Why Blockbuster Games Will Soon Be Built on Modular Appchains

The AAA gaming space is absolutely massive (“AAA” refers to the biggest games produced by the biggest developers). To put it into context, it is bigger than the movie and music industry combined – almost 300% bigger. The stories are better and stronger, and the overall experience is more satisfying and enriching.

A great example of this is the Grand Theft Auto (GTA) 6 trailer, surpassing 184 million views since December. Large-scale games like GTA have firmly established themselves as a gaming phenomenon and a cultural and economic powerhouse within the entertainment industry.

This op-ed is part of CoinDesk’s GameFi Week 2024. Jack O’Holleran is the Co-Founder and CEO of SKALE, a gas-less EVM-compatible blockchain designed for Ethereum scaling.

Take Bethesda Game Studios, for instance. The amount of developers behind each game has increased by 266% between Fallout 4 and Starfield. From AAA console games with huge budgets to massive mobile phone virality, there’s parallel growth in the Esports industry and the accompanying revolution in content consumption led by streamers across YouTube and Twitch. The Esports audience has risen to over 640 million – an over 140% increase since 2019. Gaming’s entertainment versatility swallows all mediums.

How Web3 Changes the Game

Implementing Web3 technology into the stack would transform the AAA economic model, opening up the marketplaces to a global audience of gamers and enthusiasts who watch more than play and want to participate in the economy. Game companies will not only be able to monetize in their walled garden, but also every global NFT marketplace. In addition to opening up to a wider marketplace, the scope of purchases would skyrocket. Land, assets, cars, skins, gear, and more would be open to buyers, fans, and enthusiasts across the globe.

This all sounds great, but until now, it has not been impactful due to technical complexity, UX friction, and scaling issues. These have been a significant blocker to mass adoption. The answer to this UX and scalability conundrum is implementing an invisible blockchain experience – and here’s how it would look.

Thanks to recent innovations in UX-focused products like wallets, fiat ramps, frictionless compliance tools, and easy-to-use marketplaces, the UX hurdles have been handled. Still, scaling to serve hundreds of millions of smart contracts and daily transactions across one blockchain has been a blocker. Thanks to the help of modular appchains, this global scaling challenge is finally being addressed.

To be clear, this type of game obviously wouldn’t be built on the ETH mainnet and would frankly be too much for any one monolithic chain in its current state. Too much happens in a major global game at one time for the legacy technology of monolithic chains or rollups to handle if a true on-chain gaming experience is desired. This is primarily due to congestion caused by “gas hog” applications or “noisy neighbors.” The only real solution would be a horizontally scalable blockchain coupled with modularity and a gas-free experience for end users.

Modularity Appchains Solve the Noisy Neighbor Problem

The “noisy neighbor” problem is a significant hurdle in blockchain networks, where one resource-hungry application can monopolize network resources, causing performance issues and security risks for all users. This issue resembles a loud tenant in an apartment building disrupting the entire complex. In blockchain, a single application consuming excessive resources can create bottlenecks, slow down transactions, and increase latency for everyone sharing the network. This can be particularly problematic with popular gaming or viral AI apps driving up blockspace prices and creating network slowdowns.

Modular appchains address these scalability challenges through horizontal scalability and modularity. They offer a solution that enhances the performance and security of decentralized applications by operating as independent blockchain networks within a larger ecosystem. Each appchain functions like a soundproof apartment, ensuring that a disruptive application on one chain doesn’t affect others.

Each modular appchain has its own dedicated computational power, storage, and bandwidth, preventing any single application from hogging resources and maintaining balance across the network. Despite their independence, these appchains inherit security properties from the entire network of nodes, providing robust protection similar to a high-security building where each apartment benefits from overall security measures.

Modular appchains also support seamless chain communication, allowing applications to interact, bridge, and share data securely with zero fees. This ensures that while residents enjoy privacy, they can still collaborate and share information when needed.

The Web3 industry is now equipped with the technology to support the next generation of AAA gaming, aiming for an “Invisible web3 Experience” where players simply engage with games in a global marketplace without concern for the underlying technology. This creates a win-win scenario, generating more revenue for games and offering a superior experience to players with enhanced transparency, trustlessness, and true asset ownership.

The infrastructure is ready –– the next step is the arrival of big games.

Note: The views expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of CoinDesk, Inc. or its owners and affiliates.