Author: Zen, PANews
In the early Heisei period, Japan's game and animation industry entered its peak era of conquering the world. From Mario, Pokémon, King of Fighters, Metal Slug, to the later Legend of Zelda and Resident Evil, they left a deep imprint on the game industries of many countries in terms of character creation, narrative methods, and aesthetic standards. After the millennium, PC and mobile games became popular trends, and countries and regions such as Europe, the United States, China, and South Korea rose one after another. The competitiveness of Japanese manufacturers who insisted on focusing on game consoles in the global game industry began to decline.
After missing out on the last paradigm shift in gaming, Japan is now actively embracing Web3 to develop emerging fields such as NFT and the Metaverse. In 2022, Japan also established the Web3 Project Team of the Digital Society Promotion Headquarters of the Liberal Democratic Party, placing the blockchain industry with Web3 as the core at the forefront of the national development strategy. Based on Japan's more than 40 years of rich experience in the gaming industry and its "world-dominating" two-dimensional culture, the country's sudden rise in the field of Web3 gaming is undoubtedly an important force that cannot be ignored.
Among the Web3 layouts of a number of traditional game manufacturers in Japan, the public game chain Oasys, which entered the public eye in early 2022, has performed increasingly well. Its founding members include Hajime Nakatani, President and CEO of Bandai Namco Research Institute, Hironobu Ueno, CEO of blockchain game company double jump.tokyo, and Shuji Utsumi, co-COO of Sega and founding member of PlayStation, all of whom are from traditional game giants or well-known blockchain game projects. With the continuous expansion of Oasys, it has attracted industry giants such as Wemade, Square Enix, Netmarble, Softbank, KDDI, Nexon, MIXI, etc. to join its network as validators, as well as Ubisoft, Com2uS, etc. to settle in the ecosystem.
Designed for blockchain games: Bringing traditional games into the blockchain world
Oasys is a multi-layer EVM-compatible PoS public blockchain, and the main development team behind it comes from the Japanese blockchain game development company double jump.tokyo. As a bridge between traditional Web2 and Web3 games, Oasys provides developers entering the Web3 game field with a complete set of comprehensive tools and services to help create and deploy games. Its architecture design adopts a highly scalable layer 1 (called Hub-Layer) and layer 2 (called Verse-Layer) combined design, with high network stability, high scalability, and high data availability.
The first layer, Hub-Layer, is the hub layer of Oasys, which aims to provide game developers with all the tools, SDKs, digital assets, interoperability and ecological environment needed to make excellent Web3 games. It allows game developers to independently develop 2-layer games, delegate staking to holders of the core token OAS, and manage nodes for validators. Hub-Layer is resilient enough to run with thousands of connected Verse-Layers without the risk of network failure due to node failure.
The second layer, Verse-Layer, is taken from the word Metaverse, implying that each second-layer network is an independent microcosm, which meets the needs of traditional game companies and IP holders to protect IP in their own ecosystems. The ecosystem allows for customization. In each Verse layer and game or dApp, the development team can introduce separate tokens to achieve specific functions and create a more flexible and scalable gaming environment. By using rollups, all data on the second layer will be reflected on the first layer, ensuring high data availability. In addition, thanks to the transaction speed of the second layer, users can experience the same seamless experience as traditional online games on Web2.
Based on the high stability of Hub-Layer, the proprietary Verse can ensure security, scalability and flexibility. For the development team, they can provide players with better game products and value on this basis, and the number of users will continue to grow with the improvement of game quality and player experience. Active players use OAS tokens to complete transactions. On the one hand, they contribute to the game's revenue and daily activity data, and on the other hand, they provide income and liquidity for the first layer, thereby continuously injecting vitality into the entire Oasys ecosystem. The scale of players can further promote the optimization and upgrading of the first layer, provide better infrastructure support for the game, and enable users in the ecosystem to enjoy lower costs and better interactive experience. With the formation of a positive feedback loop, this design based on player experience and a sustainable model will become an important driving force for the growth flywheel.
In terms of financing, in July 2022, Oasys completed a US$20 million private placement financing led by Republic Capital, with participation from Jump Crypto, Crypto.com, Huobi, Kucoin, Bitbank and Mirana Ventures; at the end of the same year, Oasys completed a new round of strategic financing, with investors including Galaxy Interactive, Korean gaming giant Nexon, Jets Capital, ChainGuardians, etc. In addition, Oasys also allocated US$1 million to the Republic platform for public offering, which was completed within 12 hours.
Many Web2 gaming giants have settled in: jointly building the prosperity of the Oasis multiverse
As the foundation of blockchain games, Oasys aims to provide the necessary resources, scalability, and tools to make the creation of Web3 games simpler, more efficient, and more secure, to help traditional game companies enter emerging fields and better serve the market and promote mass adoption. Oasys actively cooperates with senior game industry experts from Ubisoft, Sega, and Bandai Namco. Currently, there are nearly 60 games in 10 verse ecosystems. Three representative games will be introduced below.
Champions Tactics： Grimoria Chronicles
In the middle of last year, French gaming giant Ubisoft announced that it would launch the first blockchain-based game, Champions Tactics: Grimoria Chronicles (hereinafter referred to as "Champions Tactics"). Since its establishment in 1986, Ubisoft has launched many popular 3A masterpieces, including the Assassin's Creed series, Far Cry series, Rayman, etc. The upcoming Champions Tactics is designed as a tactical RPG game, only for PC gamers.
Based on the trust in Ubisoft's products and the industry's expectation that Web3 games will be widely adopted, the NFT series The Warlords of Champions Tactics became a big hit immediately after it was launched at the end of last year, before Champions Tactics revealed too many game details. The series was minted as soon as it was released, with sales exceeding $2 million within a few hours. According to existing information, in Champions Tactics, players can form a legendary champion team, combining champion abilities, terrain maps, tactical strategies and other factors to compete with other players. Ubisoft hinted that NFTs will be integrated into the gameplay, but the details are still confidential.
Ubisoft has always been an expert at creating immersive narratives in games. Champions Tactics not only allows players to participate in strategic battles, but also provides a rich narrative experience. By exploring the mystery and darkness of the world of Grimoria, discovering legends and mysteries, players will continue to be strengthened in their adventures and gain advantages in battle. The word "Chronicles" in the game's name also indicates that it allows players to shape the storyline and even have an impact on the history and legends of the game world.
Battle of Three Kingdoms: Battle of Three Kingdoms
The Battle of Three Kingdoms series, developed by Japanese gaming giant Sega, is a collectible card game set in the Three Kingdoms period of China. The first version was launched in 2005 and is a classic of Sega. In September 2022, double Jump.tokyo obtained the license for the IP, and the two parties began to jointly develop its blockchain version: Battle of Three Kingdoms (officially referred to as B3K).
As a collectible card game, NFT cards in this game are naturally a highlight. It not only covers the characters such as generals and military advisors in the arcade version of "Three Kingdoms War", but also new cards created specifically for this game. According to the developer, the entry threshold of "Three Kingdoms War: B3K" will be very low. In the game, players can build their own decks and participate in battles, and each game only takes 3 minutes. Different cards will be distinguished by levels, combat power, attributes and other ability values, which will test players' understanding and strategic configuration of different generals.
In the context of the fierce competition among Web3 games, most developers have begun to pay more attention to the quality of games and delay the official release time. B3K is no exception. It was originally planned to be launched at the end of 2023, but the team believes that the quality of the game needs to be further improved, so it was postponed to 2024. The initial launch of the game will be mainly for PC players, and will be launched in Japanese and English versions. The Chinese and Korean versions are expected to be launched later, and the specific date is to be determined.
Chain Colosseum Phoenix
Chain Colosseum Phoenix is a Japanese blockchain game based on MCHVerse with a "play to earn" feature. The game counters market manipulation through an "Anti-Trader Barrier" (AT-field) to prevent traders and robots from selling tokens that are not earned in the game, ensuring that rewards only go to real players. In addition, the game integrates with external ecosystems for sustainability and uses a buy-in mechanism to buy back from Gas and DeFi revenues. A unique feature of this game is the liquidity pool, which is crucial in rewarding players. Unlike many projects, Chain Colosseum Phoenix invests all NFT sales revenue into the initial liquidity pool, aiming to create Game-Fi's largest liquidity pool to date, which is expected to reach $4.8 million.
Recently, Chain Colosseum Phoenix successfully sold all 10,000 NFTs, achieved sales of $2.4 million, and announced cooperation with large game projects and communities. It launched an open beta version in December 2023, plans to officially launch the game within a few months, and list tokens on multiple exchanges. In addition, Chain Colosseum Phoenix plans to generate a premium pass on the Ethereum network in the near future. This pass will bring many benefits, including NFT/FT in the game, and rewards from other projects.
OAS: Multi-purpose Utility Token in Oasis
As the base currency of the Oasys ecosystem, OAS is the most indispensable part of the entire ecosystem. In general, OAS is a token with multiple practical functions. Its main functions currently include staking and serving as gas fees. In the future, it will also be open to public governance. For different roles in the ecosystem, the specific utility of OAS also has subtle differences. Among them, for developers, the practicality of OAS tokens in terms of transaction operations and participation in the ecosystem is particularly important.
In the Oasys architecture, the continuous transaction activities from Verse-Layer to Hub-Layer, to the use of bridge contracts, or the execution of contracts on the Hub layer, are all subject to the Verse Builder's responsibility to pay gas fees in the form of OAS. As the ecosystem expands, that is, the increase in Verse-Layers and transaction volume, gas fees are expected to gradually increase. However, the Oasys architecture is designed to ensure that the fee grows within a certain limit, ensuring that the Verse Builder will not be hindered in its expansion operations due to increased costs. In addition, in order to promote the integrity of the ecosystem and avoid the undesirable development of fraudulent Verses. For developers who intend to build Verse and contribute to the Oasys ecosystem, they must complete a deposit of at least 1 million OAS tokens when establishing a Verse contract to ensure the developer's long-term investment and participation in the ecosystem.
Similar to ETH in the Ethereum ecosystem, OAS tokens also play a vital role in facilitating transaction payments within the ecosystem. Especially in terms of micropayments in games, the versatile OAS can handle a large number of micropayment transactions inside and outside the game environment. For example, in the Chain Colosseum Phoenix game mentioned above, OAS can be used to forge and upgrade heroes, upgrade gems, etc.
Oasys provides a staking reward system for long-term OAS holders who support the development of the ecosystem. By staking on the Oasys Hub, users can earn rewards while contributing to the stability of the ecosystem, aligning their interests with the overall health and growth of the Oasys ecosystem. The total value of staked OAS currently exceeds $200 million, with an APY of approximately 9% for ordinary users, and validators will also receive additional validation rewards, with an APY of up to 10%. In addition, users who stake more than 10 million OAS tokens in the validator contract will become validators, playing a key role in protecting and maintaining the integrity of the network and receiving corresponding incentives.
In the future, OAS token holders will also be able to participate in the decentralized governance of Oasys, which will be achieved in the later stages of Oasys' decentralization and transformation into a DAO. OAS holders will be able to vote on key proposals, including changing the inflation rate through the staking mechanism, determining fiscal allocations, and choosing to build contracts on the Hub-Layer.
After two years of development, Oasys has become one of the top choices for Web3 game developers and players. Through continuous expansion, Oasys is also establishing cooperation with more Web2 and Web3 industry brands to further optimize the ecosystem and expand its influence. In the past six months, Oasys has successively reached cooperation with LayerZero, AltLayer, and NFT aggregator X2Y2. By using AltLayer's Rollup-as-a-Service, it has become easier for developers to build Verses, thereby simplifying the launch of blockchain games and Metaverse on the Oasys ecosystem.
In addition, it is foreseeable that as the adoption of Oasys continues to expand, OAS may become the preferred payment method for well-known Web2 game brands in Web3, bringing wider recognition and integration to the crypto economy. The broad and powerful lineup of validators also shows its potential to connect Web2 and Web3 games and break the barriers between them.
Author: PANews; from the ChainDD content open platform "DeDeHao", this article only represents the author's point of view, not the official position of ChainDD. For all "DeDeHao" articles, the originality and authenticity of the content are guaranteed by the contributors. If the manuscript is plagiarized, falsified, etc., the legal consequences will be borne by the contributors themselves. If there are any infringements, violations, or other inappropriate remarks on the DeDeHao platform, please supervise the readers. Once confirmed, the platform will be offline immediately. If you encounter any problems with the content of the article, please contact WeChat: chaindd123
