The appeal of the decentralized version of the Internet is that it gives users ownership for the content they create instead of monetizing user data as Facebook does,听Web3听advocates said.听听
Before it was hit by听听surrounding its unsustainable economic structure, the Web3 game听Axie Infinity听enjoyed a peak of about听听in January.
鈥淭he paradigm that made听Axie听powerful wasn鈥檛 play-to-earn,鈥 said Yat Siu, group executive chairman and managing director of Hong Kong-based Web3 conglomerate and investment firm Animoca Brands, at the听听on Nov. 15. 鈥淚t was the ownership of the Axies that allowed someone like YGG [Yield Guild Games, a play-to-earn gaming guild] to come create a business on top of that ownership.鈥澨听
As of writing,听础虫颈别鈥檚听average active player count has dropped to under a million.听
Everything in the digital world is 鈥渁lready financified; we just don鈥檛 see it,鈥 Mr. Siu said. 鈥淎ll of you here are building new economies, mini-nations in effect.鈥澨
According to Malik Khan Kotadia, co-founder and global board chairman of the Global Impact FinTech (GIFT) Forum, a non-profit think tank in the fintech sector, 鈥淲eb 3.0 is supposed to be a harbinger of the ownership economy.鈥澨听
The current version of the Internet, in contrast, is characterized by Web 2.0鈥檚 platform economy, composed of user-generated content and social media giants.听听
鈥淭he problem with the platform economies is that we saw the rise of monopolies,鈥 Mr. Kotadia said, noting听听of Meta Platforms, Inc., the parent company of Facebook and Instagram.听听
鈥淵our data has power, and not just power 鈥 but clear market value in the trillions,鈥 he added.听
According to Mr. Siu, if the platform economy persists, it is these same companies that will benefit from the growth of immersive gaming, which听is expected to surpass听听in global revenue by 2024, according to marketing data company Statista.听听
鈥淭he gamer doesn鈥檛 understand that he鈥檚 already heavily financified 鈥 that actually 80, 70% of his value translates to platforms that own his rights,鈥 Mr. Siu said.听
A proponent of tokenization, Mr. Siu said that听non-fungible tokens听(NFTs, or digital representation of real-life objects like art or music) is an alternative to the platform economy as it democratizes ownership and is a means of judging value.听
鈥淵ou鈥檙e really rewarding the players as opposed to giving all the value to the platform,鈥 he said. 鈥斕Patricia B. Mirasol
