Last year, social media platform Kik raised a whopping USD 98 million for its “kin” token, and now the Kin Foundation is branching out into the video game industry, specifically through leading game engine developer, Unity.
Unity has joined with Kin to develop a gaming-specific software development kit (SDK), the purpose of which is to integrate kin, which is hosted on both Ethereum and Stellar blockchains.
Worlds collide
The famed Unity engine has been use by video game developers and publishers all over the world, notable titles built on the engine in recent years have been: the Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality VR game, Cuphead, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft and Kerbal Space programme, and is a company that is very well ahead of the times. Earlier this month, PocketGamer.biz reported that Unity had also partnered with DMarket in a move intended to bring real asset value to in-game inventories.
This is not the only video game focused blockchain effort in the world. BitcoinNews recently reported that an Ethereum-based tabletop video game console is making its way onto the market that has potential to share a similar premise, the monetization of video gamers in-game data, such as high-level characters or items.
Another player in the game, ImmVRse, is taking on the cutting edge of video game technology. Virtual Reality (VR) is getting attention from industries all across the globe; construction, property, medicine, advertising and of course, video games are all developing VR systems for whatever needs they have.
Once again, with ImmVRse, the idea is to decentralize VR and monetize the creative content built through on platforms through its native token.
Lidwine Sauer, director of insights and trends at publishing giant Ubisoft’s Strategic Innovation Lab, summarized the ideological pursuit in an interview with gaming news website IGN, saying:
“…finally have real digital collectibles that cannot be replicated by anyone and can be 100 percent owned by you. Thanks to the blockchain, we can now have the equivalent of a digital Picasso, with the advantage that it’s a lot more difficult to steal something on the blockchain than to steal a Picasso.”
Digital ownership
Monetization and peer-to-peer trades appear to be part of the early and decentralization of video game technology, and perhaps for some players, it redistributes some of the incredible amounts of revenue from micro-transactions and digital content made by the industry.
It seems natural for these two technologies to come together, as virtual currencies and digital cash purchases are now a norm for consumers. The gamer audience is dominantly made up of millennials already have a strong connection with blockchain technology and may treat these early efforts to control their digital assets similarly to that of the liberating move away from fiat to crypto.
