There has already been a significant amount of capital allocated to high-quality games in this industry, so we will see more different attempts.

My view has always been, the coolest thing is what will be created on top of NFTs? Bored Apes were the first to try and create different experiences. I think the fundamental consideration is that, ultimately, game developers care most about customer acquisition cost, retention, revenue, and virality.

And NFTs have proven to perform excellently across these dimensions. Big companies are very fascinated by this. They often invest billions of dollars to optimize marketing performance, like Tencent and Supercell, while NFTs can achieve results without spending a dime, through viral distribution. But when you have ownership, you are more likely to be retained.

This actually aligns with the incentives of ecosystem owners. You can transition users from one gaming experience to the next. Because what matters is not a single game, but the underlying assets. We will see a transformation of high-quality games.

Jesse

I really like the point you mentioned, especially the arbitrage concept similar to a DeFi perspective. It seems like you are arbitraging from the future, connecting the old and new industries. Jiho, how do you see these two parallel universe-like industries evolving in the future?

Jiho

I think for the traditional gaming industry, they will need some time to understand the community and economy involved. Much of this content requires people like us to guide them, helping them understand that this is feasible, the economic opportunities involved, and how to communicate with outstanding members of the community.

It’s like we are writing a script. They will learn a lot, and now there are at least some successful cases. I think we still need to answer which types of games will succeed, whether it’s strategy games or NFT games? I believe there are specific game types that are inherently beneficial to open economies, which may be the types of games that are easier to succeed.

I believe NFTs can enhance the experience of all games, but early successes may be those games where the community can mainly participate, which is how I think about what types of consumer applications should transition to crypto applications. Is it community-driven content or consumer applications that are responsible for the main work? So I think it also relates to what the current narrative is, what stories we can tell, and thus tell the stories of these pioneering drivers.

Now there are many opportunists; why didn’t they create games two years ago? When you have market validation, some people will want to take shortcuts. I think there will be a lot of education and popularization work, and the transition may not be quick. But it is also important. Many games will emerge in the next 5-10 years.

They will need various solutions, just as all of us here are working on NFT scaling solutions. Right? There will be different platforms, some like Nintendo, which are more selective. There will also be more universal platforms like Microsoft. There will be different levels of permissions. What we first need is community integration because you will need users, which will open the door for games. We may also see some backlash against traditional gaming companies.

Some traditional gaming companies may get involved, wanting to take a piece of the pie. Ubisoft is one example. Education is necessary, and player participation is crucial. This relates to the impact on the environment, what the stakes are, and why the cash economy will not affect the integrity and enjoyment of these games.

Jesse

That’s very true. Some of them want to join, some don’t. Some may even resist.

Jiho

Some want to, and even released games, then backtracked. Because their circles publicly opposed it. They also need a more scientific approach. You have to understand public opinion, and the methods need to be appropriate, rather than just blaming the social media environment for being bad. Because people can be very negative on social media, but that doesn’t represent the silent majority. Perhaps the silent majority accepts NFTs and is willing to consume more, hoping games are more fun, but they may not express it loudly on Twitter.

Daren

If we look at what’s happening in the traditional gaming industry and the crypto space, I completely agree that many top gaming talents have been in the gaming industry for many years, and I have communicated with them. I come from a technical background, working in entrepreneurial consulting and cryptocurrency, rather than gaming.

What the experts in the gaming industry say feels like going back to the early 2000s when web games and farm games emerged. There was resistance in the community, and many traditional game developers were also resistant, believing these wouldn’t last. So not all seasoned gaming professionals can accept this. They are right; it doesn’t apply to everything.

Some games are very suitable, like web-based games, where I am willing to buy little things, skins, or other upgrades, but there are still many AAA game studios developing first-person shooters that remain very popular, and players will continue to play these games. So generally speaking, the traditional gaming industry will accept NFTs and incorporate them into their gaming universe. But that doesn’t mean a complete acceptance, or that it will be accepted everywhere or last; that’s exactly what we are doing now.

Because I mentioned earlier that I worked in consulting. A major part of Palm NFT Studio's work is creative studio work. We communicate with multiple game studios. When you consider NFTs, how do you integrate NFTs into your environment, and how do you create NFT experiences for players? You need to consider XYZ.

There may be parts that are not suitable for you, not suitable for these games, and not good NFT experiences. ABC seems more suitable for your specific game type or the games you are representing. The professional insights we bring to them come from professionals who are genuinely involved in NFTs every day.

They understand what is feasible, have witnessed what works, have participation experience, and know how to build, sharing with large game studios. So to summarize, many studios and game companies will announce their attempt plans and then fail and give up.

They will not do things that the community will oppose. But ultimately, there will be some attempts that succeed, and they will say this succeeded. Players like it and are willing to stay. This game will remain. That’s what we hope to help them find.

Jesse

That makes a lot of sense and echoes what Jiho said. The OGs and players are very supportive of NFTs. They act like mentors to the traditional gaming industry, which undoubtedly wants to understand new games and hopes to explore and try different options, which is where they need companies like Palm to help them. That’s the capability this team possesses.

Daren

One point that many people overlook is that for large gaming companies, when developing games they are familiar with, they do it exceptionally well, far better than most of us, which is why they can become large companies. However, being a successful gaming company can sometimes become an obstacle to trying new things.

This applies to almost all companies; the larger the company, the easier it is to become complacent and only focus on what they are good at. So in these organizations, although people are excited about new things, it takes a long time to truly drive change. So seeing so many companies release announcements is surprising. But it will take some time before we can see if any of the games will be eliminated or if the game companies behind them can get investment.

Jesse

Indeed. Companies are constantly releasing announcements. This has almost become a trend. But I am curious, perhaps Daren, you and Dapper might be able to answer this question. I feel like we are expecting someone among you to say, "We don’t need traditional gaming companies at all; they will fail, and their intellectual property will become ours." What do you think?

Dieter

I actually basically agree that if we look at the transformation brought by mobile games, it is very enlightening. Because when mobile games first appeared, no one took them seriously. Even today, at its peak, the average monetization rate and revenue per user are still much lower than in the traditional gaming industry; most people won’t spend more than $60 on mobile games, and only a few are willing to pay higher prices, but most spend even less.

So I think this is a new type of game, not even that new; even "Angry Birds" has its precedents, but the impact was minimal. Puzzle games existed long before mobile games appeared but never gained popularity. And now, almost any guess will find puzzle games in the top 10 rankings, at least in the mobile game field. So in the crypto space, these are just another type of game suitable for our audience.

Another point I think is likely is that we will see a net smaller user base, but their engagement will be stronger. This is the complete opposite of mobile games. Almost everyone plays mobile games; even the dog at home plays them. People who never play game controllers or tabletop games also play mobile games. They can play mobile games anywhere.

But they don’t engage deeply; it’s very casual. You just pick it up and play a bit, then put it down, not caring that much. Maybe in a week, you’ll play a new game, and you don’t care at all. In the crypto space, the situation is the opposite. You see people deeply engaged in experiences; they want games to become part of their identity.

And it may be a small wave of people, but with extremely high engagement, the game lifecycle is much longer, lasting months, even years, more like MMOs (Massively Multiplayer Online games) that are long-term engagement games, which is different from shooting games and mobile games that you forget after playing for a week or two.

Jiho

We have already seen gray market games developing well and being popular for decades, like Eve Online, RuneScape, and Roblox. These games may become popular. The economic forms involved are very special, and they have not been included in the analysis cases. The only case we could find in development is Neopets, which is also very popular in the market.

Jesse

That’s right; that’s a great example. These games represent a good economic form, and they are like the counterexamples we saw during the growth of mobile games. Mobile games are casual and easy to access. For crypto games, you need to open a wallet and learn some crypto knowledge. But once you join, like Axie, it’s a long-term investment because you have a stake. Andrew, would you like to share your thoughts on this?

Andrew

Yes, we actually saw a similar scenario in "The Dark Forest." It started with just a small group of developers. Each round, the number of participants gradually increased, and multiple DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations) emerged, with people organically collaborating in various ways. This game uses zero-knowledge encryption technology, and every step in the game is obscured on-chain.

So this is actually a very interesting feature, and I believe it will continue. Another interesting aspect is, for example, encouraging everyone to write bots. So various players are willing to participate. They are very interested and will spread the game, which is basically word-of-mouth, but with each round, we can see more and more people being attracted to participate in the game.

This is a real-time strategy game, different from other games on the blockchain. We will see their scale continuously expanding, with more and more games emerging, and more games happening in real-time, rather than needing time to appear later.

Jesse

That makes a lot of sense. "The Dark Forest" indeed showcases the imagination you mentioned. My impression is that you can learn to code and join the forest, which compares Ethereum to a dark forest, drawing inspiration from a famous science fiction novel. So for xDai, is this your focus? Do you think you will focus on specific game types, or will you encompass various games?

Andrew

This team is also creating a dungeon game based on zero-knowledge encryption technology. Based on this concept, and the NFTs you earn, you can use NFTs to unlock different skills across games. What you earn in one game can be used in another. We see various attempts on xDai.

I know some guests here mentioned the lack of experimentation, but because our chain has low fees, there hasn’t been that much attention. Therefore, we see many people trying things on it. But if they are worried about the high cost of failure, they may not try.

Jesse

That’s interesting. Yes. Some areas in the crypto space will attract mobile users, mainly due to the nature of their success and the reasons Robbie mentioned earlier. And what you see is the other side, where the quality of game production is not that important; they are trying their ideas here and developing games.

I think we can now talk about the last topic. Because we only have five minutes left. As you mentioned, there are specific types of players, like developers who write bots to play games, and various economic forms of games that differ from traditional game forms, as they can produce second-order effects or even third-order effects.

So when we think about the buzzword "metaverse," what do you think the recent hotspots are? What is most important moving forward? How can it positively impact humanity, players, and even non-players, rather than falling into a dystopian world? Many people at some dinners will tell me that this is "The Matrix" coming, and soon we will be tied to chairs. Let’s change the speaking order. We can start with Jiho and then go around.

Jiho

First of all, we should not participate with any preconceived notions; some have read about it in books, and some have seen movies. I try to avoid these; I hope I can enter and iterate with a cup-empty mindset, forming an understanding of the situation as my experience evolves. Here, we have a rare opportunity to stand at the forefront and observe as changes occur.

I think there is a principle: accessibility. Facebook got involved because they think they have hardware. But just because they have hardware, they think they can control distribution and the future of the network. I think this is flawed; I believe it won’t work. Regardless of what happens, the basic trend is that our digital lives and identities will become increasingly important and closely linked to our physical lives and identities.

This trend is happening. But for us, the key is that, just as our freedom in the physical world is fought for through effort, this is the core of the matter. All of us here value freedom, users, an open and empowering internet future, but there will be people joining with different purposes. Perhaps they are hypocrites, or perhaps they want to realize what they saw in the movies. But I think this is something we should be aware of.

The bottom line is, one reason I am proud of Axie is that most of our users use Android devices, which is the most universal hardware globally. When people design experiences, they also need to consider this. Think about how to attract the right people and how to use technology to benefit those who should benefit the most.

Robbie

I believe this world will be completely digital; it is inevitable. People will live in virtual environments, and perhaps we are in a virtual world right now. Therefore, it is about how we provide the best support to help people realize themselves, find meaning, and bring fairness to the world economy.

So I completely agree with what Jiho said. The focus is on building the infrastructure that is open, secure, and owned by everyone, rather than owned by a company like Facebook. And one anecdote: the internet was not open at the beginning; it was after very fierce struggles, and there were other options, including the Microsoft Service Network, which once wanted to charge for email by the envelope. The idea at that time was to charge a small fee for single services.

So this openness is not a given. We need people to actively push for it every day to make it all open. This is the most important thing we can do.

Dieter

I completely agree with what Robbie said. Only when we find a way to build a completely decentralized underlying system can we avoid a dystopian story. Here, people are no longer forced but choose freely. We have already seen that email is actually a great example; it is the foundation of everything we do today.

If you ask someone what’s good about the internet, they will rave about Netflix, Twitter, and Facebook. The commonality is that you need an email to use them. And that’s the bottom line; no one can control that part; you can choose to enter or exit freely. This is actually very powerful. Most people use Gmail now.

But if Google becomes too overbearing one day, or not just sending us ads but more seriously invading people's privacy, people will refuse to use it. So blockchain is our best choice to prevent these digital products and our digital lives from being controlled by a single company.

Daren

I really like the concept of the metaverse. There is a digital playground where everyone can participate, communicating regardless of what they are doing or what games they are playing, and they can collaborate. I love this vision and idea. I don’t know if this can become a reality. Focusing on one place, like having only one Bitcoin, one Ethereum, one blockchain. The reality is we have many blockchains.

For me, "metaverse" is actually plural, not singular. Because the idea of a single idea, a single solution, a single environment, or a single operating environment that fits everything, while it can’t be said to be unattainable, seems to be something that everyone has longed for but has never been realized. So what will really happen is that we will see many organizations, independent developers, and startups creating their own metaverses.

As for who will ultimately be the winner and what will be gained, it all depends on participation. Ultimately, for people and the mass market, those who create the most value, bringing the most people to others, will have the most fun. People are willing to spend time because it is interesting. I support having universal standards, and I also support creating metaverse concepts that fit their respective communities; that’s what should be done. But especially in the early stages, only those that truly attract players will succeed.

In the long run, we fully support building a decentralized world, believing that in the long term, this is the way to build a real community. Here we can connect with each other, live together, and operate and maintain in a community form. In the short term, attracting audiences relies on user participation.

Jesse

This is like a Cambrian explosion phase. What you might be saying is that the concept of "metaverse," while not inaccurate, may not be entirely accurate either. There may just be many different possibilities, hoping it will ultimately succeed like email, building an accessible underlying layer. Andrew, do you have any additions regarding the metaverse?

Andrew

I agree with everyone; security is the most important point. We have all seen what happens when data falls into the wrong hands; it can happen quickly, and its impact is profound. For me, as Daren said, the metaverse is also about multi-community and multi-distributed organizations (DAOs).

So I think the most exciting thing in the past year has been the surge of DAOs and how they form and collaborate. These are still questions waiting for answers. For me, this is the power of transformation, profoundly affecting how we interact.

Jesse

When someone asks me, "What is the metaverse, and what does it have to do with me?" I think DAOs are a great example. If used correctly, DAOs are a very good concrete case of how to empower. Of course, there are some inherent risks, but today’s attempts and the ability to have an immediate impact at any time and place can empower everyone and achieve equality.

We are running out of time. It’s rare to gather everyone together, and for me, this is a very special opportunity. So let’s each take a minute to tell me what you are most looking forward to and want to share in your upcoming agenda? For example, what is worth spreading but is not yet widely known? We can start with Andrew and go around.

Andrew

As I mentioned earlier, we are undergoing a token merger with Gnosis, and we are very excited about it. We conducted a vote in the community, and 90% expressed support for completing the merger. Now what we need to do is build an Ethereum 2.0 mirror beacon chain, like Kusama, which is a canary network for Ethereum 2.0.

It fills the gap, having both the stock value of the physical world while hoping to connect with Ethereum through decentralized means. We are building this trustless conversion bridge. We are looking forward to continuing to advance this Kusama-like model, integrating with Ethereum 2.0.

Jesse

Alright. The Kusama analogy refers to the Polkadot ecosystem, right?

Andrew

That’s right, it’s between the testing and production environments. There is a staging layer where projects can retain the physical world’s value while also preparing to enter Ethereum 2.0, with the freedom to choose.

Jesse

That’s great. I wasn’t aware of this before; it’s very interesting. Thank you for sharing. Next, Daren, what do you have to share?

Daren

I am very pleased to announce that today Palm NFT Studio has completed a round of financing. We are excited to invite some investors to collaborate with Palm NFT Studio. This round of financing was led by Microsoft’s M12 venture capital. We are very excited to work with them to expand the influence of Palm NFT Studio and broaden the reach of NFTs, not just within Microsoft.

On the network level, we are also very pleased to see the contributions made by the community. In the first quarter of next year, we will release a series of announcements regarding the Palm Network and its continued growth. If you are interested, you can keep an eye on us. Visit our website Palm.io for more details. The first quarter of next year will be very exciting.

Dieter

I have actually mentioned that NFL ALLDAY is about to launch, and there will also be a platform for USC launching soon. LaLiga is also coming up. So there are many new developments to look forward to for consumers. You may know that we acquired the Brud team, who are behind Little Mikaela, and they are very optimistic about DAOs, so we have let this team focus on social DAOs and are already making progress and have received funding.

This is one direction for DAOs. Focusing on social DAOs and related communities, I think this is a very interesting exploration, and I personally look forward to it. Next year, we will have a new VP of Engineering joining us. Our hiring progress is rapid, so if anyone is interested in any part related to the stack, whether it’s application development or building the core blockchain, you can pay attention to the many new positions we will be releasing next year.

Jesse

Great, all exciting news. That’s fantastic. I am also very interested in the idea of combining DAOs with social aspects. Currently, DAOs are primarily focused on anonymous capital allocation, similar to the stage we are in. But adding this layer of social interaction, so it no longer relies solely on Discord or third-party integrations, if that’s your direction, it will become very powerful. That sounds interesting. Robbie, what about you?

Robbie

Next week, we will be announcing a major partnership. It should be our largest partnership to date, so stay tuned. I think what attracts me most about Immutable X is its organic appeal. We started with 160 people building a testing environment on Ropsten, and by November 1, we had over 600 people. It’s amazing.

Everything is progressing smoothly, completing large transactions, and gaining investments; it feels fantastic. What excites me the most is the organic appeal of this platform, where people are willing to develop and build here. Personally, I also enjoy hiring and collaborating with more people. We now have three executives from Ramp Safety Culture and the former CMO of Shutterfly. In the past eight weeks, we have recruited a total of 45 people.

So welcome to join us, and welcome everyone to join other companies among us; everyone has similar yet different perspectives, but we are all working together to build this metaverse.

Jesse

Very comprehensive, that’s fantastic. Congratulations on your hiring progress and rapid growth. I also look forward to your updates. Jiho, what are you focusing on?

Jiho

We are also rapidly hiring. It’s hard to believe that we started with only eight people, so we used to do everything together. Now we can have five teams simultaneously advancing different projects. It’s truly incredible. We are accelerating updates, updating combat modes, improving visual quality, effects, and game mechanics.

The updates will almost be a brand new game. This is actually our third or fourth update of the combat system, with some iterations here and there. With each update, we expand our audience and make the game more accessible. The main update is that at the beginning, you don’t need to purchase anything to get three free Axies.

So people can learn about and enjoy the game before investing in NFTs or setting up wallets. This is especially important for us.

I am very much looking forward to our decentralized exchange, Katana. Because in the future, DEX (decentralized exchanges) will become a very important part of competitive gaming. So when we were developing Ronin, we wanted to ensure that there was a DEX on-chain because this will determine the liquidity of resources in the game.

So the updates will bring more DeFi (decentralized finance) features, which are very important for our players. We also have local area network games. Axie is not a single game but a universe. We are developing several different games. In the local area network, you can gather resources, build structures, and engage in territorial wars. This is somewhat like Clash of Clans, Animal Crossing, or Stardew Valley, but still in the early stages, but tokenization can empower the community.

In the long run, I am also very much looking forward to the SDK. Because we want to ensure that Sky Mavis is just one of the many game development companies developing on Axies. This is what I find cool about the web. A traditional game developer entering Web3 may feel strange. We don’t necessarily know exactly how to build a strong cryptocurrency community.

We can outsource, that is, community as a service. If you join Ronin and build with us, you will gain access to our community’s resources and have guaranteed user acquisition. People will be willing to try. You don’t have to, or you can choose to focus more on the game mechanics. And this is exactly what we lack. This is truly high-quality game design.

The economic forms and communities will be owned by those who are ambitious to do this work. We will bring more game developers and designers to participate. This is like putting the last piece of the puzzle for change. I actually disagree with Dieter’s view. These games will become the largest games of our era, encompassing society as a whole.

Some people don’t play games because they feel it’s a waste of time. But these games will genuinely help you in real life, no matter where you are; they can establish strong emotional and economic connections with anyone, and it will be very powerful. It will impact billions of people.

Jesse

This is the trend of digital life, isn’t it? Our digital selves will become more important than our selves in physical space. So people will spend more time because there are these incentives, and you will also be willing to focus on long-term connections with specific communities, blockchains, and projects. This conversation has been fantastic.

I am very glad to communicate with all of you, and I hope those watching have also gained insights into many excellent projects, initiatives, and blockchain products. Thank you all for watching, and thank you for gathering at the eighth Friends Reunion.

All

Thank you, everyone!