Players Demand More from Crypto Gaming Tokens, Industry Leaders Say

In a recent discussion at the NFT Paris conference, Sébastien Borget, co-founder of The Sandbox, shared his perspective on the current state of crypto gaming, particularly focusing on the utility of tokens within games. Borget noted, “Players have ‘lost patience’ with crypto gaming token incentivization mechanics that lack utility.” This sentiment was echoed during a panel that also included Animoca Brands CEO Robby Yung, Sky Mavis founder Aleksander Larsen, and Dapper Labs co-founder and CEO Roham Gharegozlou.

Borget elaborated on his point by saying, “Many blockchain games deployed similar token incentive mechanics but didn’t deliver fast enough on utility for in-game tokens and NFTs.” He highlighted that only a select few projects offering genuine gameplay and utility have managed to maintain their user base during the bear market. Borget’s approach emphasizes the core gameplay experience over the initial draw of token incentives, stating, “Tokens work as a reward mechanism for engagement once they’ve been hooked for the gameplay itself, not for the tokenomics.”

Aleksander Larsen of Sky Mavis weighed in on the debate, suggesting that the industry may have overcorrected its focus away from in-game tokens. “The industry has ‘course corrected too far’ away from promoting the principle of in-game tokens,” Larsen argued, underlining the necessity of fun in gaming but advocating for a balanced emphasis on digital ownership and economic incentives as a means to attract new users.

Roham Gharegozlou of Dapper Labs presented tokens as a vehicle for transferring ownership of the gaming experience back to the users. He stated, “Tokens can be used to ‘transfer ownership of the actual experience back to the users’,” a concept he sees as vital for the future of digital worlds where players invest significant time and energy.

Additionally, Gharegozlou sees the potential for tokens to facilitate a broader ecosystem beyond individual games, enabling players to leverage their in-game reputations and assets across various platforms, including lending protocols and DeFi.

Robby Yung from Animoca Brands introduced the idea of an “intermediary stage” before the arrival of a fully interoperable metaverse. He suggested that transferring value between games through fungible tokens could offer a practical solution for now. Yung explained, “One way you can think about transferring your stuff from game to game is by transferring the value that you have,” proposing this method as a way to enable some level of interoperability between different gaming platforms.

These insights from leading figures in the crypto gaming industry highlight the ongoing evolution of token utility and the search for models that sustain player engagement through genuine gameplay and utility, rather than relying solely on the novelty of token economics.