Web3 Gaming Spent Years Putting Tokens Inside Games. GTA 6 May Prove the Bigger Opportunity Is Outside Them

Crypto gaming has obsessed over owning in-game assets. The next wave may be about rewarding the creators who turn mainstream games into culture. For most of Web3 gaming’s first wave, the pitch started with ownership. Put the sword on-chain. Turn the skin into an NFT. Add a token.

Reward players for logging in. Build a marketplace around the loot. There was logic behind it. Games already contain digital economies, status goods and scarce items. Crypto looked like a natural way to make those things portable, tradable and ownable.

The problem is that players rarely fall in love with a game because its settlement layer is elegant. They care whether the world is fun, the characters are memorable, the competition is good and their friends are there.

If those things are missing, token utility does not rescue the experience. In some cases it makes the problem worse by turning play into a spreadsheet. That is why the next big Web3 gaming opportunity may look almost backwards compared with the last one.