Opinion by: Kin Wai Lau, CEO of ZKcandy
Many individuals nonetheless don’t see the purpose of utilizing blockchain in video games. It’s a robust software that drives possession and buying and selling however shouldn’t be very important for many gameplay sorts.
The rise of AI shifts the equation. Blockchain isn’t only a bonus characteristic for video games enhanced with synthetic intelligence — it’s essential for constructing constant gameplay. Quick processors and cloud servers aren’t sufficient anymore. AI brokers and gamers want blockchain to allow a very social gaming expertise, the place achievements could be recorded and carried throughout completely different titles, turning video games into related social ecosystems. With out decentralized infrastructure, agentic gameplay dangers changing into a centralized walled backyard the place progress is non permanent, creations are locked in, and expertise is restricted.
Disposable creations
Immediately’s AI can construct a personalised recreation circulate because it learns and adapts in actual time. However when AI runs inside a centralized entity, its creations stay disposable, owned and monetized by companies.
Participant interactions are saved privately on company servers. Reminiscences and evolving character relationships die if the server shuts down. Sport progress, AI agent evolution and generated content material are tied to the lifecycle of a recreation session, account or company coverage. If a participant restarts the sport or a writer pulls the plug, all creations and achievements threat stepping into useless. When AI brokers overlook what they did yesterday, rising storylines can’t unfold constantly, and NPCs don’t get smarter.
If the consumer owned at the very least a part of the generated content material, this might resolve the issue, however the centralized nature of video games doesn’t allow this both.
Right here’s one other vital factor: When AI adapts to the participant, they change into co-creators of the sport. They construct new characters, tales and gadgets, however avid gamers can’t profit from their very own creations. Creativity will get exploited when gamers can’t capitalize on their contributions.
Reminiscence, possession and monetization
Blockchain is a pure match to increase AI’s reminiscence and grant customers possession of their creations.
A distributed ledger can document recreation contents onchain, together with participant actions and achievements. Most AI brokers at present function inside a single session: They don’t bear in mind previous interactions as soon as the session ends. If the sport progress information are on the blockchain, nothing will get misplaced. Brokers can study and evolve from session to session. This opens the best way to constant narratives and character arcs.
When AI’s progress is recorded onchain, it’s saved in customers’ wallets, so gamers personal and management their historical past — it’s not misplaced or locked away. Moreover the reminiscence advantages for agentic AI, possession opens broad alternatives for managing in-game belongings.
The issue with conventional video games is that avid gamers hire, not personal, issues — every part stays below the sport writer’s management. If a participant spends years shaping an AI companion or a novel merchandise, that asset dies inside that recreation. It can’t be transferred to different video games or platforms. It’s trapped.
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When AI is backed by blockchain, any generated merchandise could be minted as an NFT and keep within the participant’s pockets ceaselessly. Nobody will ever delete it or limit consumer entry to it: NFTs are saved in a decentralized method. And that is for his or her safekeeping and utility, not hypothesis.
Customers can switch their belongings past a single title throughout digital worlds. When blockchain preserves reminiscence and traits, gadgets and even NPCs carry a constant identification wherever they go.
Video games change into a unified social ecosystem. Gamers can evaluate what they’ve constructed, showcase their achievements with AI, and admire others’ journeys. Social dynamics evolve round provable creativity, historical past and shared experiences, not merely leaderboards or loot packing containers. That retains gamers coming again — not simply taking part in, however connecting.
Is it cost-efficient to retailer a lot knowledge onchain, although? Layer-2 and Layer-3 platforms have dramatically superior over the previous few years. They’ve change into quick and low cost sufficient to deal with hundreds of transactions per second at a virtually invisible price. Strong infrastructure has made it attainable to retailer giant quantities of information. Immediately’s blockchains can simply deal with AI knowledge accumulation for as many customers as wanted.
Lastly, asset possession opens monetization alternatives. When crafted fastidiously, they improve the gameplay, not change it, like in early play-to-earn merchandise.
AI brokers will forge distinctive gadgets and mint them as NFTs, giving rise to in-game marketplaces woven instantly into gameplay. Brokers will search the perfect trades and autonomously execute them. Gamers will get pleasure from taking part in, skipping many of the technical friction. They’ll make investments their time, creativity and ability in how they form belongings, characters or storylines along with AI. And once they can license, hire or promote them on open marketplaces, they acquire an actual sense of company and reward, turning their contributions into lasting worth.
Whereas gamers monetize what they create, recreation builders revenue, too. They will earn a share of each market transaction, cost charges for minting or customization, and provide premium AI instruments to creators. This method goes past one-and-done gross sales: Devs earn as gamers create, commerce and develop.
Embracing public ledgers is a broad development: Giant enterprises and banks more and more depend on decentralized infrastructure. Blockchain has performed a job in gaming for years, but it surely isn’t only a good add-on anymore. It’s essential to assist agentic AI-driven leisure by way of reminiscence, possession and monetization to make it a real social expertise. With out Web3, next-gen video games threat staying only a demo model of what they actually could be.
Opinion by: Kin Wai Lau, CEO of ZKcandy.
This text is for basic info functions and isn’t meant to be and shouldn’t be taken as authorized or funding recommendation. The views, ideas, and opinions expressed listed here are the creator’s alone and don’t essentially mirror or signify the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.
