On leaving Web3 gaming

Shlok Khemani was the business development lead at Glip, a Web3 game studio and publisher.

Back in 2021, I was in business school, fresh off a two-month internship at a corporate giant. I was horrified by the boredom of the job and had to find something better – one that was exciting, fulfilling, and paid me at least as much.

Enter crypto. It basically ticked all of these boxes: at the cutting edge of tech, competitive pay, remote jobs, and great vibes. Oh, and you could accidentally become a millionaire!

Next – what to focus on within crypto? Axie Infinity, then a US$30 billion company, had just taken the world by storm. NFTs facilitated the ownership and trading of digital assets, promising to alter the video game landscape fundamentally.

This was undoubtedly the future. Gaming was going to change forever. How could it not? I took the plunge.

Now, two years later, I’m bidding farewell to the world of Web3 gaming. Here are some reflections on the space, where I see it going, and why I’m leaving.

What doesn’t work

These are some fundamental problems with Web3 gaming as it stands:

1. Solution in search of a problem

Like any startup enthusiast, I’ve watched a bunch of Y Combinator videos. The accelerator warns founders about a common pitfall: building a product that’s a solution in search of a problem.

When a new technology emerges, founders often decide they should apply it to their industry. But they’re not really solving an existing problem.

Much of Web3 gaming seems to succumb to this pitfall. These are some of the “problems” it purports to solve:

• Wanting true ownership of digital assets
• Being able to sell in-game possessions and exit a game if no longer interested in playing
• Earning money while playing a game
• Owning real estate in a game

But are these actual problems? Do gamers genuinely care about any of these issues? In my experience, they do not.

What might work

Why I’m leaving