Current discussions around Web 3 interoperability have missed the mark on what is realistic: “Could you just imagine how cool it would be to take your Fortnite skin into League of Legends…how about using your Pokémon in God of War?” — Web 3 Gaming Interoperability Panels

We live in the attention economy and game developers are optimizing for user retention. As it stands there is no real upside in creating incentive structures that drive users to a different gaming ecosystem.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but we are unlikely to see Fortnite skins in Call of Duty or vice versa.

So where does that leave the interoperability narrative? Is it just a buzzword or is there something of substance here?

Interoperability of digital assets in games will happen but it will likely be with games that have a shared ecosystem.

We are building towards a future where the NFTs in the Gala ecosystem have cross-functionality across games and potentially music and film.

The same could be said for the games in the Immutable and Mythical Games ecosystem.

When Blizzard Entertainment or Riot Games inevitably enter Web 3 gaming, I could see those companies offering cross-functionality of digital assets across their games portfolio.

Admittedly this is not the singular open and interoperable metaverse we all imagined. Rather what will likely exist is a series of smaller metaverses of interoperable games and digital assets.

This begs the question…do we really need the blockchain for this? To a certain degree, we already have interoperable gaming IP in Web 2.

✅ The Starcraft Sarah Kerrigan skin for Widowmaker in Overwatch comes to mind.

✅ In Diablo 3 you could acquire the Overwatch Mercy Wings by purchasing the Origins Edition of Overwatch.

✅ An even better example would be the Blood Dragon Armor from Dragon Age which is available in Mass Effect 2.

Given these examples, one could make the case that if we eventually have smaller metaverses of walled gardens the digital assets could all be database items instead.

The counterargument:

The practical case for blockchain integration in games is digital asset ownership. Interoperability only makes the case for digital asset ownership stronger.

Going back to my prior examples of Web 2 database items. If the Starcraft Sarah Kerrigan Skin or the Blood Dragon Armor were NFTs, their value would only accrue as more interoperability options were added to those digital assets. That would make it worthwhile to acquire and potentially trade these assets even if their value was limited to the walled garden of the developer’s ecosystem.

Blockchain integration in gaming matters because when you truly own the assets, you can fully realize the value of interoperability.

Would be curious to hear your thoughts on this.

As always thank you for reading.

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