Blockchain technology isn’t even close to being compatible with the power required to run high-quality video games, despite pushes by game studios to engage in the space.
(Bloomberg) — Blockchain technology isn’t even close to being compatible with the power required to run high-quality video games, despite pushes by game studios to engage in the space.
That’s according to Colleen Sullivan, co-head of ventures at hedge fund Brevan Howard Asset Management’s crypto-focused division. She noted how major public blockchains like Solana can only complete around 2,000 user-generated transactions per second — a far cry from what’s needed to get a popular mobile game running on-chain, let alone an AAA-rated title.
“That’s still a fraction of what it would take to put a game like Monopoly GO, its game logic and game state fully on-chain,” said Sullivan, speaking on a panel at the Mainnet conference in New York on Thursday.
Gaming studios like Assassin’s Creed maker Ubisoft and Final Fantasy publisher Square Enix sought to position themselves as at the forefront of blockchain adoption for major game titles when crypto prices peaked in 2021, despite widespread backlash from staff and users.
That appetite later cooled as the broader market for digital assets floundered, with companies like Sonic the Hedgehog’s Sega this year abandoning plans to develop blockchain-based games.
Read more: Crypto Speculation Falls Out of Favor With Game Studios
Brevan Howard Digital previously co-led a $40 million funding round for Horizon Blockchain Games in October. Sullivan said she was convinced blockchain networks would evolve to be able to support larger games in the future, but that it may take several years to develop.
“It’s like internet bandwidth. You and I couldn’t stream Netflix in 1995 but by the mid-2000s, it was there,” she said. “It’s inevitable that public blockchains will do more than what Scopely [Monopoly GO’s creator] needs, but not today.”
(Corrects story to remove photo with incorrect caption.)
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