The next is a visitor put up and opinion of Neil Mullins, CEO at Mojito
Web3 gaming is rising quickly, however loyalty programs haven’t saved tempo. Within the final yr, blockchain gaming didn’t simply develop: it leveled up.
In accordance with the 2024 DappRadar Video games Report, the house hit 7.4 million every day lively wallets and added over 1,600 new video games. Complete gaming exercise practically quintupled in comparison with the top of 2023 as new customers, ecosystems, and experiments poured in.
However progress is just half the story. Retention and group engagement stay a grind. Many video games are caught with loyalty programs that really feel bolted on or are lacking totally. As gaming turns into extra cross-platform, social, and community-driven, loyalty must catch up—quick.
A brand new wave of Web3-native loyalty applications means that change is lastly arriving.
What Conventional Loyalty Will get Flawed
In gaming ecosystems at this time, loyalty is little greater than a leaderboard, a every day bonus, or a half-baked factors system. These instruments really feel more and more out of step with how gamers really have interaction.
In accordance with Mistplay’s 2024 Cell Gaming Spender Report, 79% of cellular spenders actively have interaction with loyalty applications, and 51% say they’d spend extra in-game if loyalty rewards provided extra worth.
Development, not perks, is the true incentive. Gamers need loyalty programs that acknowledge the effort and time they make investments.
The identical story exhibits up exterior gaming, too. Analysis from Boston Consulting Group exhibits that participatory loyalty applications drive sustained engagement. In gaming, gamers anticipate comparable depth and adaptability, but many video games nonetheless depend on static rewards or platform-locked perks.
Shopper analysis platform Attest has highlighted this hole:
- 69% of U.S. avid gamers aged 18–24 say cross-platform play is essential. Loyalty programs should lengthen past particular person video games or platforms.
- One-third of avid gamers discover in-game advertisements intrusive and actively ignore them. A loyalty mannequin primarily based on worth will outperform one primarily based on advertisements.
- Family and friends suggestions stay the highest driver for making an attempt new video games. Loyalty can amplify this impact via community-based rewards.
On the identical time, the broader trade is being pressured to rethink its engagement methods. In 2024, greater than 12,000 gaming jobs have been misplaced as studios confronted rising prices and diminishing returns on consumer acquisition.
As IGN reported, many groups are actually prioritizing sustainable retention over progress in any respect prices. Loyalty applications, battle passes, and stay service fashions are rising as key instruments to monetize and strengthen current participant communities.
But conventional instruments aren’t constructed for this new, community-first world of gaming. That’s why a rising variety of Web3 tasks and gaming ventures are exploring new fashions.
The place Web3 Loyalty is Rising
A brand new era of video games and platforms is popping to on-chain loyalty applications as a solution to meet trendy participant expectations. The first options of those programs embody composable rewards, wallet-native possession, and enhanced group engagement.
Take Decentraland’s new Market Credit system, for instance. It affords gamers credit only for exhibiting up and exploring, attending occasions, trying out new areas, and extra.
These credit will be traded in for avatar upgrades reminiscent of wearables and emotes. It’s a easy solution to flip on a regular basis participation right into a loyalty loop that retains gamers coming again.
Mastercard’s Gamer Change is one other signal of the place issues are headed. It lets gamers convert loyalty factors from banks, retailers, and airways into in-game foreign money throughout high titles, offering proof that even legacy manufacturers know loyalty is changing into a battleground for gaming.
Infrastructure can also be evolving. Mojito Loyalty permits manufacturers and tasks to combine on-chain loyalty options (quests, rewards, and group development) straight into gaming and digital experiences.
In the meantime, video games like Forgotten Runiverse are utilizing play-to-earn mechanics and evolving loyalty applications to construct extra persistent participant economies. Their strategy hints at what’s attainable when loyalty is handled not as a advertising and marketing add-on however as a core a part of the participant expertise.
Throughout these examples, the sample is evident: when loyalty is participatory, clear, and moveable, it turns into a driver of engagement quite than an afterthought.
Loyalty Will Be Gaming’s Subsequent Layer
Retention curves alone received’t construct sustainable gaming communities. As John Wright, VP of Cell Publishing at Kwalee, has mentioned: “It’s not about going for Day 7, 14, and 28 retention curves. Corporations should assemble a brand new sort of loyalty system that may convey gamers again for a yr.”
On-chain loyalty makes that shift attainable. It permits builders to reward your entire participant expertise, quite than simply what occurs inside the sport—encompassing every thing gamers contribute, reminiscent of attending occasions, creating content material, constructing group, and extra.
Loyalty transforms scattered actions into tangible progress that gamers can see and really feel. And as gaming strikes towards open economies and cross-platform identities, it isn’t simply good to have; it’s changing into a brand new, important layer of the gaming stack.
