The DeanBeat: Why the smart kids are moving into blockchain games
/We dove deeper into blockchain, cryptocurrency, and games at our GamesBeat Summit 2019 in Los Angeles. We had a panel on it last year, but the game industry leaders that are diving into blockchain games have more credibility now.
The skeptics persist, as cryptocurrency scams and fraud are still plentiful. There’s a Gold Rush mentality that is aptly scaring off a lot of game developers from diving into the space. Some have looked at games like CryptoKitties and concluded that blockchain games are still too primitive.
But the game veterans who have studied this emerging market are excited about it. What’s different now is that more game company leaders who have been successful in previous generations are exploring blockchain.
Just this week, Microsoft threw a lot of its cloud computing weight behind blockchain. Ubisoft is also active in blockchain games, but we weren’t able to secure a speaker from them.
Some of the believers think that blockchain will be key to gaming dreams such as Ready Player One, the Metaverse, The Matrix, or Snow Crash. Meanwhile, big game companies like Electronic Arts, Activision Blizzard, and Take-Two Interactive are on the sidelines.
Our speakers included Kevin Chou, CEO of Forte and former CEO of Kabam, interviewed by Mike Vorhaus. We also had a panel on blockchain games moderated by Concept Art House CEO and Fifth Era partner James Zhang; and I moderated a closing session with Brock Pierce, chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation and founder and funder of numerous cryptocurrency startups.
Zhang’s panel included Arthur Madrid, Board Member of Animoca Brands, Roy Liu, Head of Business Development at the Tron Foundation, Kevin Chou, CEO of Forte Labs, and Miko Matsumura, General Partner at Gumi Ventures & Co-Founder of Evercoin Exchange. The panelists alone have publicly announced that they plan to invest more than $230 million in blockchain games.
I’ll go over the highlights of what each person said, but I’ve also included the videos of what they talked about. I also interviewed Miko Matsumura separately on camera. And Randy Saaf, CEO of Lucid Sight, also spoke in one of our lightning rounds. I’d say that’s a pretty good representation of the crypto folks across the board at our summit.