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Cryptocurrency

Can Gods Unchained take Ethereum Mainstream?

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A simple roleplaying card game called Gods Unchained could save Ethereum (ETH) and take that cryptocurrency and blockchain mainstream.

Gods Unchained is a roleplaying card game that operates in the Ethereum blockchain. To play Gods Unchained, players use Ethereum (ETH) buy digital cards that represent gods and other mythological characters.

Players use the cards to play in a massive multi-player online game (MMOG) in the Ethereum blockchain. Hence, Gods Unchained takes CryptoKitties to the next level by adding a storyline.

Note the storyline is hardly original, it’s recycled Dungeons & Dragons and comic book plots. However, the popularity of D&D and Lord of the Rings shows there is a huge market for this stuff.

Can Gods Unchained Make Money?

Hence, Gods Unchained could bring millions or tens of millions of ordinary people to the Ethereum blockchain.

MMOGs can be a lucrative business. Statista estimates that MMOGs worldwide generated $30.7 billion in revenue in 2017. In particular, North American MMOGs generated $2.5 billion in revenue in 2016.

League of Legends is a roleplaying game with fantasy themes and characters. Thus, League of Legends is similar to Gods Unchained. A Riot Games press release claims the League of Legends’ player count across three platforms; Riot, Tencent Holdings, and Garena exceeds the player count for the top 10 games on Steam.

Steam’s top ten games had 2.5 million users in August 2019, PCGames estimates. Steam has an overall user count of 15 million a day. Hence, Gods Unchained could theoretically make a lot of money.

How Many People are Playing Gods Unchained?

Gods Unchained claims to have transferred six million digital role-playing cards with the ERC721 Ethereum standard, CCN reports.

CoinMetrics estimates the ERC271 platform’s usage grew four times; indicating  3.7 million exchanges on 17 November 2019, CCN claims. The ERC271 theoretically allows people to have permanent ownership of playing cards. Using ERC271 allows players to store Gods Unchained cards in Ethereum wallets.

Thus, many people could play Gods Unchained. If these claims are true, Gods Unchained is proving blockchain based games are a viable business. Conversely, if Gods Unchained crashes; it could discredit blockchain gaming, and drive players away from the blockchain.

Notably, the Gods Unchained marketplace is now open for business on the blockchain, SludgeFest reported on 22 November 2019. Hence, people could buy and sell Gods Unchained cards through the marketplace. SludgeFest claims ERC271 or non-fudgeable tokens (NFTs) power the Gods Unchained marketplace.

Each Gods Unchained playing card supposedly represents a stack of hundreds of instances, a press release claims. I imagine that means the cards give players access to plots, weapons, costumes, magic spells, and other fun stuff.

Could Gods Unchained take DApps mainstream?

Gods Unchained can achieve that because each of its “cards” is a decentralized app (DApp). A DApp is a digital robot; or software application that operates in the blockchain.

Theoretically, Gods Unchained cards are permanent and tamper-resistant blockchain constructs because they are NFTs. Thus, I think of Gods Unchained as a gigantic real world beta test of the ERC271 DApp technology.

To explain, Gods Unchained is testing whether ERC271 tokens can survive thousands of daily uses by thousands of people. Hence, Gods Unchained could collect vast amounts of valuable data about Ethereum, ERC20 tokens, cryptocurrency, ERC271 usage, DApps and blockchain gaming. Gods Unchained could make money by selling that data.

 There is a market for the Gods Unchained cards, Open SEA estimates that players downloaded 75,471 Gods Unchained decentralized apps (DApps) in the seven days between 16 November and 23 November 2019.

Thus it is easy to see why venture capitalists invested $15 million in Gods Unchained owner Immutable Games. Specifically, CoinDesk claims Naspers Ventures;  Wall Street big wig  Michael Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital EOS VC Fund, and others invested $15 million in Immutable Games.

Can Gods Unchained Boost Ethereum?

I cannot tell if Gods Unchained is boosting the number two cryptocurrency Ethereum. However, CoinMarketCap reports Ethereum (ETH) Coin Price moved up 2.04% to $146.38 on 25 November 2019.

CoinMarketCap estimates Ethereum (ETH) had a Market Capitalization of $15.911 billion, a 24-Hour Market Volume of $11.077 million, and a Circulating Supply of 108.692million on 25 November 2019. However, it is impossible to tell if Gods Unchained adds value to Ethereum.

Speculators and cryptogeeks needs to watch Gods Unchained carefully because it could demonstrate there is a mass market for an Ethereum-based product namely games. In addition, Gods Unchained could show us if blockchain games and DApps can make money.