CryptoKitties made headlines around the world early last week. The game is not entirely unlike Tamagotchi or the Pokémon Trading Card game, allowing you to purchase and breed cats. The cats have their own personal traits and quirks that might be passed on to their kittens. The kitties can later be traded for real cash in the form of Ethereum.
So far CryptoKitties has gone viral, and has sold over $2M in kitties. While most kitties sell at an average of 0.3 ETH, or roughly $130 USD, some of the cheapest kitties sell for 0.03 or $14 USD. According to a 3rd party website, which tracks sales of CryptoKitties, the biggest sum paid for a kitty was a whopping 246 ETH, which is the equivalent of $113,931 USD.
There have been many games and toys in the past with similar concepts such as: Beanie Babies, to Tamagotchi, and Pokémon trading cards. This leads to the question: What made CryptoKitties a success?
The answer lies in the technology CryptoKitties is based on. It is the first game fully based on blockchain technology. What this means is that the kitties can never be erased, stolen or deleted. Other Another benefit is the provably fair, randomly generated traits from the 256-bit genome. This genome pool contains the genetic sequence that determines the appearance of each kitty.
In a similar manner to games such as World of Warcraft, where items can be traded between players for real money, kitties can be traded for real money. However, World of Warcraft is a centralized game and centralized games may eventually be shut down. CryptoKitties live on blockchain technology and could therefore exist until the end of time.
The launch of CryptoKitties is making history as the first game that is 100% based on the blockchain. This means that the combination of blockchain technology and video games is no longer something theoretical. It is no longer the subject of theoretical articles about the blockchain and gaming.
The blockchain gaming revolution has begun. And by the looks of things, it is gaining steam.
Currently, CryptoKitties is the most popular smart contract on the Ethereum blockchain. Nearly 15% of all Ethereum network traffic is being consumed by CryptoKitties. This massive traffic is slowing down the network and causing frustration with players.
If one very simple game that has gone viral has caused issues with the network, what will happen when more games that utilize blockchain technology are released?
By decentralizing the world of video games and offering both a Unity3D SDK & and a blockchain based SDK, we hope to see many aspiring and veteran video game developers create amazing blockchain based games. Scaling issues will most likely be resolved in the near future, allowing greater functionality and speed.
We at Game Protocol are dedicated to furthering the advancement of the blockchain revolution in gaming and we are looking forward to more great games that take advantage of blockchain technology.
