An average game studio is a composite of a diverse set of talents. We have software engineers and programmers, game designers, audio engineers, animators, writers etc., on the game development side of the spectrum.
An average game studio is a composite of a diverse set of talents. We have software engineers and programmers, game designers, audio engineers, animators, writers etc., on the game development side of the spectrum. On the business side, we have game producers, marketing managers, sales representatives, ambassadors and several other professionals who make sure the game gains popularity.
Video games have always remained a popular leisure among youngsters. However, when YouTube came into the picture, passionate gamers discovered a new scope of turning their passion into a profession. In fact, if we study the history of YouTube video creation, we will see Youtubers gaining exposure as full-time bloggers where those who used to document the play-through of a video game. Following the example of YouTubers like PewDiePie, reviewing popular games became an occupation with many aspiring creators which often led to collaborations with game studios and contributing to their marketing efforts.
Sharing a portion of the revenue generated through affiliate marketing or influencer marketing is a common practice that big gaming studios adopt to encourage reviewers to increase brand awareness. Elliott Callighan, CEO of Unlock Audio, a company that produces music for games, says, game publishers who have onboarded developers on the basis of a revenue sharing model have had successful results in the past, albeit the fact that it is still a niche business model.
That doesn’t mean, however, that the necessity of a revenue sharing framework for dispensing remuneration will not arise? On the contrary, with the arrival of the Play-to-Earn gaming culture and emergence of Gaming DAOs, professional/monetary involvements with video games will be based on performance.
The bedrock of play-to-earn games is work-to-earn. Gamers invest their time and brains in playing a game, and based on their performance in the game they earn their rewards. Take the example of scholarship programs like Yield Guild Games that provide gamers the assets to play and win a game. If they perform well, they get to keep 70–80% of the rewards they generate. No wonder, youngsters in emerging markets are considering joining gaming guilds as a full-time occupation. The model here for disbursing payments is revenue share and a similar mechanism can extend to various contributors of a game.
It’s not just gamers who are involved in the success of a game metaverse. For instance, there could be referral links, coupon codes or digital item providers who are also crucial resources of a game. The game may even have its own community management personnel who help create the buzz around the game through multi-level engagements.
Here’s another prototype of contribution in a game which can be evaluated and incentivized on the basis of performance and revenue share.
“An event producer contracts with a 3D artist to create a park for a metaverse video game. 3D world creators (the seller of the game) sells tickets to users (gamers) to access virtual parks and send 50% of the ticket sales to park co-creators. The producer shares his cut with the IP owner (licensor) and the 3D artist hires an offshore assets studio and splits his revenue share with them.”
Source: https://xla.gitbook.io/x.la-revenue-share-protocol/intro-to-rsc/rsc-g
Some of the jobs that can be paid on the basis of performance in the gaming industry are:
X.LA Foundation is developing a revenue-sharing smart contract to help game projects track the performance and results of all-round participation and reward contributors accordingly without the scope of human errors. A game project can use its general purpose revenue share smart contract to build partnerships with game developers, designers, marketers etc. Smart contracts will ensure that processes and data are recorded immutably on a public ledger in a trustless environment. This is a step ahead from traditional agreements vulnerable to exploitation. Terms and conditions are encoded and self-executing. Therefore, the majority of the process gets automated.
X.LA’s user acquisition revenue share smart contracts will cater to game projects looking to collaborate with marketing vendors. It also offers game projects the opportunity to reward users for generating content that promotes a brand.
If web3 is the imminent future of the internet and if decentralization is its sole objective, decentralization of wealth is also one of its byproducts. The major segment of web3 will be run by DAOs or decentralized autonomous organizations and gaming projects will also have to adopt the DAO revolution to stay relevant. According to the core ethos of a DAO, every contributing member is a shareholder within a decentralized ecosystem.
Therefore, contributors will be more interested in pooling in their talents and getting their share of the profits rather than chasing a paycheck. To serve the growing demand for such complex partnerships, projects will require a scalable and secure tool like a revenue share smart contract. X.LA Foundation has set out to develop mintable smart contracts that can be curated on the go even without hardcore techbical knowledge. These smart contracts are designed to enable multi-level partnerships where gaming projects and DAOs can align their vision with the participation of contributors from across the globe.
