Alternatives Emerge as Blockchain Gaming Industry Tries to Avert Steam Ban
The Enjin (ENJ) platform, advocacy groups the Blockchain Game Alliance and Fight for the Future, along with a group of 26 blockchain game businesses have called on US game developer Valve Corporation to scrap their ban on Web 3.0 technologies such as blockchain games and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the Steam platform. Meanwhile, other platforms are using the ban to lure blockchain game developers.
In an open letter addressed to Valve, the signatories cautioned that the company’s move could hamper the development of numerous innovations that could rejuvenate the gaming industry.
“Blockchain games are pioneering a number of new concepts that will invigorate the gaming industry for players and publishers alike. To cut-off this burgeoning sector at such a crucial stage of development is to ignore the remarkable progress we have achieved this year, while creating unfair access to market for incumbents,” Sebastien Borget, President of the Blockchain Game Alliance, was quoted as saying in the letter.
Chris LoVerme, CEO of SpacePirate Games, added that the “future of gaming is decentralized player-owned assets, where gamers are valued for their time and efforts spent in-game. Whether that’s an NFT or another asset class, change is happening.”
The move has triggered a string of negative reactions from gamers and blockchain industry observers.
If you are gaming company, you should use NFT. #NFT #Crypto #gaming #Steam
— Oto Lolua (@otololua) October 21, 2021
For some online gaming platforms, Valve’s move generated new expansion opportunities, as shown by the example of the blockchain-based Ultra which welcomed the first-person adventure game Age of Rust after Steam “closed a portal” on it.
“Ultra has a great platform full of opportunities & universal shift for games looking for presence & an alternative to Steam,” SpacePirate Games said.
Steam attracts a sizeable share of the world’s online gaming community. As of pixel time (UTC 07:40), the platform was used by a maximum of 24.3m logged in gamers within the preceding 48-hour period, according to data from Steam.
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Learn more:
– Play-to-Earn Gaming is Booming: From Axies to Lightnite, Here’s What’s Out There
– Games Are Propelling Growth in the Dapps Sphere as DeFi, NFT Lose Pace
– Crypto-Gaming Is Exploding Into the Playful Future
– Blockchain Gaming ‘May be Key to Mass Adoption’, Outpacing DeFi, NFTs
