New governance and utility token allows players to buy, vote, and craft NFTs
Immutable has announced GODS, a governance token for their trading card game Gods Unchained. GODS holders will have voting power, or they can use it to buy card packs and create NFTs.
The GODS token for Gods Unchained will be completely integrated into the game systems of the trading card game. For example, players who stake their GODS tokens can boost their game rewards. The other way around, active players can boost their staking rewards as well.
So far Immutable has only announced the GODS token. A litepaper explaining the tokenomics more in-depth is still missing.
Gods Unchained has been around for a few years already, and launched its first expansion earlier this year. More importantly, game studio Immutable created their own layer-2 blockchain solution called Immutable X. Players can now trade and buy NFTs for Gods Unchained, without having to deal with gas fees.
Immutable X quickly explained
Immutable X is a technical solution to make trading in NFTs cheaper and easier for users. It’s a layer-2 solution on top of the Ethereum blockchain. All trading happens on the Immutable X layer, but its finality is secured by Ethereum. This makes Immutable X different from sidechain solutions like Polygon.
Development studio Immutable didn’t make the layer-2 solution only for their trading card game. They are adding more projects to the mix as well. The upcoming mobile action role playing game Guild of Guardians will use Immutable X, while the open-world action game War Riders will join as well.
NFT trading needs low fees
NFTs had their mainstream breakthrough this year. Mike Winkelmann, better known as Beeple, sold an NFT for $69 million. We’ve already recorded some land sales in virtual worlds around $1 million. Celebrities like Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Snoop Dogg and Steve Aoki have all sold NFTs for thousands of dollars, possibly millions. These sales make for amazing stories, but these aren’t everyday use cases of NFTs. These digital assets on the blockchain can be items in games, contracts between people, and so on.
Gamers who want to send a $2 game item to their friend, shouldn’t need to pay $3 in transaction fees. That’s the problem Ethereum has been dealing with this year. That’s also the reason why gaming projects like Ember Sword and Aavegotchi moved to Polygon. Gas fees on Polygon cost just a fraction of the fees we pay on Ethereum. Binance Smart Chain has a similar story. However, the alternative blockchains aren’t secured by the Ethereum blockchain, sacrificing its decentralization and security in favor of speed and user experience.
Currently the most popular blockchain games are active on blockchain solutions without gas fees. Alien Worlds on the Wax blockchain, Axie Infinity on their native Ronin sidechain, and Upland on the EOS blockchain.
