Gunzilla Games' "Off The Grid" — a free-to-play, third-person, battle royale game — is currently ranked as the number one free-to-play game on the Epic Games online store.
The game is still labeled as an early-access title but has also drawn significant attention on the Twitch streaming platform, where 154,440 viewers tuned in to watch gamers stream the new release on October 11.
Off The Grid's blockchain features are built on an Avalanche (AVAX) subnet called GUNZ — which is a custom-tailored blockchain ecosystem for players to mint NFTs representing in-game items like weapons and skins.
Minting these items as NFTs or other onchain assets ensures that players will maintain control over their in-game items and allow for secondary markets to emerge for in-game assets.
Off The Grid. Source: Epic Games.
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A sustainable approach to blockchain gaming?
Off The Grid is a AAA title — the equivalent of a blockbuster film for video games — and represents a departure from clicker games or other Web 3 experiences that are essentially token models first and video games second.
These blockchain games have drawn criticism from users and industry professionals, who say these models aren't sustainable.
Critics argue that typical blockchain games use rewards to attract users, who only play the games to collect a quick reward and quickly leave once the initial payout has been collected — destroying any long-term viability for these games. The most common critique of the clicker model is that user counts typically plummet following the first major airdrop.
Many industry executives believe the solution is to create compelling and robust gameplay experiences that mainstream gamers want to play, with token models or blockchain mechanisms providing utility for in-game assets, rather than being the main focus.
A recent survey from Elympics, the Blockchain Game Alliance, and PlayToEarn polled over 1,000 individuals worldwide and found that over 10% of respondents claimed to have never tried blockchain games — citing the complexity of connecting crypto wallets as a major impediment to user onboarding.
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