The future of Web3 gaming is not play-to-earn. It’s Better GamePlay mechanics.

“Play-to-Earn is killing web3 gaming.” That’s a bold statement from Alexis Ohanian. But it’s not far from what many gamers, developers, and gamers believe. One of the biggest misconceptions in the Web3 gaming space is that Play-to-Earn (P2E) will lead the next gaming revolution.

The concept of earning real-world rewards through gameplay has sparked immense interest. It has also introduced issues that prevent it from becoming a sustainable model. Axie Infinity, the poster child of P2E, garnered large attention with this model. By allowing players to earn cryptocurrency through in-game activities.

But, its meteoric rise has also highlighted the flaws in the P2E model. Like high entry costs, economic imbalance, and financial exploitation. In 2021, Axie Infinity experienced unprecedented success. Generating over $1.3 billion in revenue and attracting millions of users. Yet, it soon became clear that the model was unsustainable.

But by mid-2022, the game had seen a drastic reduction in daily active users. Plummeting from 2.2 million to under 1 million. This drop in engagement stems from a well-known issue. The focus on earning overshadows the core element of gaming—fun.

Gamers saw Axie as a financial vehicle rather than a game. Leading to burnout and dissatisfaction. Another data point comes from the game’s scholarship programs. These programs democratized access to the game. Allowing investors to sponsor new players. Rather, they exacerbated economic disparity within the game.

A 2022 study by Naavik revealed that over 50% of players were dependent on these scholarships. Creating a centralized wealth distribution that stifled organic player growth. For web3 gaming to evolve into gaming titles people love. There is a growing consensus that there must be a shift in focus. That’s what GameShift and the recent Google Cloud-Solana partnership are championing.

These kinds of partnerships are set to redefine Web3 gameplay. With an emphasis on scalability, lower costs, and enhanced user experiences. This partnership addresses the very scalability and user-experience issues that plagued P2E games. With this, GameShift can offer faster, cheaper transactions and enhanced gameplay mechanics.

This is crucial for the future of Web3 gaming. Because its robust technological strength combined with player-centric design will outperform profit-driven models. But how does the Solana-Google Cloud partnership deliver what web3 gamers exactly want?

Introducing GameShift

GameShift is a Solana Labs product aiming to take Web3 gaming to mainstream adoption. With its strategic partnership with tech titan Google Cloud. It prioritizes seamless, scalable, and fun gameplay experiences. GameShift’s API-first philosophy doesn’t ask developers to know anything about blockchain. And as Davis Hart, general manager of GameShift, breaks it down:

“Our goal in building GameShift is to provide a development and player experience as like existing services as possible while leveraging the unique capabilities of Web3.”

What does this mean? GameShift is giving developers the tools they need to craft next-level gaming experiences. Without forcing them to jump through the flaming hoops of blockchain technicalities. Here’s how Gameshift plans to achieve this:

Integrated Wallets

GameShift offers built-in wallet solutions. Allowing players to store and manage their in-game assets securely. Because of the self-custody wallet it uses, the risk of scams and hacks is reduced to the bare minimum. And developers wouldn’t need to routinely address this in their off-chain systems.

Tokenized Assets

The platform enables easy tokenization of in-game assets. Giving players full ownership of their items. Players can trade, sell, or use these assets across different games on the platform. Encouraging a thriving secondary market.

On-chain Marketplaces

GameShift provides a decentralized marketplace for buying and selling in-game items. Enhancing liquidity and giving players more opportunities to capitalize on their investments.

What’s Google Cloud’s role in this partnership?

Web3 games need lightning-fast transactions, and on-chain assets to happen without a hitch. That’s why Google Cloud’s scalability is important. They are trusted by the biggest names in gaming. And now they’re supercharging GameShift and Web3 games.

This means game studios can scale up or down production and development. Depending on their needs without worrying about whether the system can handle it. That’s flexibility, efficiency, and power—all wrapped up in one package. And as Google Cloud Director of Games, Jack Buser, said in a press release,

Many game studios built on Google Cloud want to tap into the creative potential of Web3 technology, but the inherent technical complexities have been a major barrier to broader adoption.

Impact of this partnership on Web3 Gaming

Let’s face it: blockchain development can be intimidating. The learning curve to manage cryptographic keys, and understand smart contracts is steep.

GameShift allows developers to sidestep these issues. Its self-custody wallets reduce the risk of asset theft. This ensures that developers don’t have to become security experts overnight. With in-game economies, developers can quickly set up and manage on-chain marketplaces. This means players can buy, sell, or trade digital assets with ease. It’s all automated under the hood.

In collaboration with Google Cloud, the duo offers a 99.95% uptime guarantee. This means developers can trust that their games will run without hiccups. Google’s BigQuery services even allow developers to analyze on-chain data. This means they understand player behavior, marketplace trends, and game economics better.

With such insights, developers can fine-tune their games and economies. Optimizing for engagement, retention, and monetization. From a player’s perspective, the benefits are just as profound. With GameShift, players don’t need to go through the painstaking process of setting up external wallets. The platform’s seamless integration means players can focus on what matters: the game.

The gameplay experience becomes more immersive for players. Because the technology is working behind the scenes without disrupting the flow. The Fast transaction on Solana ensures that in-game purchases and trades are instantaneous. This keeps players engaged without the frustration of long wait times.

Many gamers believe that fun should come first in web3 games, and profit should follow after if at all there’s any. With more focus on profit, the creative design of the game is limited. And more resources are devoted to building leaderboard systems for profit. With this partnership, web3 gaming developers can have a winning formula to build games gamers love and enjoy playing.