Benny Giang on building the perfect cats
Day two of Blockchain Gamer Connects San Francisco 2018 kicked off with Benny Giang from CryptoKitties.
He was keen to stress how nascent the blockchain gaming sector is.
“We’re still in the AOL stage,” he argued.
“The blockchain of 2030 doesn’t exist yet so just enjoy the ride.”
Come one, come all
As for how CryptoKitties is developing as a project, Giang explained it was designed to encourage the mass market to get involved with blockchain and cryptocurrencies.
The first billion people to interact with blockchain will do it through entertainment and art
Given around 70,000 people have bought CryptoKitties – one player bought over 2,300 – that part of the vision appears to have been fulfilled, at least in part.
A key part of this success has come from the collectable aspect of the game, but Giang warned that the scarcity of a collectable only matters if people care about it.
That’s something many CryptoKitties clones are now struggling with, although as the KittyVerse of games and services that interoperate with the game grows, developers may be able to leverage the desirability of the kitties for their own projects.
The first billion
More generally, Giang said the industry needs to think big.
“The first billion people to interact with blockchain will do it through entertainment and art,” he predicted.
“We really care about the mums and dads.”.
No doubt CryptoKitties will be part of this growth too, and despite the usual issues, it will remain an Ethereum-based project.
“Speed is less important than being future proofed,” Giang said.
“Ethereum will be around for the next five to 10 years.”
Blockchain Gamer Connects will return in Helsinki, Finland on 11-12 September. You can find out more details here.
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