Salad Spotlight: Marcus “Revenant” Tan
Since Axie Infinity’s boom in the GameFi space in the summer of 2021, Web3 ESports has steadily emerged as a hot and popular topic in the…
Since Axie Infinity’s boom in the GameFi space in the summer of 2021, Web3 ESports has steadily emerged as a hot and popular topic in the space.
In just Web 2.0 alone, the ESports industry is worth US $1.14 billion. With this immense success in Web2 ESports, it is widely predicted that ESports in Web3 would someday exceed the expectations of the Web2 gaming community.
As the Head of Partnerships of EsportsFi and, Esports Consultant to big-name projects like Avium, Marcus gets the best of both worlds as he has tons of experience as a professional player in a plethora of Web2 games; even representing Singapore at the Overwatch World Cup in 2016.
Esports in Web3
ESportsFi aims to be the trailblazer in Web3 gaming as the “Olympics of GameFi”. Marcus leads all client relation efforts between EsportsFi and GameFi projects that are looking to enter the Web3 ESports scene.
Despite so, there is one fundamental aspect of GameFi that Marcus feels more focused on and thought should be put into before Web3 ESports can truly blossom: the game concepts. He believes that the current state of GameFi projects is not suitable to accommodate the existing needs of Web3 esports.
While play-to-earn gaming has been the foundation of GameFi, it should not be the only thing that defines it. GameFi needs to be revolutionized with new elements that elevate it, especially if ESports is on the roadmap.
For blockchain gaming to reach the levels that it once attained, a constant churn of novel ideas needs to be introduced and the scholar model should be phased out to make way for GameFi.
“I think that for GameFi ESports to really take off, it’ll take two to three years. Even though the infrastructure is set in place for Web3 ESports to succeed, the existing game mechanics are not ready to host a high level of competitive play.”
The Scholar Ecosystem is Dead
When play-to-earn gaming took off, a guild was a must-have thing to ride the wave. Although the scholar model is outdated, most guilds utilized a scholar ecosystem which allowed them to lend or rent out the necessary resources to players, or scholars.
This system ensured that guilds are always up to date on the meta and could focus on profit-generating methods. This was mainly seen in guilds that played games like Axie Infinity, the first big GameFi project with 2.78 million players and a market cap of over US $700 million at its peak.
However, Marcus feels that this model is no longer the way forward for GameFi. Instead, having a tightly knitted ecosystem that utilizes every aspect of its game mechanics to make the game work should be the next step forward.
“I think the scholar model of play-to-earn has been phased out. While it had a good run, GameFi projects simply have to do more to make their project successful, they should not only focus on making it a game suitable for the scholar economy.”
He added on by mentioning that there is a strong need to have adequate currency sinks for players, good game balance, and regular updates to keep the game fresh. These are also important and fundamental aspects that make existing Web2 triple-A games so successful.
“GameFi projects should take more time to focus on the finer aspects of the game and take a page from Web2 games.”
Overwatch is one successful example of a Web2 triple-A game — they have managed to set up an entire franchised sports league similar to NBA which is currently worth over US $200 million.
Implementing these new focus areas will not only help to create a fun project for gamers but also go a long way in paving the esports scene as these are also traits of popular esports in Web2. While it is not a surefire method, these can be the first steps of creating a multi-billion dollar Web3 esports industry.
From Accountability to Success
On Salad Spotlight #4, we also discussed accountability in Web3 with XPLA’s Chief Executive Officer, Paul Kim.
Paul asked about how the Web3 community can ensure that projects are accountable to their audience about their promises, and the steps one can take to answer that.
To which Marcus answered: the team members behind the project should be doxxed and build a relationship with their audience to provide a level of transparency. Constant engagement and progress updates on what the team is building will provide reassurance to the wider community to show them that the project is here to stay.
“By doing that, the team places themselves in a public position where they would have to be responsible for anything that happens to the project, good or bad. It really goes the extra mile.”
Building on the topic of accountability, Marcus wants to find out from the next Salad Spotlight guest: What kind of metrics would a Web2-native individual use to gauge the success of a Web3 project, and to what extent can they consider certain Web3 projects successful?
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