GameFi lifecycle six stages: How to develop an excellent blockchain game?
If the project party creates games solely for profit, then they may have entered the wrong industry.Author: BNB Chain Blog
Original Title: 《GameFi Life Cycle Analysis, Featuring MOBOX, StarSharks \& Bomb Crypto》
Compiled by: Linqi, Chain Catcher
Introduction
Although the concept of GameFi has been around since 2017, it has only recently been discovered and revealed for its exceptional value, thanks to the maturation of DeFi infrastructure and the increasing number of users joining the crypto ecosystem.
By the end of last year, GameFi experienced explosive growth. According to Footprint Analytics, GameFi took off in March of last year, growing by 2934% by the end of the year. Although the industry is still in its infancy, it has attracted many game studios to create blockchain games. According to BscProject.org, there are currently over 260 games on the BNB Chain, making it one of the most prominent blockchains in GameFi. In terms of DAU, 6 out of the top 10 dApps on the BNB Chain are GameFi projects.
During the week from February 25 to March 3, 2022, four out of the top five NFT, GameFi, and Metaverse projects on the BNB Chain were blockchain games.
BNB Chain NFT, GameFi \& Metaverse Weekly Report, Source: BNB Chain Twitter.
In this lucrative field, competition is exceptionally fierce. There are hundreds of games currently available, with many more on the way. These games must possess extraordinary appeal and high-quality experiences to attract and retain players to be considered successful. Game developers spend a significant amount of time developing their games and designing characters, token models, marketing strategies, etc., to achieve sustainable growth for their ecosystems. This is why when we observe the blockchain games that dominate the GameFi space, we find that those that put in the effort are always able to achieve success.
Blockchain gaming is an innovative, fast-changing, and highly competitive industry, which fosters a unique lifecycle for GameFi.
GameFi Lifecycle Model
The GameFi lifecycle model is divided into six stages:
Game Development
Pre-sale
Launch
Growth/Decline
Evaluation
Execution
Game Development
Game design typically occurs during this stage. Like traditional games, blockchain games with high-quality concepts and ideas can ensure ongoing player engagement.
Blockchain games also need to establish a sustainable token economics model that aligns with their core values. A good token economics model can incentivize developers and players to earn profits, encouraging their continued participation in the development of the blockchain game.
Additionally, developers often build a localized but clear roadmap during this stage to ensure that the project's plans and direction are highly transparent.
Pre-sale
The pre-sale is similar to crowdfunding, pushing the project to the public to raise the necessary funds for development, marketing, operations, and other business needs. Unlike the mainstream gaming industry, anyone can invest and become a "shareholder," not just professional investors or financial institutions.
During the pre-sale, the project may sell early tokens at a discounted price. A successful pre-sale can positively impact the game, bringing in necessary funds, increasing visibility, and encouraging more player participation to enhance their token value.
However, as long as the project has sufficient funds or effective marketing strategies, the game does not always need a pre-sale. Some projects have never conducted a pre-sale but still achieved success, such as MOBOX, which allowed players to purchase tokens and NFTs when the game officially launched.
Launch
When the game officially launches, it requires an appropriate marketing plan, community building, and other operations to attract players' attention and ensure the game can achieve sustained growth. Developers should adhere to the roadmap and complete different goals on time, such as releasing new game modes, integrating NFT game markets, and meeting community expectations.
Growth/Decline
Many game projects experience explosive growth in their early release stages but inevitably fail while thriving. Although their trading volume and user activity set records, they often struggle to maintain this growth and retain their player base. The prosperity and decline of blockchain games are usually the result of multiple factors.
There are many ways to ensure players stay, such as engaging storylines, appealing characters, reasonable token distribution, high return on investment for the game, NFT airdrops, and high APY for staking, among others.
If a game wants to continue to grow, it must constantly add value for players. Developers must continuously evaluate the game and implement effective strategies to maintain its high appeal.
Evaluation
Regardless of whether the game project is in a growth or decline phase, game developers must review the situation and player feedback. Therefore, building a community is very important. Many projects establish communities around social media platforms (such as Twitter, Discord, and Telegram). If a game utilizes social media, it must maintain high user engagement and regularly interact with users.
Creating a community can help developers communicate with players and understand their needs. Developers should also analyze players' in-game behaviors to understand which aspects of the game perform well and which need improvement. Additionally, special events, tournaments, and leaderboards within the blockchain game are also great ways to enhance player engagement.
Execution
Once developers have collected player feedback and better understand their players, the project team must update the game and execute marketing strategies to drive the game's development. To be accountable to players, the project team must communicate any changes to the game and potential downtime to the community.
Challenges in Creating a Sustainable Game
Driving sustainability is key to giving blockchain games a longer lifecycle. However, when observing the GameFi space, despite some games achieving considerable growth in the early release stages, they fail to sustain and maintain that growth. Below are the reasons we believe may lead to their decline.
Focusing on Profit Rather Than Player Experience
If the project team creates a game solely for profit, they may have entered the wrong industry. Game development requires not only experience and a deep understanding of player behavior and expectations but also a genuine interest and dedication to the industry.
If a game primarily focuses on making money while placing player experience as a secondary concern, it will ultimately fail. Such games may only have simple graphic designs without excellent game backgrounds, functional gameplay, or long-term strategies to retain players. Overemphasis on profit will cause the game to rely solely on a constant influx of new players to sustain its token economics. A lack of passion and identification will diminish players' interest in the game, making it difficult to retain existing players and attract new ones.
Imbalanced Token Distribution
Fair token distribution is crucial for creating a vibrant game community. However, some blockchain games have poor token distribution structures, with greedy teams retaining most of the tokens for themselves. Moreover, most tokens are distributed to the team and private investors rather than to the players' reward pool, making it harder for players to earn rewards through gameplay.
Lack of Community Engagement
The team must communicate with the community, not just remain within it. In the GameFi space, the community plays an important role. Good communication can help developers enhance the gaming experience and ultimately meet player expectations by collecting feedback on game flaws.
The project team needs to establish a quality customer service system to address player issues and answer their questions. For example, when players encounter problems, many developers do not respond to their inquiries promptly. In the absence of communication, it is easy for players to feel that game developers are insincere or do not care, which can affect the game's reputation and lead to player attrition.
