From young children to older adults, video games captivate audiences worldwide. Whether playing on mobile phones for hours or investing in custom-built gaming PCs, the universal appeal of video games lies in their ability to connect people through play, cooperation, and competition.

The rapid rise of the Web3 industry has opened new avenues for global connection and collaboration. Naturally, these two worlds are beginning to merge, creating exciting possibilities for the future of gaming.

Host Jonathan DeYoung interviewed executives from five gaming-focused projects — Shrapnel, Ex Populus, Saga, HyperPlay, and MetalCore — to explore the development and future of Web3 gaming.

The Necessity of Frictionless Web3 Games

A recurring theme among these executives is the importance of making Web3 games frictionless. For these games to reach mainstream success, they must be enjoyable for both crypto enthusiasts and skeptics.

Marc Mercuri, chief blockchain officer of Shrapnel, an upcoming extraction shooter game, emphasized this perspective:

“If I just want to play this game, and it’s great, I shouldn’t even know anything about Web3. But if I believe in DeFi and I want to bridge my assets in and out, and I want to get this skin and take it out and get a loan against it in a DeFi protocol and all the rest of that, you should be able to do that too.”

Mercuri highlighted the need for a low-friction experience to attract mainstream gamers.

JacobC.eth, founder and CEO of HyperPlay, a Web3-enabled game store integrated with MetaMask, discussed how to avoid friction in blockchain-based games. He pointed to a viral meme in the crypto community illustrating a shooter game where each shot prompts a MetaMask popup, requiring transaction confirmation. JacobC.eth explained that this can be circumvented with account abstraction:

“The user can fund an in-game wallet and have their transactions automatically approved, or have them happen in the background up to the spending limits and thresholds that the user sets.”

Web3 Gaming as a Catalyst for Crypto Mass Adoption

Many gaming executives believe that Web3 gaming could drive crypto mass adoption. Yat Siu, co-founder and chairman of Animoca Brands. Other executives share similar sentiments.

Toby Batton, founder and CEO of Web3 game studio Ex Populus, stated:

“We feel that if blockchain technology is really going to hit the mainstream, it’s number one going to be through gaming. Gaming obviously has a massive audience of billions of players around the world, and the use case of blockchain technology fits so perfectly with games.”

Rebecca Liao, founder and CEO of Saga, a scalable layer-1 blockchain for game developers, agreed but added nuance. She noted that while cryptocurrency hit the mainstream first, true mass adoption—where people use crypto seamlessly in their daily lives—is still to come and will likely emerge from gaming.

Liao mentioned that major game studios are quietly experimenting with blockchain technology but are cautious about publicizing it due to the perception that Web3 gaming is a scam.

Dan Nikolaides, chief technology officer of the upcoming mech combat game MetalCore, suggested that successful, high-quality Web3 games made by veteran developers could change this narrative:

“There need to be just enough of these games that make it and that are successful and continue to demonstrate that quality games can come out of Web3 devs. And I think that’s when we’ll really get over the hump of mainstream.”

Conclusion

The convergence of Web3 and gaming presents promising opportunities for the future. To learn more from the executives of Shrapnel, Ex Populus, Saga, HyperPlay, and MetalCore about the potential and challenges of Web3 gaming, listen to the full episode of **Decentralize with Cointelegraph** on Cointelegraph’s podcast page, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your preferred podcast platform. Don’t forget to explore Cointelegraph’s complete lineup of shows!