Exploring Gamefi’s Latest Trends and Evolution With Yaniv Baruch, Playnance’s COO

The GameFi sector has developed over the last few years and is expected to grow to $50 billion by 2025, a growth rate higher than that of the traditional gaming industry. To guide us on navigating through the GameFi, Yaniv Baruch, COO of Playnance, talks about the revolutionary industry in an exclusive interview with Coin Edition.

Baruch further explains about the Sigma conference, GameFi’s latest trends, the latest technological developments and Playnance’s future plans.

1. You recently participated in the Sigma Conference. Could you share your experience with this event? What were Playnance’s goals in attending the conference?

Sigma Conference is a great place where iGaming and esports projects can present themselves, establish new connections, and find new opportunities for growth. Dubai seems to be the perfect location for this; it’s a melting pot where like-minded people come together to take their products to the next level.

At the conference, we showcased our trading game UPVSDOWN, a plug-and-play solution that any traffic owner can install in 2 hours and start earning a lifetime profit. The game garnered genuine interest among conference participants; we formed partnerships with several startups and emerging gaming platforms, including Hexagon.global, Bitupwin.com, 4ex.io, and SlumDOGE.io. Participation in Sigma Eurasia demonstrated the demand for the game, and now we are ready to move forward with renewed motivation.

Overall, Sigma is an exciting event with unique business and networking opportunities. We had an exhibition stand and got the chance to present Playnance to hundreds of industry players. Sigma is a perfect place for any GameFi project that is willing to grow.

2. Which sector of the GameFi industry could lead the new market stage: iGaming, action games, or Move-to-Earn? What is your reasoning for your answer?

Like across the gaming industry in general, users will always prefer well-crafted games with engaging gameplay. In this sense, games of any genre—iGaming, action, play-to-earn, or any other—can succeed. The second important criterion is the robustness of the project’s tokenomics; the financial model should be structured so that the project can always freely pay rewards to successful players.

Finally, the game must have sufficient scalability built in. We are only entering the bull market, and the load on all crypto services will increase many times over. The ability to withstand it will be a crucial factor in whether the game succeeds or not.

Scalability is something we monitor in our products with particular attention. So far, UPVSDOWN has been processing about 50,000 transactions daily, ranking first among other Polygon-based games.

3. What technological advancements do you believe are essential to drive the new surge in the GameFi market? Specifically, how do developments in Layer 1 (L1) and Layer 2 (L2) solutions, Account Abstraction, and emerging token standards contribute to the growth and innovation within the GameFi sector?

GameFi is one of the driving forces behind Web3, and blockchain developers pay special attention to the needs of the industry. One recent innovation is blockchains specifically designed for games.

It’s important that you mention account abstraction, a technology that aims to make Web3 games more accessible to a mass audience. Instead of traditional Web3 wallets, users can leverage smart contract-based accounts, which eliminates most of the hassle associated with private key management and gas fee payments.

With account abstraction and other technologies in our arsenal, we are launching PlayBlock, a Layer-3 blockchain built on top of Arbitrum that is specifically designed for game development. It allows for the creation of an entirely new generation of games with a smooth and engaging experience.

Another exciting direction is zero-knowledge proof technology. It makes it technically possible to implement new complex gaming mechanics. One important advancement here is Polygon’s Chain Development Kit, a tool that allows any game developer to create a customized ZK-powered app chain.

4. With the popularity and engaging nature of action games, what potential do they hold for incorporating NFTs and blockchain elements to appeal to traditional gamers transitioning to GameFi? Moreover, do you foresee big studios turning their new products to the crypto market?

One of the drawbacks of Web2 games is their centralization; gamers don’t truly control their assets because they are stored on the company’s servers. A player can spend years leveling up a character and even selling items to other players, but the game’s management can restrict these capabilities at any time.

In contrast, NFTs have introduced true asset ownership to gaming. Apart from unique gaming opportunities and in-game asset trading, the ability to control one’s assets can be particularly valuable for Web2 gamers.

As for the big gaming studios, they are already entering the blockchain gaming market. For example, last year, major players like Konami and Take-Two announced the development of their Web3 products. As blockchain and crypto become increasingly popular, more game developers will embrace them.

5. Security has been one of the concerns raised by gamers in the GameFi sector. As an expert in the field, what advice would you give to gamers as they enter the GameFi sector?

Gamers can apply the general security guidelines from the crypto world to GameFi. It’s important to verify the reputation of the games you interact with – you don’t want to connect your wallet to platforms that look suspicious. Give preference to games with a proven track record. Be careful about the transactions you approve. When it comes to investing your funds to level up characters or reach new levels in the game, never invest more than you can afford to lose.

6. What plans and developments can we expect from Playnance as the GameFi environment continues to evolve?

Playnance is excited to announce the launch of PlayBlock, our gaming Layer-3 ecosystem solution powered by Arbitrum Orbit. Its main goal is to create an interoperable environment where gamers can seamlessly transfer their identity, achievements, and digital assets from one game to another. In PlayBlock, we eliminate the drawbacks of blockchain games that hinder the user experience, such as the necessity to pay gas fees and lock all assets within one game.

We believe that zero-gas fee solutions are the future. In such games, there will be no need to constantly confirm transactions and worry about having tokens to pay for gas. Moreover, I believe it will lead to a new wave of GameFi products that will deliver an unprecedented gaming experience.