A few days ago, after watching the Star Atlas trailer and while unstaking a few coins I held of other projects I am getting out of, I encountered on Discord a (actually very friendly) person that got me thinking.
He was getting his stake out too because he was unhappy of the platform (I won't name it but if I say ears and candles you should get it). We chatted a bit and he mentioned a few crypto-based games he was about to try. Without googling them I instinctively typed something like "Thanks, I am gonna take a look at them but I hope they won't be the same usual bad looking crypto games with rewards that I am seeing around because, despite understanding We are still pretty early, I really can't play a game which You would normally find on Google Play for free with an average of 2.4 rating". He then replied: "Yeaaaahhh but it's PlayToEarn!". To this I kinda fell silent (He mentioned a wife earlier on so I don't think he was a teenager trying to accumulate some cash on the side).
I probably speaking more as a gamer here rather than a crypto investor but...Is it about gaming or earning?
As a fairly seasoned gamer (gaming since the SNES era) I definitely look for overall quality if possible when I try games.
I really enjoyed watching the trailer of Star Atlas because well...every new interesting project on a valid platform is just a step further in the evolution of web 3.0, but I also really got skeptical because as far as I know (happy to be disproved, eventually), the game official announcement dates to not long ago (Sep 2020) with no real info on actual development time and as far as I've seen, in the team section of the official website, there's no real experienced AA or AAA videogame developer but they got instead very experienced (top notch for real) designers. Everyone is excited by this (real) PlayToEarn concept. Comparisons to EVE Online and Star Citizen have been flying around but we still have to grasp the actual quality of the game. Just time will tell the outcome. Also, Eve Online alone is enough to understand how long, grindy and steep the process can be (if that's how the game will really look like). So who's more into the thing now, the gamers or the investors? The game is not out but the marketplace is already open and you can already buy NFTs for the game. Sort of like when you can purchase packs on FIFA Ultimate Team Web App before the game is released.
Yes, let's take a game like FIFA for example. Which has been around since 2009. Normally on Fifa Ultimate Team Players like Ronaldo and Maradona are valued, depending on the time of the year you buy them, between 100 and 6000 dollars. A legendary spaceship on Star Atlas in the current DEX Marketplace is worth 38000 dollars. Sure, it's an NFT. First Series. Different concept. It's yours and it can be kept. But We know that sooner or later there will be a Ronaldo Fifa Ultimate Team NFT Card. How much will that card cost? How much will that card be worth to the players? Star Atlas is not even out yet while FIFA is at its 13th iteration.
An other example is WoW. Some of the items available for sale via third party sites go for even 1000 dollars.
And We're talking about historical IPs.
My point is...Actual value and perceived value. Is Star Atlas a game to look and wait for or is it more for speculation and market sales?
Don't get me wrong. I'm excited to try Star Atlas as a gamer and in the worst of the eventual scenarios...each era needs their pioneers so trust me... I am definitely not bashing on the project. But I believe hype is a bit getting the upper hand here.
The game is not out yet and I've already read several articles on how this can give future occupations. How this title will be a game-changer. But right now They sold us the game or the concept?
I take the chance then to mention Splinterlands, which in my opinion (and no, I am not talking about it just because We're on Hive) embodies what exactly the NFT Games/PlayToEarn can be (at least in the current status) at specific market levels. Organic growth with adoption by trial rather than by name/hype. It came out, with a price. People tried it. They liked it. They earned enough in proportion to the fun. And it boomed. That's how many a videogame title should win. That's how I expect new NFT games to take the market by storm. With real value (which can be higher or lower). Not perceived value.
Is Star Atlas a videogame with crypto functionalities or is it an edulcorated NFT-based cashed machine?
My opinion is that, all in all, everything is still pretty "raw". We're early (even though everything moves quick). Many gamers don't know crypto well yet and the crypto enthusiast understandably take every chance/new product as something epochal and life-changing. While I think that the truth is that these are just the first steps which will lead NFT to be a normal component of videogames in the future. I am confident Star Atlas can have its own potential and develop its own market (exactly like EVE Online did) but I am also pretty sure We all will get to reconsider the NFT Gaming space and each product will get its real market value. And the heaviest adoption phase will be when a current big dog in videogames titles will implement crypto functionalities (it'll happen with store payments first and then later with actual gaming components). Oh and...yeah...I can't wait for that to happen!
What do you guys think about it? :)