The gaming industry is huge. In 2017, the worldwide industry churned in close to $109 billion, with almost a third of that attributable to smartphone gaming.
This revenue is expected to rise in the coming years, and decentralized gaming platforms are expected to play a pivotal role in this growth for the foreseeable future.
What is decentralized gaming? Why is it good news for the people who matter… the gamers?
In this article, we will study
Yumerium, one such platform and how it aims to change the world of gaming for the better.
What is a gaming platform?Whenever you play any game on the internet, it is an online game hosted either by a gaming website owned by a company or a decentralized platform.
There are many types of online games, including strategy games (e.g., chess, Othello, and monopoly), MMORPGs (i.e., Massively Multi-player Online Role Playing games) and first shooters.
Apart from providing anonymous entertainment for people, games can also be educative.
They may even have the ability to improve a child’s cognitive and interactive skills.
Centralized Vs. Decentralized GamingThe current internet space is characterized by either corporate owned or open source applications. The internet itself is open-source, but the last two decades have seen unprecedented growth in centralized platforms that are owned by companies.
They include Google, Facebook, and Instagram, Twitter, Uber, eBay, and Amazon.
They have various ways in which they attract users, based on their functionalities. While Google optimizes net searches, Facebook optimizes interactions and attention while Instagram works with pictures and videos.
However, when it comes to gaming, we have platforms such as PlayStation (Sony), Steam, Xbox (Microsoft), and Nintendo.
Centralized platforms are mainly built for profit to the owners of the companies that build them.
They, therefore, come with some serious challenges.
Issues with existing gamingHigh transaction fees: - gamers pay an arm and a leg in transaction fees and have long wait times before they can get in-game assets. These fees are mostly levied by money transfer agents like banks and mobile money service providers.
Fraud: - these are irresponsible gaming practices like player collusion to control outcomes, money laundering, and compulsive gambling. They kill game following as most online gamers will not risk their money with outfits that are deemed to attract fraud.
Delayed payments: - Banks and other financial institutions treat gaming money with suspicion, and a lot of background checking also means that you will have to wait before you can collect your winnings.
Unfair Centralized gaming: - Since centralized gaming is made to maximize profit for the companies, they do not disclose how their gaming algorithms are designed. As much as these algorithms are legally classified as trade secrets, in-house gaming developers can manipulate outcomes unfairly to favor ‘the house.'
Payment minimum limitations: - Financial institutions will put minimum deposit limits for gaming payments, which routinely locks out most potential gamers.
Yumerium’s SolutionsDecentralization has brought a paradigm shift in this industry, and Yumerium is poised to take a leading role in alleviating these pains with legacy centralized gaming platforms.
But how?
Acquisition and EngagementAll developers who bring their games for hosting at Yumerium will receive a seed fund in YUM.
They will then use it to create attractive viral marketing strategies to attract and keep players to their games.
Incentivized gamingGame developers will use YUM rewards to pay gamers each time they play, share on social media, up-vote, like or simply leave reviews after using the game.
Yumerium will encourage its developers also to create bounty programs that enable their users to bring in more users and increase their gamer base.
Once they have the YUM, gamers can buy in-game assets or game money and use it to play the game they choose. They can also interchange assets between games.
Crowdfunding for Game DevelopersGame developers and Studios will have a perfect opportunity to fund their development efforts through crowd sales of tokens to the most targeted interest group – the gamers, through Yumerium.
Decentralized Instant PaymentsThrough peer to peer payments to developers, earnings will instantly be paid immediately the money is availed through smart contracts.
This is a major departure from centralized payments that have long wait times before the money can reflect.
Yumerium will allow the payments to be done in YUM, with more cryptocurrencies expected to be added over time.
What is their roadmap?Starting in the second quarter of 2018, Yumerium will quickly adopt transfer the existing Subdream Studio games (Dream Pets, Kingdom watcher, Mega Overload and Hell Dimension) to the decentralized platform for testing.
They will then build CryptoMines, the first ever Natural Decentralized game on Yumerium, and then later engage select strategic partners on the gaming platform before they can invite a wider developer base.
Token SalesYumerium will sell a hard cap of 500 million YUM, with one token selling at $0.1.
Their token sales will be updated on their website, and all the information one needs to see what they are doing can be seen in their
whitepaper.
Final thoughtsFinally, decentralization has entered the gaming industry, and Yumerium is shaping up as one of the most inclusive and innovative platforms.
With incentivized gaming, safe, cheap and secure settlements and an already proven track record in gaming, the decentralized platform intends to bring all the advantages of experience and decentralization to its ecosystem.
Their token sale is within reach, and it is now possible to study their business model and decide whether to invest in the YUM token, develop on the platform or simply sign up and start enjoying their games once they are released!
