Gods Unchained is often touted as a prime example of how web3 economies can be designed and run successfully. We are extremely proud that our game is getting this level of recognition, and we also know there is still a lot of work to be done for us to achieve our goals for Gods Unchained.
Our ambition, for Gods Unchained to become a key product that introduces mainstream players into the web3 ecosystem, means we need to make sure the structure of our economy continues to evolve, thrive and stand out against our competitors. We are implementing a few plans at this stage with many more to come!
To start with, here are a few high level goals that the team on Gods Unchained are tirelessly working towards bringing to our players:
- Create a gameplay experience that delivers a lot of entertainment value to our players.
- Achieve economic sustainability, even after all $GODS tokens are circulating, so that Gods Unchained can keep running for as long as players want to engage.
- Ensure Gods Unchained can generate per player profits by ensuring lifetime revenue for players is greater than the costs from player acquisition and token rewards.
- Provide lots of in-game value to the $GODS token and Gods Unchained Cards.
- Drive growth through web3 and provide an easy on ramp for non-crypto players to engage with our wide ecosystem.
Economic Sustainability
The sustainability problem for web3 game economies has been a hot topic in the industry for the last year or more and Immutable have been carefully experimenting and observing the state of web3 gaming to learn everything we can about how to match and exceed the success of established web2 games. The fundamental problem with existing web3 economies is that they are primarily focused on systems like “play to earn” which gives players the expectation that they will be able to extract financial value from playing and positions them to think about their entire experience from the perspective of breaking even and finally earning a profit. When players are all seeking to extract more monetary value than they put into the product, there is no way for the product itself to be sustainable. On Gods Unchained we are focused on players owning their assets, being able to exchange them with other players and being able to have a lot of fun playing a competitive TCG. This is the fundamental value proposition of Gods Unchained and is something we want to double down on and continue experimenting with going forward.
One of the key goals of any existing web2 game is to ensure that the cost to acquire a player is less than the amount of revenue generated by said player. This is an easy equation to solve in a closed economy but it becomes more difficult when an open market is involved. We are investing significant amounts of time into creating models that show how this can work for web3 games as well and are ready to start putting these into practice!
On the other side of the equation is supply and demand in an open market. Currently most web3 games focus on the demand for assets as a key driver which leaves less in-demand assets with very little reason to exist. At Immutable we are looking to solve both the supply and demand problems in our model for a sustainable web3 economy and will be focused on ways to influence both sides of this equation both inside and outside of the game.
$GODS Token Usage
Currently the $GODS token is primarily distributed as rewards for our most skilled players through competitive play, as well as the Weekend Ranked events. Ensuring competitive players can be thoroughly rewarded for their skill is vitally important to creating a competitive game, but this should not be the only avenue through which we deliver tokens to the community. Issuing tokens early in the lifecycle of a web3 product also encourages growth and engagement.
Seeking ways to better utilize how we issue tokens to encourage new user retention and introduce players to the wider economy of Gods Unchained is an ongoing process. This, just like for any other web3 game, will help ensure that we will create more value for the Gods Unchained ecosystem by distributing our tokens, rather than just adding additional supply to the market. As one could imagine, this will be a significant area for the team to explore over the coming months - for example, we are preparing for the return of a new and improved version of the Gods Unchained referral program which will reward our community for bringing engaged players into our ecosystem.
Focus on Staking
Staking is a system that significantly benefits the overall economy by reducing the number of tokens that can easily circulate between players. As we increase the token supply through rewards and incentives over the coming years, ensuring that a significant portion of those tokens are held and “staked” has a positive impact on the economy as a whole.
However, staking needs to be rewarded in a sustainable way. We have seen many projects designed to yield farmers with ridiculous reward rates, but these examples quickly burn out when a competitor offers a better deal or someone decides to sell their holdings as their values increase.
How will we bring this to life for Gods Unchained? Our goal is to create a system where players are rewarded for their long term commitment to the game - so, those who engage and hold tokens will receive some proportional rewards for these actions. We also want to target sustainable reward rates for our staked players with rewards that will come right from our ecosystem of players. This means the rewards that are delivered to staked players are indicative of the health of the overall product and how our players are engaging with Gods Unchained.
This is where a staking system becomes invaluable for a sustainable web3 economy. Players who believe in the product can be rewarded for performing actions that are beneficial for the long term health of the economy. Rather than incentivising staking through unsustainably high reward rates, players are instead rewarded as the product grows and more players engage with the ecosystem.
Different Asset Types
Gods Unchained currently has two different classes of cards: off-chain and on-chain. In order to keep the game accessible and avoid significant barriers to entry for new players, we have kept our on-chain assets readily available as rewards and with low purchase costs. While this has been very successful for our ability to bring new players into the game, it has also had the unintended side effect of not giving players a way to collect and hold meaningful assets. This is a very important area that we will explore, as we want players to be able to collect cards that hold a special place in the hearts of the Gods Unchained community.
While these are a few key examples of our journey roadmap, this is by no means an exhaustive list. Constructing a viable web3 economy when no other examples exist continues to take a lot of experimentation with new and unexpected challenges every day. As we make these discoveries, we will share our gained knowledge along the way, but also know our strategies are likely to shift as we hone in on what makes an ideal economic state, not just for Gods Unchained, but for web3 games.
We are excited to take you all on this journey with us as we seek to pioneer the next generation of video games! Stick around for more updates in the future!
