Blockchain Gaming World – Details, episodes & analysis

Jon Jordan talks to Improbable CEO Herman Narula about why the UK game tech company decided it had to build its own blockchain. Called Somnia, its testnet is now live.

• [2:32] The Improbable genesis story: from Cambridge Uni to building games technology.
• [3:39] Building economies for virtual worlds means you need a blockchain for ownership.
• [4:54] Improbable's first success was The Multiplayer Guys, who worked on CoD, GTA, Fall Guys etc.
• [5:27] The biggest thing Improbable has learned is "the tenacity to pursue the mission".
• [5:44] The Improbable co-founders have been sanctioned by Russia due to their defence work.
• [6:59] The key thing for Improbable's MSquared tech is making the cost of operations so low.
• [8:19] Narula describes Improbable as a "venture builder" - it's a "company of companies".
• [9:56] What does MSquared do? It's a software platform to build large scale virtual worlds.
• [13:32] "We've always bet on the need for human beings to feel relatedness, even in games."
• [14:56] Why did Improbable have to design its own blockchain. Do we need another one?
• [15:32] The crypto space is obsessed with its token price. That's all they optimize for.
• [16:00] Somnia can handle 1 million transactions per second, with sub-second latency.
• [17:19] Improbable has almost a quarter of a billion dollars of cash.
• [19:08] "Pirate Nation's network costs are astronomical. It would save millions of dollars on Somnia."
• [20:55] Our focus isn't getting existing web3 games to move to Somnia, but new games.
• [22:23] The current problem for games is cost of UA and cost of development.
• [23:34] "I couldn't care less what the Somnia token price is. That's not how we make money."
• [25:31] Blockchain games now is like The Hunger Games - people fighting over a small amount of value.
• [27:39] How big a deal will AI agents be in future? How is Improbable using AI for development?
• [28:34] AI agents aren't going to have bank accounts. They're going to have crypto wallets.
• [31:02] In an post-AGI world, "Games are going to become a critical industry for human health."
• [35:17] If you're an EVM app, you change one line of code and move to Somnia.

Jon Jordan and BlockchainGamer.biz editor Jenny Jordan reflect on the week's news.

• [1:05] Ronin-based prediction market Forkast has gone live. Jon is very excited.
• [2:38] It's one of the first non-gaming apps on Ronin as the blockchain has gone permissionless.
• [5:33] How the prediction market works - users buy and sell percentage bids on events.
• [7:02] The CGX token has also gone live. It's used for rewards and future governance.
• [8:30] This isn't gambling. It's skill-based gaming.
• [10:33] You'll also need the CGX token in order to create predictions in future.
• [12:00] Why predictions markets can generate useful information.
• [13:56] Jon spoke to Daryl from B3 on the podcast - B3 is a gaming L3 from ex-Coinbase execs.
• [14:56] The spark of inspiration for B3.
• [17:14] B3 is attempting to build an ecosystem including revenue share between games.
• [20:25] B3 successfully launched its token last week. Price is up 60%.
• [21:20] Indian company SuperGaming has signed up to bring its web2 games to web3 using B3.

Jon Jordan and BlockchainGamer.biz editor Jenny Jordan chew through the week's news.

• [0:23] Sky Mavis has announced a new $10 million grants program for developers on Ronin.
• [3:22] Is the ease of onboarding users to web3 games still a big issue?
• [7:08] Mobile basketball game Rumble Kong League is migrating to Ronin.
• [9:50] What will be most interesting about Ronin going permissionless is new non-gaming apps.
• [11:55] Axie Infinity added $4 million to its treasury in 2024.
• [15:31] Axie and Pixels believe they can make play-to-earn work as a sustainable business strategy.
• [16:20] Wild Forest demonstrates that pure token airdrops still don't.
• [18:08] Explaining Pixel's 2024 financials.
• [27:34] AI agents doing a live podcast and soon to be playing poker against each other.
• [32:44] Blocklords launched its Elisa Revard AI agent; people tried to win her hand in marriage.
• [36:30] Saga has announced Metropolis, which allows AI agents to launch their own blockchains.
• [38:50] Mighty Bear Games has announced its AlphaGOAT AI agents, dropping 6th February.
• [44:06] What's happening with The Sandbox in 2025?

Jon Jordan talks to Mystic Moose CEO Mike Levine about the forthcoming launch of auto chess battler game Mojo Melee, as well as its wider Planet Mojo ecosystem.

Jon Jordan talks to Daiki Moriyama and Ryo Matsubara from  Oasys about how the gaming blockchain is leveraging the growing interesting in web3 from Japanese game companies ranging from Sega and Square Enix to Gumi and Bandai Namco. 

Jon Jordan talks to Magic Eden's chief gaming officer Chris Akhavan about his journey into blockchain gaming and how he hopes Magic Eden will accelerate market adoption. 

We start the year in style as Jon Jordan talks to Animoca Brands' chairman Yat Siu about the aftermath of 2022's crypto crash and where the blockchain game sector goes next as we head into 2023. 

Jon Jordan discusses what happened in the blockchain game sector during 2022 with David Amor (Playmint) and Will Luton (Village Studio)

Jon Jordan talks to Immutable's game director Derek Lau about its mobile squad-RPG Guild of Guardians, which is currently in alpha testing, prior to its 2023 launch.

Jon Jordan talks to Random Games' CTO Wyeth Ridgway about Unioverse, its project to create a "Roblox for triple-A devs" via tools, royalty-free game assets ... and blockchain!