Imagine a world where video game players actually own their characters – it’s a concept that 26-year-old Paul Taylor is already working overtime to become a reality.
In his current role as Chief Strategy Officer for web3 video game developer Fancy Studios, he leads the charge of crypto gaming, otherwise known as GameFi. This refers to blockchain games that offer players tokenized incentives and treat players as an owner rather than just a customer.
However, Taylor was not always a proponent of crypto. From January 2018 to February 2022, Taylor worked for the private equity team at large asset manager BlackRock. “Ironically, I was actually known as one of the biggest skeptics about crypto. To be honest, most projects at the time were very questionable,” he says. That said, he didn’t want to miss an opportunity.
“I’ve been following the crypto market since 2017 and have consistently seen more capital going into the industry, and use cases continue to grow,” Taylor said. “As a lifelong gamer, crypto gaming naturally caught my attention and I quickly realized its potential. I think any gamer who has played a game for many hours will immediately appreciate the opportunity to buy your in-game characters and items, selling and bartering to others. In addition, the ability to use assets from one game to another, also known as interoperability, is really tangible. Imagine playing as your favorite character from your favorite children’s game in every modern game today .”
Learning more about GameFi, he spoke to numerous founders of some of the industry’s most successful gaming companies and eventually found a mentor in one of the co-founders of the open-world blockchain AAA game, Illuvium.
Taylor was so committed to the concept of GameFi that he figuratively put his money where his mouth was and gave up his secure and highly competitive position on Wall Street to take a shot at the future of gaming because of his belief in the idea. “I thought if I want to take a career risk, I might as well do it right and go all in,” he says.
That led to him becoming the Chief Strategy Officer of Fancy Studios, which produces hyper-casual mobile games developed with player ownership through NFTs (non-fungible tokens) and interoperability in mind. “My current role is ideal because it allows me to apply my personal love of games to my business background,” said Taylor, who is responsible for business strategy, business development, project management, investments and strategic partnerships.
Fancy Studios is off to a strong start, already selling hundreds of thousands of its NFTs and has a large dedicated community playing its first game Fancy Birds, a variation of the casual game Flappy Birds in which users guide birds around obstacles. Their second game, with a long waiting list of eager participants, is Fancy Birds: Sky Wars, a multiplayer PVP game in which up to 10 players can battle it out by flying their birds to try and shoot others in a top-style dogfighter. The full production version is expected to be released in October.
This is a new approach to gaming, where players retain ownership of their game assets, including characters, upgrades, and other digital items they earn from playing a Fancy Studios game. It’s a clear break from the traditional gaming model where people can pay huge amounts of money and still not own any gaming asset. If players leave a traditional game, they lose everything, while if they leave a Fancy Studios game, they still own everything.
“Admittedly, GameFi may seem like a lot of buzzwords with complicated ideas, but it’s based on an easy-to-understand concept to empower gamers,” Taylor says. “The next generation of gamers want to play their favorite characters in all the games they play and own that they spend money on, and Fancy Studios is leading the way in keeping that vision.”
But while any new business idea inherently carries risks, Taylor is optimistic that he is an early pioneer of a market with solid growth potential and a sustainable future.
“I honestly think that in five years what we call ‘GameFi’ now will just be called ‘gaming’. The unique approach that sounds new now will become the norm, and it’s much more valuable to get involved in that transition in the beginning. tie than halfway through trying to join,” says Taylor.
ⓒ 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Keywords:
0 Comments