NFT games have advantage over ‘money in, no money out’ games: Polygon’s Urvit Goel

by James · August 14, 2022

Polygon’s VP of global business development for games Urvit Goel believes games that integrate non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have a natural advantage over traditional games that don’t allow users to sell their in-game items.

Goel spoke candidly with Cointelegraph in Seoul last week about Polygon’s (MATIC) efforts to help NFT games spread and why South Korean game publishers like Neowiz and Nexon are diving headfirst into space.

One of the main arguments Goel made is that the traditional business model against which NFT games compete may be inherently weaker. In traditional gaming, users usually buy in-game items with real money, but they cannot sell those items to get back any dollar value.

However, with most games in the game finance space (GameFi), users can purchase items such as non-fungible tokens and resell them when they are done playing the game. Goel referred to the traditional model as “money in, no money out,” and emphasized that players should be able to recoup at least some of the dollar value they put into a game.

“We just want to give users the opportunity to own the content they buy. And if they choose to sell it, great if they choose to keep it, great […] But even if you get a dime back, it’s better than nothing, right?”

Goel said he saw clear signs that traditional game publishers are gearing up for big pushes into GameFi, starting with South Korea’s gaming giant Nexon, which owns the MapleStory title. It announced in June that it would add a version of the flagship title to the chain as MapleStory N according to mmorpg, a gaming news outlet.

Polygon has also partnered with South Korea’s Neowiz to put new and existing titles on the chain.

He noted that the entry of such large companies creates “a bit of a domino effect” in the industry to “show that they are still innovative.” Goel suggested that the bosses of the big firms entering the blockchain space must have a lot of confidence in the technology or they wouldn’t dress up their top titles for GameFi.

“These developers don’t need to get on the blockchain to have successful businesses. They’re already generating hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars in revenue in traditional web teaming.”

Goel’s views on gaming and blockchain are in line with ROK Capital’s Anthony Yoon who told Cointelegraph that GameFi and crypto are a “natural fit” for publishers.

Related: Game developer explains why blockchain should be ‘invisible’ in P2E games: KBW 2022

Part of Goel’s confidence in the bright future of NFT gaming and GameFi comes from the buzz in the local communities. While he said he didn’t have hard data to back up his opinion, he believes many people in large communities that have “millions of followers” are excited about the new gaming products being brought to their channels.