Can Yuga Lab's New Chief Gaming Officer Fix GameFi?
Following the hype of the merge, a lot of excitement around NFTs is beginning to swirl back up as new and old projects are seeing slight bumps in floor prices. One key aspect of this newfound activity can be attributed to Yuga Labs and their new hiring of Spencer Tucker as their first Chief Gaming Officer (CGO) which is creating speculation around the plans for Yuga, the Othersiders, and GameFi as a whole.
Who is Spencer Tucker?
While not much information about Tucker is available on his Twitter page, he has made many of his opinions on gaming well known through a few different tweets that he’s made since the announcement of his hiring on September 16th, just moments after the merge was successfully executed.
The most insightful tweet from him expresses his beliefs in web3 gaming and its superiority over Free-to-Play models that are highly predatory monetization schemes portrayed as entertainment.
In a tweet, he explains how gatch mechanics (monetized loot boxes with randomized gaming rewards inside) offer no real value to the player because they are purchasing a product that cannot be resold. This leaves players in a bind because they can only input fiat into games without being able to extract it once their interest has left.
Because NFTs live on the blockchain and are transactional with people from around the world at all times, it means that assets from within a video game can be measured in currencies and allow the player to buy or sell in-game products.
This level of ownership is unique to blockchain gaming because public ledgers allow the seamless transactions of gaming-based NFTs to be realistically possible across the world wide web; and unlike platforms such as Steam, which is notorious for selling cosmetics for games such as Counter Strike and Team Fortress 2, the aspect of decentralization means that traders do not need to open an account with a centralized server to partake in the trading of these gaming assets.
How this can boost Yuga further
The bigger picture for Yuga Labs couldn’t be any easier to identify. Their Otherside project has the potential to become the most popular metaverse platform because of the immense notoriety of the Bored Ape Yacht Club and their commitment to expanding the web3 industry as a whole which is cheating a lot of unique businesses that stem from their Bored Ape brand.
As the most active NFT company in web3, Yuga has already surpassed the biggest obstacles in the NFT space such as a high (and stable) floor price, an active community of notable holders including Steph Curry, Snoop Dogg, and Mark Cuban, as well an effective brand for holders to label their products.
Due to all of this, there is no debate that Yuga possesses the attention and interest necessary to execute a proper metaverse unlike the attempt from Meta which is being heavily criticized. In fact, the hiring of a genuine gamer for the metaverse means that there is a clear goal in mind from Yuga that gaming will be enjoyable in their virtual world.
The future of web3 gaming
The impact this can have on the overall interest in blockchain-based gaming is huge. A large amount of criticism around NFTs has been thrown at game studios that are expressing interest in the blockchain because critics are afraid that NFTs will shift the focus from entertainment to monetization. However, Tucker is a dedicated gamer and the future of web3 gaming appears to be safe in his hands.
