52 min
CRYPTO x GAMES | Does Web3 Gaming have a future? - with Aaron Bush (Naavik) & Ben Cousens (Zebedee) Monetizing Media
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- Investing
Video games involving NFTs and cryptocurrencies were supposed to be the future. In 2021 and 2022, investors poured $3.6 billion and $3.7 billion, respectively, into gaming-related crypto companies. Then...it collapsed. Axie Infinity went from over 1 million "daily active wallets" to just 9,000 in January 2023, and the top 10 web3 gaming tokens lost on average 97% of their value. The hype is gone. So what happened, and what future (if any) does blockchain technology have in the games industry?
Monetizing Media's Eric Cohen-Peckham talks with Ben Cousens (Chief Strategy Officer at Zebedee, a fintech startup for games companies that uses bitcoin's lightning network, and a former games-focused VC) and Aaron Bush (Co-Founder of gaming industry research & advisory firm Naavik, which recently published a report on this top called The Great Reset). Ben and Aaron have a lot of critiques and skepticism but also share excitement about specific opportunities for blockchain tech in games over the next few years.
// Keep up with future episodes and get other resources for media & entertainment businesspeople by joining the newsletter at MonetizingMedia.com
/// Read Naavik's "The Great Reset" report for free at https://naavik.co/deep-dives/the-great-reset-2023
Video games involving NFTs and cryptocurrencies were supposed to be the future. In 2021 and 2022, investors poured $3.6 billion and $3.7 billion, respectively, into gaming-related crypto companies. Then...it collapsed. Axie Infinity went from over 1 million "daily active wallets" to just 9,000 in January 2023, and the top 10 web3 gaming tokens lost on average 97% of their value. The hype is gone. So what happened, and what future (if any) does blockchain technology have in the games industry?
Monetizing Media's Eric Cohen-Peckham talks with Ben Cousens (Chief Strategy Officer at Zebedee, a fintech startup for games companies that uses bitcoin's lightning network, and a former games-focused VC) and Aaron Bush (Co-Founder of gaming industry research & advisory firm Naavik, which recently published a report on this top called The Great Reset). Ben and Aaron have a lot of critiques and skepticism but also share excitement about specific opportunities for blockchain tech in games over the next few years.
// Keep up with future episodes and get other resources for media & entertainment businesspeople by joining the newsletter at MonetizingMedia.com
/// Read Naavik's "The Great Reset" report for free at https://naavik.co/deep-dives/the-great-reset-2023
52 min