The world of blockchain gaming has witnessed nothing short of a revolution in recent years, with a greater focus on bringing Web3 functionality to a familiar Web2 gaming experience. One of these innovations, asset interoperability, is an exciting premise, offering players and developers the ability to transfer their in-game items between different games and platforms.
In this interview, I had the pleasure of speaking with Anik Dang, the CEO of ReneVerse, who strives to bring unmatched fidelity and control to the interoperable gaming experience.
We’ll look into the significance of interoperability in gaming, the role of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and the interesting implementations of interoperability technology that have emerged with the potential to infiltrate the mainstream gaming industry.
Let’s see how these innovations are revolutionizing the gaming experience and what lies ahead for this dynamic field.
Please introduce yourself and tell us what you do.
Hello, I’m Anik Dang, the CEO of ReneVerse, the first scalable, immersive in-game advertising infrastructure designed to modularly enable the next generation of non-intrusive advertisements and in-game product placements in any game.
Built on top of a proprietary interoperability technology that we’ve named the Borderless Interoperability Engine, ReneVerse enables any in-game assets to traverse the borders of a single game seamlessly. Hence, our belief is that the future of gaming is “borderless.”
Our mission is simply to empower players, developers, and brands to bring their assets with them on their own gaming journeys, and Borderless Advertising is just the beginning. It’s an exciting venture, and I’m honored to be leading the charge.
Can you provide a brief overview of what interoperability means in the context of blockchain gaming and why it's important?
Interoperability can refer to one of two things. The first is cross-chain interoperability – the functionality that allows an on-chain asset to move from one blockchain network to another. Many projects out there offer various solutions to facilitate this, and while the concept certainly is related to gaming, it is not a feature exclusive to it.
The other, specific to the context of the gaming industry, is cross-game interoperability – the ability for, say, Asset A from Game 1 to be transferred and used in Game 2. This asset could be an in-game character, vehicle, or anything else made by the game’s developer.
Both kinds of interoperability are important and gaining attention in the world of web3 gaming. Many projects that integrate cross-chain interoperability have seen success in giving players more autonomy over their gaming items and helping developers create multi-title game ecosystems that offer experiences with enough variety to keep players in their playpen (and thus their revenue).
What we have witnessed here at ReneVerse is that blockchain-powered interoperability in gaming is received incredibly well by web2-native game developers and players, as long as its integration does not interfere with its end-user experience and precludes the possibility of unfairness in the play space, including situations like pay-to-win scenarios.
Ultimately, interoperability that gets baked into games under the hood brings about tons of opportunities for open collaboration, connected universes, and exciting new ways to play. I think that it will produce many unexpected innovations for games that will prove refreshing and well-received – that’s why we are excited to facilitate the path forward!
What is the difference between traditional in-game items and those powered by ReneVerse technology? What advantages do they offer to players and developers?
I think there are actually two degrees of separation between traditional in-game items and those we’re working on. There’s first a difference between these traditional items from typical Web2 games and existing blockchain gaming assets, and that comes down to ownership. Traditional items are those that are inextricably tied to the game they come from; for the most part, they cannot be uniquely identified, owned, or transferred. Blockchain gaming assets, on the other hand, are unique, ownable, and tradable.
Then, there’s a distinction between these blockchain gaming assets and those powered by ReneVerse, which is a matter of scalability. Normal blockchain gaming items still reside within the “walled garden” franchises that they belong to. However, we’re developing a way for assets to go outside their normal bounds, packaged up nicely with all their usability intact. Currently, our solution is geared toward the context of immersive in-game advertising.
Through the ReneVerse SDK, which is available for Unity, Java, and soon Unreal Engine, game developers can integrate what we call “Branded Assets,” which are in-game items with dynamically-served advertisement spaces, or ad surfaces, on them. These effectively serve as interactive product placements and can enter any game that integrates our API.
For developers, it's a win-win. These assets are essentially ad surfaces that developers can rent to interested brands for high-touch marketing in their games. This introduces more monetization without interrupting the player experience.
And since these Branded Assets are also blockchain-enabled, it will be possible for players to purchase and own them. Players who do this will receive ad revenue from participating brands, much like how people wrap their real-life cars with ads to supplement their income. This mechanism of ownership allows players to make their specific gaming experience lucrative without altering the gameplay for anyone else.
How do non-fungible tokens (NFTs) play a role in enabling such assets within blockchain gaming ecosystems?
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are crucial in making branded assets a reality for us. NFTs are uniquely identified with their own token address, and an NFT can be an in-game asset. For the purpose of identifying to whom revenue is distributed and dynamically targeting ad content in-game, it’s essential to have the token address, especially if the asset is stored on different blockchains or is transferred to other games.
There are a slew of other purposes that asset identification serves, so while our current focus is on ad-tech implementation, NFTs are a fantastic basis for many different kinds of interoperable experiences, both in and out of gaming.
In terms of user experience, how do you see the future of interoperable assets evolving in blockchain gaming? What improvements or innovations can gamers expect?
The future of interoperability in gaming holds a lot of promise for enhancing the user experience. In fact, I believe that this is where different interoperability projects will attempt to differentiate amongst themselves.
Firstly, we're likely to see smoother transitions between games. Moving assets between games can be a bit clunky, but we can expect more seamless interoperability as technology evolves. This means you can hop from one game to another with your assets, and the experience will feel as fluid as changing levels within a single game.
Secondly, I think we'll see more dynamic in-game economies. With interoperable assets, players can engage in cross-game trading and activities, which could lead to vibrant and interconnected virtual economies. We fervently believe that Borderless Ads will be part of this phenomenon.
It will also more firmly establish the concept of player-owned assets and virtual property rights. In the same way, that online display ads became a “go-to” option for reaching tech-forward audiences back in the day, interoperable advertising objects have the potential to accomplish the same.
Lastly, as more games adopt them, interoperability solutions will likely package themselves to be hidden. I believe that no matter how expansive games might become with this technology, they will only find success if players don’t have to learn to navigate third-party, add-on software. The experience must remain immersive and uninterrupted.
In short, things are promising. It's all about making gaming more flexible, dynamic, and player-centric.
How can developers balance maintaining the uniqueness and scarcity of in-game assets (NFTs) while allowing them to be interoperable across different gaming platforms?
This is an interesting and challenging question that lots of interoperability projects need to wrestle with. I think that there are two suitable ways to approach this, but of course, other methods may better suit certain developers based on their goals.
The first is simply to limit interoperability to function within an ecosystem consisting of multiple games. A good example is Nintendo’s game collection. Games like Super Smash Bros combine multiple IPs within a single game to bring fans a new experience, and obviously, it saw massive success.
With NFT technology, it becomes possible for game studios to recreate this phenomenon at a fraction of the cost and in less than half the time. By tokenizing these assets, developers allow users to control the transfer of assets between different games of the same “IP universe”.
Of course, this is, by definition, not fully open-ended interoperability. It is more akin to a walled garden with multiple pods within it that have better player autonomy and cross-game communication than previously seen.
The second approach, which we hope will become more apparent to game developers, is to build asset ecosystems whose values are predicated on utility instead of rarity.
NFTs are, by definition, unique. Since they are non-fungible, it stands to reason that the value of NFTs is determined by their rarity. However, NFTs are a really recent development, and as new innovations arise, NFTs themselves are becoming more advanced, taking different forms and offering new functionalities. It can be argued that, in the context of gaming, the value of an NFT should not be based on how rare it is but on how useful it is to a particular user.
As such, in-game assets like our Branded Assets could change the way NFTs in gaming are appraised. The chance that players opt for Branded Item A, with a quantity of 100, over Non-Branded Item B, with a quantity of 10, is high, in my opinion.
It gives players an opportunity to earn money while playing without the chance for the asset itself to give any competitive advantages. In turn, I believe developers will also see that the more compatible their branded assets are with other games, the greater the revenue they will generate.
In summary, whether it is through the controlled distribution of assets within a closed ecosystem or through the introduction of better NFTs that retain their value through utility regardless of where they are, developers have more options than ever to open their borders without harming their ecosystem.
Are there any notable efforts or projects focused on creating protocols to enhance interoperability in blockchain gaming? What are the challenges they face, and what progress has been made?
Yes, there are indeed notable efforts and projects in the blockchain gaming world that are dedicated to creating protocols to enhance interoperability.
One of the most prominent initiatives is the Ethereum-based ERC-1155 standard. It's gained widespread recognition and adoption as it allows developers to create NFTs (non-fungible tokens) with multiple properties, making it easier for these assets to move between different games. ERC-1155 has laid a solid foundation for interoperability.
One of the biggest challenges that most projects face in the context of interoperability in gaming is how to map universal attributes to in-game assets originating from various genres and designed with unique mechanics.
Overall, the process must be simplified to a degree; ReneVerse’s Interoperability Suite is such a tool that makes mapping of game objects to sets of attributes easy while offering developers the ability to compose customized assets for their own environments as they please.
How do you see the future of interoperability evolving in the crypto gaming industry, and what potential benefits or disruptions can we expect?
The future of interoperability in the crypto gaming industry is incredibly promising. We will likely see a more seamless integration of in-game assets across various games and platforms. One significant benefit is that players will have greater control and ownership of their digital assets.
This increased versatility could make various in-game activities more viable, and players could have a stronger sense of ownership over their virtual possessions, especially if they provide unique utilities to their owners.
Naturally, with truly open interoperability, there could be some challenges. It’s possible that certain developers will be wary of sharing their assets outside of their game, especially if they don’t believe that they measure up to the competition. It will require games to be far more creative and thoughtful about how assets interact with the games they reside in.
Other challenges, mainly regarding security and the need for a robust, scalable infrastructure to handle cross-chain and cross-game asset transactions at scale, are also top of mind for the industry.
There are projects building even faster layer-2 networks and even layer-3 networks. Others are building the means for players to log into blockchain games through familiar Web2 social accounts like email, Twitter, and Facebook. The projects building for these concerns are literally building the foundations for the future of the gaming industry.