But with Nano, there are no transaction fees, the whole thing is decentralized, and payments are instant. Shillingford said that transaction fees prevent such a model from happening that’s why lots of games have minimum spends for microtransactions. “I think we can go one step further and actually you only pay for what you use,” he said. He points to services like Xbox Game Pass, Playstation Now, and Origin Access, all of which charge users a monthly fee to play games. “We have seen a gradual shift from purchasing games to subscription models,” Shillingford told Decrypt. With crypto micro-transactions, said Shillingford, you could have a pay-per-play model whereby you only pay for the amount of time that you’ve actually played the game.Īs much as gamers grumble about micropayments, adding crypto into the mix could take some power away from developers-who use virtual currencies as a way to incentivise players to invest more money into the game-and back into the hands of players.
Want more? Imagine the latest game costs $60, and you’re out of pocket. Gamers could “earn money in-game from loot boxes or watching in-game adverts,” said Shillingford, or take part in “in-game tournaments have small pay-ins where the winner gets the whole pot.” Shillingford imagines a world in which players could easily trade funds with others online, or buy items from other players.