VIDEO: GameFi – where did it all go wrong, and what does the future hold?

They said that blockchain and gaming were a match made in heaven. The only problem is that match got very, very ugly over the past year or so. The decline of the play-to-earn model and wipeout of capital from the crypto space at large has hit GameFi particularly hard.

This week on the podcast, I interviewed Russell Bennett, CEO of Metacade, to chat about the state of the blockchain gaming industry. Metacade is aiming to be part of a second wave of gaming projects which, Russell says, needs to learn from the mistakes of the first wave.

We chatted about what exactly it was that led to so many play-to-earn projects failing in the last year. The model was fundamentally flawed, Russell says, and failed to adapt as the crypto environment changed.

Of course, the bear market as a whole was an unavoidable topic, as it tends to be. I asked Russell about what it is like launching a project amid this crypto winter, and the differences he is noticing compared to last year.

We chatted about the reputational damage to the space, and whether the industry can get back on track going forward. We discussed the scandals of last year (we don’t need to name any names) and how this trickled down to gaming.

I also asked Russell about native tokens and whether launching without one was a consideration – anyone who follows my work will know that I am often sceptical about the necessity for these!

We touched on what it is like to be an entrepreneur in the space and how intimidating the current environment is. Launching a business is difficult at the best of times, but the recent macro environment has turned the world economy upside down. Throw in the volatility of crypto multiplying this by ten, and there is a lot to talk about here.

We also mentioned regulation. Is this a consideration for decentralised projects launching in space, especially in light of recent developments in the US (bye bye BUSD)?

It’s been a year of ups and downs for all of crypto, but none more so than those operating in gaming. All in all, this was a wide-ranging discussion touching on all areas of the nascent sector of crypto that is GameFi, while also chatting about the broader crypto market and the future direction of the entire industry.