Source: Wu Says
After the temporary decline in popularity of TON mini-games, the chain game track seems to have fallen silent. However, at recent industry exhibitions such as Singapore's Token2049, Bangkok's THBW2024, and Dubai's Binance Blockchain Week, the vitality of chain game projects can still be seen, with both new and old chain games active in key booths. Among them, Seraph attracted a lot of attention with its next-generation AAA chain game positioning and eye-catching design. This article will attempt to analyze Seraph's game design, economic model, and globalization strategy, exploring how chain game projects can break through bottlenecks and the potential insights they may bring for the future development of GameFi.
Project Background
Seraph is a AAA-level loot game developed by Seraph Studio. The project has received over $10 million in investments, providing sufficient funds to achieve its goals in technology research and development, game development, and ecosystem building.
Seraph began its Alpha testing in April 2023, going through Beta testing, Chaos Legacy Test, Preseason, and Season 0, with Season 1 set to begin soon. The official announcement indicates that 90,000 players have participated, making it one of the leading games on the BNB Chain. At the BNB Incubation Alliance (BIA) event, a booth was set up for Seraph, and it was showcased at the Binance Blockchain Week event in Dubai, near the main exhibition hall entrance, with Binance CEO Richard Teng taking photos and tweeting about it, highlighting the strong support from BNB Chain for its leading ecological project.
According to the data displayed by Seraph's official sources, its player demographic is very broad, spanning multiple countries and regions worldwide, with notable representation in Europe, North America, and Southeast Asia, where the user growth rate is fast and activity high. The Southeast Asian market may exhibit a higher acceptance of chain games, with a more obvious increase in player numbers. Currently, Seraph has achieved over $10 million in revenue, mainly from player in-game purchases and service fees from the free trading of NFT equipment among players.
Game content: Classic gameplay validated by the market
Seraph currently supports PC and Android, with plans to launch on Steam, Google Play, and iOS in the future. The game features classic ARPG (action role-playing game) graphics and gameplay, where players use magic or combat skills to defeat monsters and bosses in a dark world of Western fantasy, continually obtaining stronger attributes and visually stunning weapons and equipment through monster drops while facing higher difficulty challenges.
Simply put, after entering the game, you first create a game character and then take on tasks to experience the storyline, moving, attacking, and using skills to defeat enemies and clear a series of challenges, continuously familiarizing yourself with the character's skills and gameplay until reaching level 60. After level 60, you begin to enter the core gameplay of the game, which is the treasure hunting gameplay. Players repeatedly challenge more difficult monsters and bosses in dungeons to obtain higher-level and rarer equipment to enhance themselves, forming a positive loop of treasure hunting gameplay. Coupled with multiple difficulty levels and different gameplay seasonal modes, players can experience more challenging encounters and fresher, more exciting gaming experiences.
It is important to note that the watershed between Seraph's Web2 and Web3 lies in the treasure hunting phase after level 60. Although treasure hunting can continue, if players want to use the gaming process to hunt for treasures and trade for profits, they need to purchase an NFT equipment with real money (equivalent to a 'ticket' for making money and initial capital), and then participate in specific challenges to obtain randomly dropped treasure chests containing valuable NFTs, NFT fragments, or limited edition outfits.
Having seen the common click-type mini-games and light gameplay in the chain game market, Seraph's graphics and content, without exaggeration, feel somewhat 'surprising', indeed comparable to Web2 AAA games. The basic systems of character upgrades, skills, and equipment are refined and deep, allowing players to create powerful builds through skill learning and equipment matching. For a deeply engaged Web2 gamer, these will feel very familiar and easy to master. This set of gameplay almost spans the entire Web2 gaming era and remains popular to this day, having been fully validated by the market.
Within this gameplay framework, and without affecting the underlying fun of the game, Seraph seamlessly integrates the NFTization of equipment with a free trading market among players to build a self-sustaining in-game economic system. This idea is relatively reasonable and easy for a game player to accept.
Economic model: 'Everything is tradable' and 'Play and Earn'
Seraph's economic model combines the philosophy of 'everything is tradable' with 'Play and Earn' (play to earn), by allowing players to trade in-game equipment NFTs, creating a self-sustaining and sustainable game economy system.
1. NFT equipment: The gold farming equipment in the game is all tradable NFTs, and players have the chance to obtain them from rare treasure chests by clearing instances. These pieces of equipment not only have game attributes but also different rarity and collectible value, which can be sold on the platform's trading market for profit.
2. Player-driven free trading market: The built-in trading market allows players to trade all assets in the game, set their own prices, and market supply and demand determine price fluctuations. The decentralized market mechanism enables players to truly own assets in the game.
3. Revenue mechanism and 'Play and Earn' model: Players gain equipment and items through in-game actions such as treasure hunting, monster fighting, and cooperative challenges, and trade them in the market, thus realizing the possibility of obtaining actual economic returns through gaming behavior.
4. Self-sustaining economic ecology: As the number of players continues to grow, the market demand within the game will continuously expand, promoting more transactions and liquidity. This will continue to enhance the stability of the entire ecosystem, continually improving the gaming experience and revenue potential.
Comparative analysis of in-game NFTs and art NFTs
As previously mentioned, Seraph has generated over $10 million in revenue, with part of the revenue based on the trading of in-game equipment NFTs. We know that the NFT sector seems to have become a thing of the past, and even discussions about NFTs are met with caution. However, Seraph's NFT ecosystem, based on in-game weapons, equipment, and items, presents a different picture. Here, we will make a simple comparison with mainstream NFTs released by artists/celebrities.
1. Source and acquisition methods: Artist/Celebrity NFTs are mainly valued by personal branding, their generation is unrelated to actual use, relying more on the creator's popularity and fan base. This method of acquiring NFTs is singular, usually obtained through purchase, lacking interactivity; Game equipment NFTs are obtained by players through clearing instances or synthesis, directly linked to the player's contributions. This acquisition method increases fun and a sense of achievement, while also allowing players to have a higher recognition of the value of items.
2. Functionality and applicable scenarios: Artist/Celebrity NFTs are mostly collectibles, possessing only ornamental value or symbolic significance, lacking practical functions. Their value comes more from fan sentiment or limited scarcity rather than actual use; Game equipment NFTs possess clear functionality, enhancing player character attributes and improving gold farming efficiency. Players can not only collect but also trade both in and out of the game for economic value. This practicality makes them more attractive.
3. Market driving force and value stability: Artist/Celebrity NFTs rely on the creator's brand influence. If the creator's popularity declines or market interest shifts, their value is easily volatile or even goes to zero; The value of game equipment NFTs is determined by the supply and demand relationship within the game ecosystem. Rare equipment is directly linked to market demand. If the game is active, the liquidity and value of equipment NFTs will stabilize accordingly.
4. User participation and interactivity: The process of obtaining artist/celebrity NFTs is singular; users merely need to purchase them, lacking a sense of active involvement. This passive consumption model may lead to difficult sustainability of user enthusiasm; Game equipment NFTs are obtained through gameplay, making the participation process interactive and fun. This model encourages players to continuously invest time and energy, thus enhancing community activity.
In short, compared to the singular attributes and volatility of artist/celebrity NFTs, game equipment NFTs perform better in functionality, market driving force, and user participation. Artist/Celebrity NFTs overly rely on the creator's personal influence, making it difficult to maintain their value once popularity declines. On the other hand, equipment NFTs are part of the gaming experience, allowing players to enhance their sense of achievement through use and gain actual profits through trading, making them more sustainable. Therefore, while the applicability of game NFTs is limited by the audience of the game itself, their design logic and trading value are more reasonable.
Seraph's revenue data is a verification of the maturity and effectiveness of its NFT economic model, showcasing its strong self-sustaining capability. The economic returns players gain from the gaming experience will further expand the game's appeal, attracting more players, and more players will further promote the healthy development of the in-game trading market. Seraph continues to update game content on this basis to provide players with a fresher gaming experience, creating a positive economic flywheel.
Asset management system: Lowering the barrier for Web2 players to enter Web3
The main obstacles Web2 players face when entering Web3 games are the complexity of blockchain technology, including wallet creation, private key management, and on-chain transaction processes. Seraph associates the ActPass account and asset management system within the game, allowing players to log in through email/account, abstracting away the process of managing crypto wallets and private keys, with an integrated MPC wallet to manage assets and transactions in ActPass. This design has the following advantages:
1. One-click wallet generation for easier operation: Most Web3 games require downloading and configuring independent wallets, but ActPass is integrated within the Seraph game, allowing players to generate wallets with one click and directly bind accounts without switching to external applications. This design is similar to email or social login methods in Web2 games and can significantly lower the entry barrier.
2. Built-in asset management to reduce operational burden: Asset management in blockchain games usually involves complex on-chain transactions, while ActPass directly stores digital assets like equipment and items in an integrated wallet, supporting rapid transactions and management within the game. Players can complete operations without switching platforms, eliminating cumbersome signature processes.
3. Hide complexity and optimize user experience: ActPass automatically handles Gas fees, allowing players to pay with fiat currency or stablecoins, shielding most blockchain technical details. Players do not need to learn complex processes and can focus on game content, resulting in a smoother experience. Additionally, thanks to the low gas fees, speed, and security of the BNB Chain's second-layer opBNB chain, players can save on gas costs for transactions, item uploading, and other activities.
In short, this design keeps a certain separation between game content and the Web3 asset management system, avoiding the poor experience of repeatedly validating assets and wallet interactions that many Web3 games suffer from. This can effectively lower the technical and psychological barriers for Web2 players switching to Web3 games, leading to higher user conversion rates and market penetration capabilities, and can be seen as an excellent solution linking Web2 and Web3.
Exploration of incremental markets: A bridge between Web2 and Web3
In the context of fierce competition in the existing market, expanding new user groups has become an important task in the Web3 field. Chain games, as a representative of the Web3 incremental market, attract Web2 players to enter Web3 due to their high user stickiness and interactivity. Especially AAA-level heavy chain games, compared to traditional lightweight blockchain applications, leverage higher technical standards, stronger immersion, and richer ecosystems, bringing new possibilities for converting Web2 users.
Through the above analysis of Seraph, here are some design concepts that can be referenced for similar games:
1. Lower entry barriers: Integrate convenient Web3 wallets to simplify asset management and trading processes, allowing Web2 players to participate smoothly without complex blockchain knowledge.
2. Strengthen economic incentives: Use the 'Play and Earn' model, where players earn NFT equipment through gaming actions (such as treasure hunting, challenges) and gain actual profits through marketplace transactions, enhancing participation motivation.
3. Provide immersive experiences: Through high-quality graphics, rich storylines, and diverse gameplay, the game brings players closer to the traditional AAA gaming experience, making it easier for Web2 players to accept and invest.
4. Balanced economic system: By reasonably designing scarcity and market supply and demand relationships (such as limited equipment or functional items), maintain an active trading market and promote long-term player participation.
The potential of the chain game incremental market cannot be ignored. According to BusinessResearch's forecast, the GameFi market size is expected to reach $90.51 billion by 2031, with a growth potential of 10 to 15 times. In the current bull market, the chain game track has yet to truly gain momentum. It is hoped that with the emergence of more quality chain games, the simplistic and crude impression of Web3 games will gradually improve, bringing more players to the Web3 industry.
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