Vader Research: Recent Episodes
DeFi Vader
Vader Research is a thesis-driven research firm dedicated to the long-term development of Web3 Gaming. We are a fundamentals-driven research firm that makes data-driven decisions.
Christian Calderon joins Vader Research Podcast to talk about web3 publishing models, user acquisition and analytics. Chris was the co-founder & CEO at Gamejam and recently pivoted Gamejam to Superfine to focus on web3.
0:00 Intro
0:35 Superfine Origin Story
8:35 Web2 Mobile Game Publishers
15:50 Why F2P Economics Got Worse (IDFA, Privacy Laws, etc.)
19:10 Superfine & Web3 User Acquisition Analytics
Learn More about Superfine:
https://twitter.com/caldie
https://www.linkedin.com/in/caldie
https://mobidictum.biz/hyper-casual-developer-gamejam-co-rebrands-as-superfine
Learn More about Vader Research:
https://linktr.ee/defivader
If you enjoyed the episode, make sure to subscribe and leave a like or comment!
Big Time Studios director of monetization & economy Khaled Alroumi joins Vader Research Podcast to dive deep into how Big Time Studios' web3 economy was designed.
Learn More about Big Time Studios & Khaled Alroumi:
https://twitter.com/playbigtime
https://twitter.com/KAlroumi_
Learn More about Vader Research:
https://linktr.ee/defivader
If you enjoyed the episode, make sure to subscribe and leave a like or comment!
NOR Games founder & CEO Brooks Brown joins Vader Research Podcast to discuss the problems with gaming & esports, what NOR Games is building to solve these problems, NOR Games' web3 economy & monetization model and the tokenomics of $FATE.
0:00 Intro
0:52 Problems with Gaming & eSports
16:35 What NOR is Building to Solve These Problems
25:08 NOR's Skill-Based Gaming Platform
33:00 NOR's Monetization Model
44:40 Players are NFTs
54:36 $FATE Tokenomics
Learn More about NOR Games:
https://welcometonor.com/
https://twitter.com/Welcome_to_Nor
Learn More about Vader Research:
https://linktr.ee/defivader
If you enjoyed the episode, make sure to subscribe and leave a like or comment!
Fumb Games founder & CEO Paul West joins Vader Research Podcast to discuss Fumb Games' web3 game Bitcoin Miner. Bitcoin Miner has more than 300k MAUs and rewards $0.10 worth Bitcoin per player per day. Bitcoin rewards have resulted in higher retention and organic growth - leading to higher LTV and lower CAC. Paul shares lessons learned from building & growing Bitcoin Miner.
Fumb Games is known for its idle game hit Merge Monsters. Paul West has previosuly worked at companies such as Admix, Ad Colony, Buildbox, Neon Play.
00:00 Intro
1:10 Bitcoin Miner Origin Story
4:40 Gameplay Core Loops
10:35 Growing Bitcoin Miner
17:00 How Bitcoin Rewards Affect Player Behaviour
23:40 Bitcoin Miner Economics & UA Stratregy
36:40 Zebedee Partnership
40:20 Apple's Stance
42:50 Fumb Games Announcements
Learn More about Bitcoin Miner:
https://www.fumbgames.com/
https://twitter.com/bitcoinminerfg
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bitcoin-miner-idle-tycoon/id1413770650
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fumbgames.bitcoinminor
Learn More about Vader Research:
https://linktr.ee/defivader
If you enjoyed the episode, make sure to subscribe and leave a like or comment!
Anonymous Twitter influencer and Bored Box founder BoredElonMusk joins Vader Research Podcast to discuss user acquisition in web3 and Bored Box. Bored has previously worked at a prominent Japanese gaming company and has significant experience in gaming.
00:00 Intro
2:20 Bored Box
4:57 Game Discovery Problem
8:10 Bored Box Loyalty Points
12:10 Content Treadmill Problem
15:00 Bored Box NFT Economy Design
17:17 Bored Box Target Audience
19:28 User Acquisition Challenges for Web3 Games
20:50 Bored Box Player Base
23:00 Other User Acquisition Channels
25:15 How Can Web3 Games Measure UA Channel Performance?
30:45 Importance of Twitter Spaces
32:46 Twitter Follower Growth Tips
36:25 Twitter Marketing Spend for User Growth or User Engagement?
37:58 Bored's Favorite Web3 Game
40:33 Bored's Thoughts on DigiDaiku
43:15 Bored Box Announcements
We have a microphone issue on our end until 30:14 😌 but the sound quality gets better 30:14 onwards.
Learn More about Bored Box:
https://boredbox.io/
https://twitter.com/boredbox_
Learn More about Vader Research:
https://linktr.ee/defivader
If you enjoyed the episode, make sure to subscribe and leave a like or comment!
Francis Brankin, Head of Economy at Shrapnel joins Vader Research Podcast to dive deep into Shrapnel's game economy design. Shrapnel is a web3 first-person shooter game.
00:00 Intro
1:35 First-Person Extractive Game Shooter
7:00 Grinder Players
7:56 High Stake Players
10:11 Match Size and Time
12:33 Leaving the Game with a Helicopter
14:07 Character Gear Loadouts & In-Game Progression
15:35 Sense of Consequence in Every Decision
17:23 F2P and Web3 Game Modes
20:00 A Web3 Player's Shrapnel Onboarding Journey
21:41 CEX to Subnet On Ramp
24:32 Shrapnel NFTs
26:05 UGC NFTs
29:03 Entry Fee per Match
30:05 Matchmaking Based on the Value of Player NFTs
30:55 Minimum NFT Requirements to Play a Web3 Match
31:43 Character NFT Utility
32:53 Crafting Gear Loadouts
34:09 NFT Permadeath
35:33 NFT Price Stability
39:20 Tools to Prevent Another UST Depeg Case
42:03 Controlling NFT Inflation
45:00 SHRAP Token Utility
Learn More about Shrapnel:
https://www.shrapnel.com/
https://twitter.com/playSHRAPNEL
Learn More about Vader Research:
https://linktr.ee/defivader
If you enjoyed the episode, make sure to subscribe and leave a like or comment!
Philip La, VP of Product (Games) at Sky Mavis joins Vader Research Podcast to discuss the game & economy design of Axie Origins, the upcoming Land game and tips on building sustainable web3 game economies.Â
00:00 Intros
3:57 Axie Classic vs Origins
5:53 Origins F2P Mode & Free Axies
10:11 Earning SLP from Origins
12:35 Can you earn SLP with Free Axies?
14:00 Origins Economy Items (Moonshards, Runes, Charms)
16:27 Runes & Charms are Seasonal
18:07 Disenchanting Runes & Charms
20:53 Game Design Balance Challenges
22:50 Vader Summary of Runes & Charms
24:42 Moonshards
26:24 Other Sinks (Avatars, Stickers, Cosmetics)
29:00 Land Game
31:50 Land Game Mechanics
34:39 Land Utility
38:55 Sky Mavis
45:40 Sustainable Economy Design
49:38 Importance of Narrative
52:00 Live Ops & Daily Quests
Learn More about Axie Origins:
https://axieinfinity.com/
https://twitter.com/AxieInfinity
https://axie.substack.com/p/axieorigin
Learn More about Vader Research:
https://linktr.ee/defivader
If you enjoyed the episode, make sure to subscribe and leave a like or comment!
In this episode, Etherorcs co-founder Poof joins Vader Research Podcast. Etherorcs is one of the most popular crypto native web3 games.
00:00 Intros
2:48 Building Etherorcs
6:30 Building a Core Loyal Community
16:18 Attracting the Initial Community Members
22:30 Etherorcs Economy Design
27:30 Irrational User Behavior
34:45 Etherorcs User Segmentation
51:33 What is Fun for Etherorcs Users?
55:45 Partnership Strategy
1:03:55 Free Giveaway for the Podcast Listeners!
Learn More about Etherorcs:
https://etherorcs.com/
https://twitter.com/EtherOrcs
Learn More about Vader Research:
https://linktr.ee/defivader
If you enjoyed the episode, make sure to subscribe and leave a like or comment!
In this episode, Crabada strategy lead Car joins Vader Research Podcast. Crabada was one of the most popular blockchain games in Q4 21-Q1 22 with more than $200m in capital inflows. The governance token CRA was trading at $2.5bn fully-diluted valuation at its all-time high. In this episode, Car shares lessons learned from building Crabada.
00:00 Intros
05:00 Building Crabada
14:22 Crabada Idle Game Player Persona
24:10 Player Motivation
27:46 Learnings From Building the Idle Game
34:20 Detecting Bots in On-Chain Games
36:30 Lottery Sink via the CRAM token
40:20 Token Liquidity Problem
44:25 Roadmap & AnnouncementsÂ
48:50 Crabada's Mobile App
Learn More about Crabada:
https://www.crabada.com/
https://twitter.com/PlayCrabada
Learn More about Vader Research:
https://linktr.ee/defivader
If you enjoyed the episode, make sure to subscribe and leave a like or comment!
In this episode, LifeForce Games CEO Ryan Inman (Boomer) joins Vader Research Podcast. LifeForce Games is building a no-code virtual gaming platform similar to Sandbox or Decentraland but with an emphasis on easier development tools. LifeForce Games raised $5m from Lemniscap, CMT Digital, Sfermion and Ready Player DAO.
00:00 Intros
01:56 LandVault: Metaverse Dev Agency
6:40 Tooling Problem with Decentraland & Sandbox
8:40 LifeForce Games' No-Code UGC Gaming Platform
16:16 Go To Market Strategy
22:48 Competition
26:32 Economy
34:44 Economy Problems within a UGC Platform
42:05 Interoperable NFT Design
52:45 Creator Fee Reward Distribution Problem
54:52 Token Launch Plans
57:00 Timeline
Learn More about LifeForce Games:
https://lifeforce.games/
https://twitter.com/joinlifeforce
Learn More about Vader Research:
https://linktr.ee/defivader
If you enjoyed the episode, make sure to subscribe and leave a like or comment!
In this episode, Jeremy Parris joins Vader Research Podcast to share his thoughts on NFTs, community building, soulbond tokens and social engineering. Jeremy is a venture associate at Delphi Digital.
00:00 Jeremy's Background
7:45 How to Design & Launch An NFT Collection (For Influencers & Celebrities)
18:03 Soulbound Tokens & On-Chain Reputation
28:17 Building A Community From Scratch
33:30 Why Some NFT Collections Succeed And Others Fail?
39:22 Why Celebrity & Brand NFTs Failed?
45:38 Jeremy's Favorite NFT Projects
56:19 IP NFTs
1:08:15 Jeremy's Contact Details
Learn More about Jeremy Parris:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremy-parris-b242a4211
https://twitter.com/jeremystormsky
Learn More about Vader Research:
https://linktr.ee/defivader
If you enjoyed the episode, make sure to subscribe and leave a like or comment!
In this episode, Civitas game director Kent Byers joins Vader Research Podcast. Civitas is one of the most anticipated web3 strategy games under development. Civitas employees have previous experience working on popular strategy games such as EVE Online and Runescape. Civitas raised $20m from Delphi Digital, Bitkraft, Framework, YGG, Merit Circle, EVE Online.
00:00 Intros
01:12 Genre Decision Process
06:30 Convincing the Team Members to Build a Web3 Game
08:48 Civitas Gameplay
15:05 Civitas SubDAOs
20:10 Player Archetypes & Quests in Civitas
35:08 Civitas Economy Overview
41:38 Vader's Comments on Token & NFTs
43:10 Plans to Keep the Economy Sustainable
51:35 Vader's Comments on Speculators & Farmers
54:00 Civitas SubDAO Governance
58:43 Partnership with Web3 Gaming Guilds
1:09:00 Civitas Cities
1:16:25 Announcements & Contact Details
Learn More about Civitas:
https://playcivitas.io/
https://twitter.com/playcivitas
Learn More about Vader Research:
https://linktr.ee/defivader
If you enjoyed the episode, make sure to subscribe and leave a like or comment!
In this episode, Mirai Labs (Pegaxy) co-founder & CEO Corey Wilton and product owner Clay join Vader Research Podcast. Pegaxy was one of the most popular blockchain games in Q1 2022 with more than $200m in capital inflows. In this episode, the team shares the lessons learned from building Pegaxy.
00:00 Intros
04:42 Which games inspired the team to build Pegaxy?
09:22 What did Pegaxy do right?
12:50 Sinks experimented in the Pegaxy economy
29:45 GameFi infra opportunities for entrepreneurs & investors
35:33 On-Chain vs Off-Chain development
41:32 Cons of building a fully on-chain game
45:11 Problems with community-led development
50:00 Other lessons learned from building Pegaxy
53:00 Other games & products Mirai Labs is working on
59:10 Past management issues in Mirai Labs
Learn More about Mirai Labs:
https://www.mirailabs.it/
https://pegaxy.io/
https://twitter.com/PegaxyOfficial
Learn More about Vader Research:
https://linktr.ee/defivader
The thumbnail's background image was taken from United Gaming
If you enjoyed the episode, make sure to subscribe and leave a like or comment!
In this episode, web3 game economy consultant Devin Becker joins Vader Research Podcast to discuss sustainable web3 game economies.
0:00 - Background
1:53 - Splinterlands' Economy Design
16:23 - Devin's Ideal Web3 Economy Design
19:41 - Consumable NFTs
25:00 - Psychology of Ownership
30:11 - How To Minimize Speculative Behavior on Land-Like Assets
36:06 - NFT Pre-Sales
45:56 - Liquidity Pools
48:29 - Move to Earn, Play to Earn and Other Unsustainable Ponzis
50:17 - Governance Tokens
1:04:24 - Sophistication of Public Crypto investors
1:06:41 - Devin's Contact Details
Learn More about Devin Becker:
https://www.devinbecker.com/
https://twitter.com/0xMZO
Learn More about Vader Research:
https://linktr.ee/defivader
If you enjoyed the episode, make sure to subscribe and leave a like or comment!
In this episode, F2P game economy designer Javier Barnes joins Vader Research Podcast to discuss F2P monetization models and web3 open economies.
0:00 - Background
1:53 - Why Players Spend Money In F2P Games?
5:00 - F2P Monetization Models
12:12 - Partnership Announcements
16:10 - "Aggressive Monetization"
20:20 - Pricing IAPs
29:48 - What Genres Are Fit For Web3 Open Economies?
36:21 - Concerns About Web3 Open Economies
Learn More about Javier Barnes:
https://twitter.com/theJBDev
https://www.gamedeveloper.com/author/javier-barnes
Learn More about Vader Research:
https://linktr.ee/defivader
If you enjoyed the episode, make sure to subscribe and leave a like or comment!
In this episode, Laguna Games (Crypto Unicorns) co-founder & CEO Aron Beierschmitt joins Vader Research Podcast. Crypto Unicorns is a popular web3 farm simulation game that has cumulatively raised $50m+ through token/NFT/equity sale.
0:00 - Background
7:09 - Genre Decision Process
11:00 - Team Size
12:12 - Partnership Announcements
16:55 - Community-Driven Game Development
24:21 - Lessons from Community Building & Management
28:42 - Conflicts of Interests Within a Community
33:36 - Crypto Unicorns Economy
41:44 - Vader’s Concerns About the CU Economy
44:00 - Future Plans to Make the CU Economy Sustainable
50:05 - Who is the Target Crypto Unicorn Player Audience
54:54 - Vader’s Concerns About Land NFTs
56:07 - Future Plans to Make the Farming Sim More Sustainable
1:02:32 - Fundraising Structure
Learn More about Crypto Unicorns:
https://www.cryptounicorns.fun/
https://twitter.com/crypto_unicorns
Learn More about Vader Research:
https://linktr.ee/defivader
Disclaimer: Vader Research has no affiliation with Laguna Games nor do we own any Crypto Unicorns NFTs & tokens.
If you enjoyed the episode, make sure to subscribe and leave a like or comment!
In this episode, Everseed co-founder & CEO Kenneth Liu joins Vader Research Podcast. Everseed is one of the most anticipated web3 games under development. All 3 co-founders have previously worked together at Riot Games (creator of League of Legends, Valorant, Teamfight Tactics).
Learn More about Everseed:
http://everseed.com/
https://twitter.com/playeverseed
Learn More about Vader Research:
https://linktr.ee/defivader
If you enjoyed the episode, make sure to subscribe and leave a like or comment!
In this episode, Vader Research founder Mete Gultekin talks about web3 gaming player archetypes and the impact they have on web3 game economies Web3 Gaming Player Archetypes Article: https://defivader.medium.com/web3-gaming-player-archetypes-f5eafa9fb47c
Learn More about Vader Research: https://linktr.ee/defivader
If you enjoyed the episode, make sure to subscribe and leave a like or comment!
In this episode, First Light Games co-founder Anil Das Gupta and game design director Nikita Denissov join Vader Research Podcast. Blast Royale raised $5m in April this year, co-led by Animoca and Mechanism Capital with participation from Play Ventures and Merit Circle.
Learn More about Blast Royale:Â
https://blastroyale.com/Â
https://twitter.com/blastroyaleÂ
Learn More about Vader Research:Â
https://linktr.ee/defivaderÂ
If you enjoyed the episode, make sure to subscribe and leave a like or comment!
In this episode, Trailblazer Games co-founders Alex Arias and Andreas Risberg join Vader Research Podcast. Trailblazer Games raised $8.2m in March this year, led by Makers Fund with participation from Play Ventures and Fabric Ventures. Â
Learn More about Eternal Dragons:Â
https://eternaldragons.com/Â
https://twitter.com/EternalDragons_ Â
Learn More about Vader Research:Â
https://linktr.ee/defivader Â
If you enjoyed the episode, make sure to subscribe and leave a like or comment!
Will Robinson is a core member of web3 accelerator DeFi Alliance, founder of web3 gaming guild Dark Forest DAO and a primary advisor at move-to-earn game STEPN. Will joins the pod to discuss the future of web3 gaming guilds & games, the sustainability of STEPN, and the story behind how he hired & retained Dark Forest DAO guild members.
0:54 - Will Robinson
2:30 - Dark Forest & DF DAO
24:07 - Web3 Gaming Guilds
29:58 - How Web3 Games Can Work With Guilds?
33:23 - STEPN
Useful Resources:
DeFi Vader's Twitter - https://twitter.com/DeFiVader
Guild 101 - https://defivader.medium.com/yield-guild-games-101-92771117f04d
The Era of Guilds - https://defivader.medium.com/the-era-of-guilds-375f9905287f
How Web3 Games Can Limit Value Extraction from Guilds - https://twitter.com/DeFiVader/status/1511684924507492355
Will Robinson's Twitter - https://twitter.com/DangerWillRobin
Blackpool is a web3 gaming guild focused on generating returns by making quantitative investment decisions. Blackpool's largest investment exposure is in a web3 fantasy football card collection game called Sorare. Mark from Blackpool joins us to talk all about Blackpool, Sorare and web3 gaming guilds.
0:00 - Intro
1:37 - BlackpoolÂ
3:29 - Investement Decisions
12:30 - Sorare
28:14 - Blackpool Business Model
Polemos is a web3 gaming guild focused on sourcing, nurturing, educating and retaining the top game player talent with an innovative governance structure. Founder Sascha Zehe joins us to talk all about Polemos and web3 gaming guilds.
0:00 - Intro
3:43 - Investment Rounds
5:00 - Existing Guild Model
13:08 - Polemos
21:55 - Education of Scholars
28:53 - Investment Decisions
37:40 - Illuvium
47:40 - Game NFT Exposures of Polemos
49:45 - Future of Web3 Game-Guild Relationship
Farmer Nash is an Axie influencer and micro guild owner. In this episode, we talk about how Nash makes investment decisions and runs his guild.
DeFi Vader's Twitter: https://twitter.com/DeFiVader
Farmer Nash's Twitter: https://twitter.com/FarmerNash_
IQ Protocol is an NFT rental marketplace provider
0:00 - Intro
1:10 - The Core Product
2:40 - What IQ Protocol Does
9:20 - Business ModelÂ
12:00 - Renting and Delegation
19:40 - Partners and Competitors
24:30 - Vision and Last Words
Useful Resources:
DeFi Vader's Twitter - https://twitter.com/DeFiVader
Guild 101 - https://defivader.medium.com/yield-guild-games-101-92771117f04d
The Era of Guilds - https://defivader.medium.com/the-era-of-guilds-375f9905287f
IQ Protocol - https://iq.space/
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7mgKa3Z
Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/defi-vader/id1608016994
GamerSpeak is a blockchain gaming guild that is partially funded by NetMarble and is run by Chad Kihm who has previously gained substantial experience in F2P games and whale behavior. Chad is joined us to discuss GamerSpeak and web3 gaming guilds.
0:00 - Intro
6:00 - Scholar and Investor Relations
9:40 - Whales
14:00 - Guild Management
20:15 - Next Steps
22:00 - Players and Streamers
23:15 - Decision Making
Useful Resources:
DeFi Vader's Twitter - https://twitter.com/DeFiVader
Guild 101 - https://defivader.medium.com/yield-guild-games-101-92771117f04d
The Era of Guilds - https://defivader.medium.com/the-era-of-guilds-375f9905287f
GamerSpeak - https://www.gamerspeak.io/
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7mgKa3Z
Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/defi-vader/id1608016994
Matt Dion from EA, Terry Chung from 1kx and Tak Fung (aka Mr Fung) join us to discuss governance in web 3 games.
In EVE Online, there is heightened transparency in the decision-making process but there is a centralized decision-maker in terms of the economy. Users don’t have direct voting power on economic decisions. EVE Online publishes very detailed monthly economic reports that everyone can look up. They explain the rationale behind every decision. We shouldn’t reinvent the wheel - we can’t directly vote for what the central banks should do and we probably shouldn’t.
Having direct voting is extremely dangerous. Having some sort of panel just like in real life could work. Real-life governance is not always fun but we have to protect real-life assets. We need a similar panel or council in the virtual world. EVE Online has a council method, similar to Illuvium. There are 10 council members who have a tenure of 1 year and they get paid. They represent the community, aggregate data, and share it with the devs. It’s up to the devs to listen to it or not.
There are different models where council members have the ultimate voting power, representing their electors. This creates the problem that council members can easily be corrupted - on-chain transactions can be tracked but what if the corrupted member is paid off-chain.
0:00 - Intro
3:25 - What Should Be Governed in a Game
6:47 - Runescape Model
8:49 - When to Open Up Governance
16:35 - Governance with Multiple Stakeholders & Plutocracy
22:15 - Roles of Guilds and Scholars in Governance
27:55 - EVE Online Model
31:03 - Corruption of the Player-Representative Councils
36:27 - Governance Lessons Learned from MMOs & Virtual Worlds
40:40 - Sandbox vs Second Life
45:40 - Advice to Game Devs
50:52 - Guilds
Useful Resources:
DeFi Vader's Twitter - https://twitter.com/DeFiVader
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7mgKa3Z
Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/defi-vader/id1608016994
NFT Breeding Factory
0:00 - Intro
0:15 - Renz’ Background
4:56 - BreeederDAO
6:03 - Optimization of Breeding
7:15 - Is BreederDAO a Guild?
8:15 - Business Model
10:33 - Team
11:47 - Guilds’ Problems
15:05 - Game Partnerships
16:15 - Crabada
18:25 - Fund Proceeds
20:22 - Delegation
21:41 - Guild Clients
24:40 - Asset Light Model
26:05 - Long-Term Vision
Useful Resources:
DeFi Vader's Twitter - https://twitter.com/DeFiVader
Guild 101 - https://defivader.medium.com/yield-guild-games-101-92771117f04d
The Era of Guilds - https://defivader.medium.com/the-era-of-guilds-375f9905287f
BreederDAO - https://www.breederdao.io/
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7mgKa3Z
Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/defi-vader/id1608016994
0:00 - Intro
0:11 - OpenGuild
2:08 - Why Guilds Use It?
13:15 - Why Investors Use It?
18:30 - Liquidity Issue
23:15 - Repaying Back the Investment
25:50 - Next Steps
Useful Resources:
DeFi Vader's Twitter - https://twitter.com/DeFiVader
Guild 101 - https://defivader.medium.com/yield-guild-games-101-92771117f04d
The Era of Guilds - https://defivader.medium.com/the-era-of-guilds-375f9905287f
OpenGuild - https://openguild.io/
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7mgKa3Z
Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/defi-vader/id1608016994
0:00 - Intro
1:07 - PathDAO
4:01 - Investment Decisions
08:12 - What Made Pegaxy Take Off?
11:48 - Influencers
12:45 - Tier 1 VCs
15:52 - Guilds' Value Extraction
21:28 - Why PathDAO sold their Pegas?
25:01 - Dashboard & Treasury
Useful Resources:
DeFi Vader's Twitter - https://twitter.com/DeFiVader
Guild 101 - https://defivader.medium.com/yield-gu...
The Era of Guilds - https://defivader.medium.com/the-era-...
PathDAO - https://www.pathdao.io/
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7mgKa3Z
Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/de...
0:00 - Intro
0:35 - Background
03:20 - Scholars
10:05 - Tournaments
19:10 - Economics of Running a Tournament
23:20 - How Hooga Makes Money
26:24 - Tools and Software
30:21 - Previous Tournaments and Hosting
34:30 - Problems
37:40 - Other Tournament Organizers
39:00 - Internal Tools
40:30 - Next Steps
Useful Resources:
DeFi Vader's Twitter - https://twitter.com/DeFiVader
Guild 101 - https://defivader.medium.com/yield-guild-games-101-92771117f04d
The Era of Guilds - https://defivader.medium.com/the-era-of-guilds-375f9905287f
Hooga Gaming - https://hooga.gg/
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7mgKa3Z
Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/defi-vader/id1608016994
0:00 - Intro
0:16 - Felix
4:11 - Salad
7:15 - Scholar Selection
13:00 - Salad Products
14:25 - Importance of Scholar Quality
18:54 - Udemy of GameFi
26:20 - Game Partnerships/Investments
34:23 - Guild OS (Dashboard)
36:04 - Salad Summary
41:44 - Why Multicoin Invested?
47:08 - Series A
51:31 - Guilds in the Long Term
55:30 - IDO and Token Listing
Useful Resources:
DeFi Vader's Twitter - https://twitter.com/DeFiVader
Guild 101 - https://defivader.medium.com/yield-guild-games-101-92771117f04d
The Era of Guilds - https://defivader.medium.com/the-era-of-guilds-375f9905287f
Salad Ventures - https://www.salad.ventures/
Salad Academy - https://salad.academy/
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7mgKa3Z
Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/defi-vader/id1608016994
0:00 - Intro
0:32 - GGG
3:44 - P2E in Indonesia
6:39 - Scholar Count
7:25 - Axie Exposure
7:50 - Game Investment Decision Process
11:05 - Scholar Education
11:31 - Pegaxy
14:38 - Games Invested
16:19 - Asset Management
19:06 - Launchpad
22:00 - GameFi & Guilds Landscape
24:20 - Axie’s Economy
26:30 - Halted New Axie Purchases
28:20 - Wonder Hero
29:20 - GGG
Useful Resources:
DeFi Vader's Twitter - https://twitter.com/DeFiVader
Guild 101 - https://defivader.medium.com/yield-guild-games-101-92771117f04d
The Era of Guilds - https://defivader.medium.com/the-era-of-guilds-375f9905287f
Good Games Guild - https://goodgamesguild.com/
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7mgKa3Z
Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/defi-vader/id1608016994
Khaled from Illuvium, Will from Department of Fun, Emily from eGirl Capital are joined to discuss the weekly news and updates in blockchain gaming.
Introduction (0:00)
Worms NFTs (2:22)
Gamestop dumps granted IMX tokens (7:22)
Gucci enters the Metaverse (11:58)
Lessons from Second Life (17:15)
Lessons from MMOs (21:05)
Animoca to raise $500m round led by KRR (22:39)
VCs will dump unlocked tokens this year (26:36)
Zynga plans to launch an NFT game this year (28:12)
Should Zynga acquire a web3 game? (33:07)
Philip La joins Axie Infinity & Season 20 Updates (39:57)
SLP is up 4x in 4 days! (42:42)
Pegaxy Update (50:19)
Pixelmon raises $70m from primary NFT sale (51:42)
Gala Games to invest $5bn in NFT games, movies, music (56:19)
Disney to hire an NFT business developer (1:01:01)
…
Useful Resources:
DeFi Vader's Twitter - https://twitter.com/DeFiVader
Khaled’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/KAlroumi_
Will’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/will_luton
Emily’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/AutomataEmily
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7mgKa3Z
Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/defi-vader/id1608016994
Pegaxy has been pretty popular among the blockchain gaming community in recent weeks as the Pega NFT supply almost tripled in the last 40 days and PGX is up 4x since year-to-date. Ethan Levy from N3twork, Rich Cabrera from Ready Player DAO, NFT Guru from MTTM and tokenomics expert Josh are joined to discuss Pegaxy and its economy.
...
Intro: (0:00)
Pegaxy’s Economy: (4:48)
Gameplay & Ponzinomics: (7:02)
Building Momentum/Pace (14:39)
Internal Scholarship Tool (16:12)
Do Guilds Dump? (21:25)
What Pegaxy Learned from Axie’s Mistakes? (26:22)
Core Team (29:53)
Designing a Sustainable Web3 Game (30:37)
Governance & Community (36:03)
Why Pegaxy Won Over Other P2E Games? (43:45)
Scholarship Split (46:45)
Pegaxy’s Longevity (49:22)
PGX Treasury & Vesting Schedule (54:44)
Recommendations to the Core Team (1:00:00)
...
Useful Resources:
DeFi Vader's Twitter - https://twitter.com/DeFiVader
Deconstructing Pegaxy’s Economy - https://defivader.medium.com/deconstructing-pegaxys-economy-e7dfd0bf50ff
Ethan Levy’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/FamousAspect
NFT Guru’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/NFT_Guru
Rich Cabrer’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/ReadyPlayerRich
Josh’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/JDHyper
Khaled from Illuvium, Eric from Superlayer, Leo from Fief Guild and Asobs from Champion NFT Gaming and are joined to discuss the weekly news and updates in blockchain gaming.
Introduction: (0:00)
Axie Infinity: (2:07)
RON Token: (6:34)
The Rise of Pegaxy: (13:00)
Sandbox’s LAND problem: (25:28)
Warner Music and Carrefour enters the Sandbox Metaverse: (43:35)
Reddit NFT PFP: (46:51)
YT Head of Gaming joins Polygon: (48:35)
Mechanism Capital raised $100m P2E fund: (55:26)
Acquiring Whales through P2E: (57:08)
P2E Genres: (1:01:53)
…
Useful Resources:
DeFi Vader's Twitter - https://twitter.com/DeFiVader
Khaled’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/KAlroumi_
Asobs’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/Asobs_CNG
Leo’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/Best_coder_NA
Eric’s Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-guan-6b122875/
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7mgKa3Z
Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/defi-vader/id1608016994
Earn Guild is one of the most promising guilds with 1500+ scholars and innovative plans to onboard unbanked scholars to P2E through providing their Earn Guild branded Mastercard cards. Earn Guild’s founder Darren Olney-Fraser is joined to discuss:
What problems do scholars have when converting from crypto to fiat?
What is the idea behind Earn Guild Mastercard?
How they plan to onboard the unbanked to P2E?
What ROI they’re looking for in-game NFT investments?
What earnings target do they set for new scholars?
How did they scale scholars from 10 to 1000?
Useful Resources:
DeFi Vader's Twitter - https://twitter.com/DeFiVader
Guild 101 - https://defivader.medium.com/yield-guild-games-101-92771117f04d
The Era of Guilds - https://defivader.medium.com/the-era-of-guilds-375f9905287f
Earn Guild - https://www.earnguild.io/
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7mgKa3Z
Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/defi-vader/id1608016994
...
Intro: (0:00)
Earn Guild: (0:46)
Scholars: (3:53)
Growth: (4:55)
Scholar Selection (8:09)
Funding: (11:50)
Game NFT Investments: (12:57)
Earn Guild Mastercard: (26:00)
Crypto to Fiat Flow: (27:58)
Banking the Unbanked Scholars: (32:25)
Fintech Opportunities: (35:38)
Physical Card: (37:17)
Onboarding the Unbanked to P2E: (39:40)
Credit Scoring for Scholars: (42:25)
Future of the Guilds Landscape: (46:00)
Token Sale: (50:04)
Thetan Arena has been one of the most popular P2E games after Axie Infinity, reporting 20m+ players and THG trading at $1+ FD market cap. Khaled Alroumi from Illuvium, Karan Gaikwad from Nukebox and Asobs from Champion NFT Gaming are joined us to discuss Thetan Arena’s economy.
• How is Thetan Arena’s economy different from Axie Infinity’s?
• What are some of the design and sustainability problems with Thetan Arena’s economy?
• Thoughts on Thetan Arena NFTs with max battle limit
• Why THC isn’t being burnt?
• The motivation behind the discounted box sales?
• What is the real DAU count and what % are represented by bots?
...
Useful Resources:
DeFi Vader's Twitter - https://twitter.com/DeFiVader
Thread on Thetan Arena - https://twitter.com/DeFiVader/status/1473679361303887878
Khaled Alroumi’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/KAlroumi_
Asobs’s YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/c/ChampionNFTGaming
Karan Gaikwad’s Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/karanrgaikwad/
Thetan Arena’s Website - https://thetanarena.com/
Thetan Arena Buyback Program - https://medium.com/@ThetanArena/thc-burning-and-converting-program-1-2eedc5d75f16
...
Intro: (0:00)
Thetan Arena: (1:50)
Gameplay: (3:24)
Hero ROI: (7:15)
MMR: (11:00)
Expired Heroes: (16:15)
Box Sales: (29:10)
THC Burn: (32:28)
Binance Hot Wallet: (56:18)
Discounted Box Sales: (59:17)
Player Count & Bots: (1:06:52)
Recommendations for Thetan Arena: (1:17:56)
BAYZ is the largest guild in Brazil and raised a $4m seed round led by YGG with the participation from Delphi, Bitkraft, Fabric and Arca. BAYZ’ co-founder Joao Borges is joined us to discuss:
• How to find the first 10-50 scholars?
• How content creators help improve blockchain gaming awareness?
• The details of the YGG partnership
• How BAYZ makes game and NFT investment decisions?
• The tradeoffs between social-focused guilds and profit-focused esports teams?
• Which blockchain games are most suited for esports?
...
Useful Resources:
DeFi Vader's Twitter - https://twitter.com/DeFiVader
Guild 101 - https://defivader.medium.com/yield-gu
The Era of Guilds - https://defivader.medium.com/the-era-
BAYZ Twitter - https://twitter.com/bayzgg
BAYZ Seed Round - https://medium.com/@bayzgg/bayz-close...
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7mgKa3Z
...
Intro: (0:00)
BAYZ: (0:30)
Mobile Esports: (1:15)
Scholar Count: (4:42)
Seed Round: (5:10)
Content Creators: (6:24)
First 50 Scholars: (8:13)
Influencer Channels: (13:55)
YGG Partnership: (14:48)
BAYZ Earnings Share & Team Structure: (17:22)
Internal Game Investment Team: (18:29)
Game Investment Due Diligence: (20:56)
NFT Investment Decision: (24:26)
Games Invested: (25:46)
Blockchain Gaming Esports: (27:15)
Value Add to Games: (29:50)
Esports Teams vs Guilds: (31:35)
Scholar Performance Management: (37:07)
Lifestyle Brand: (38:30)
Advice to Upcoming Guilds: (40:14)
BAYZ Roadmap: (41:25)
End: (44:00)
Blockchain Space is one of the most popular guild tool providers with almost 4k guilds using their core Discord bot product. They previously raised a private round led by Animoca and Spartan. Blockchain Space’s founder and CEO Peter Ing is joined to discuss: Â
• What the future of the guilds landscape looks like
• What the drawbacks are for asset-heavy guilds models
• What the appetite is for guild M&As
• Why there won’t be only 1 guild tool provider
• Why there will be different guilds in different jurisdictions
• Why Blockchain Space targets micro guilds
… Â
Intro: (0:00)
Background: (0:15)
Blockchain Space (14:20)
Asset-Heavy Guild Model (18:38)
Future of the Guilds Landscape (20:28)
Guild M&A (23:47)
Local Guilds (27:12)
Discord Bot (29:22)
Other Products (33:00)
Micro Guilds vs Macro Guilds (43:51)
Guild Tools (45:55)
Competition (48:27)
Roadmap: (53:29)
GuildFi is one of the largest guilds and recently raised an $140m through an IDO. GuildFi's founder and CEO Jarindr Thitadilaka is joined to discuss
• How GuildFi aims to become a base layer for all guilds
• How the Guild as a Service product works
• What criteria are considered when making new game NFT investments
• What are the plans to diversify their treasury
• The competitive landscape and international growth strategy
Useful Resources:
DeFi Vader's Twitter - https://twitter.com/DeFiVader
Guild 101 - https://defivader.medium.com/yield-gu...
The Era of Guilds - https://defivader.medium.com/the-era-...
GuildFi's Twitter - https://twitter.com/GuildFiGlobal
GuildFi's Litepaper - https://whitepaper.guildfi.com/
$140m fundraising - https://medium.com/guildfi/thank-you-to-all-our-contributors-now-whats-next-8bde1549496f
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7mgKa3Z...
Intro: (0:00)
Background: (0:43)
Guild 2.0: (4:37)
Guild as a Service: (11:45)
Players vs Scholars: (21:25)
Growth & Strategy: (25:47)
International Expansion:: (27:55)
NFT/Game Investments: (31:50)
Player Scoring: (36:40)
Launchpad: (38:27)
Treasury Diversification: (39:22)
Competition: (41:23)
Roadmap: (42:20)
Conclusion: (43:45)
Avocado Guild has almost 10k Axie scholars and recently raised an $18m Series A round led by Animoca and QCP. Avocado Guild's founder and CEO Brendon Wong is joined to discuss
• How Avocado Guild manages its community and scholars
• What criteria are considered when making new game NFT investments
• What criteria are considered when hiring, promoting new scholars
• Whether they plan to tokenize
• The competitive landscape
Useful Resources:
DeFi Vader
Guild 101
The Era of Guilds
Avocado Guild's Website