3 weeks ago, lib and I launched NightMarket to add a betting layer on top of fully onchain games. Since then, bets on primodium alliances have exceeded $1,100+, and the gameplay has become more intense than ever before.
I'll share our key take aways and what we’ve discovered.
The Unique Nature of Fully Onchain Games
First, let me share some context.
The unique characteristic of Fully onchain games and AW (autonomous world) space is our focus on creating “fun” experiences without financial aspects. This is what set us apart from blockchain games of 2021–22. Those earlier games attracted farmers rather than real users seeking pure entertainment. Our goal is to create genuine enjoyment.
As a results, we started seeing game infra/engines maturing and increase in the numbers of blockchain native games. At the same time, many fully onchain games today have limited financial mechanics and developed a collective aversion to the financialization of games because of this nature.
However, incorporating financial aspects into games isn’t 0 or 100.
The true potential might lie somewhere in between pure entertainment and financial opportunities.
Bridging Entertainment and Financial Opportunities
We also shouldn’t ignore past innovations just because they are finance-related.
What do we already know about blockchains?
its good at market creation (especially for topics that used to be too small, too bureaucratic or too much cost to create before)
People love speculation
With this in mind, we built NightMarket, the first fully onchain esports market, starting with primodium.
since then the alliance war has been heating up like never before
with @lib_defi, we cooked smth to make it even more intense
Introducing NightMarket (@0xnightmarket) - First betting market for fully onchain games…
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The results?
Exceeded our expectations!
Despite it’s a free game, bets on which alliance would win topped $1,100+, making the gameplay way more intense and the round ended much quicker.
Impact on Player Behavior
The betting market dramatically impacted how players behaved in games.
Players felt pressured to perform better, with some bettors even sending messages to encourage them to push harder. Ben, a leader of the winning alliance WASD, sent me this after the round ↓
At the same time, we noticed that alliance members were the ones placing the most bets on themselves
This is likely because their efforts directly impact the market’s outcome
A betting market alone doesn’t magically engage users; it requires games to have players engaged enough to bet on themselves too.
Why Games need to be Fully Onchain?
Building NightMarket showed us a crucial insight:
While building NightMarket, we reazlied that we can’t build betting markets unless games are fully onchain, because manual or oracle resolution introduces legal risks. Being able to make onchain resolutions is necessary and this requires the entire game state to be onchain.
Some might argue that stakes or bets are possible without making entire games onchain which is fair and there are a bunch of offchain games with stakes/betting features.
However, if you want third parties to add financial layers on top of your game, having the entire game state onchain is necessary. And this can be a significant advantage over traditional games.
A major unmet need in traditional games is the lack of financial mechanics and freedom
This will be unlocked by third party devs, creating a new types of experiences that players cannot find elsewhere.
Summary
We’re committed to continuing the development of NightMarket to help fully onchain games succeed. We are currently developing a new version with an onchain resolution mechanism. (we’ll reveal which game for soon)
The launch is in 3 weeks, so stay tuned!
