Players are increasingly demanding greater playability and interactions that allow them to truly enjoy the Web3 games they play. Unlike the previous wave of GameFi projects, which primarily focused on play-to-earn features over the gaming experience, the new generation of blockchain-inspired games costs at least seven to eight figures and spends years in production before hitting the market.

This trend is highlighted by Yezi, chief operating officer of Korean gaming studio Seraph. “We have spent over $10 million on development costs,” she told Cointelegraph about the firm’s upcoming Arbitrum dark fantasy ARPG, Seraph: In the Darkness. “Initially, our project was self-funded and self-developed. Only recently did we start our first external fundraising round, which has already been completed, and an official announcement will be made soon.”

Yezi believes that Web3 blockchain games hold significant advantages over their Web2 counterparts. “Web3 games encourage a greater sense of co-creation and promotion among players,” she commented. “The interaction between Web2 and Web3 players creates a unique chemistry that energizes market transactions and attracts more participants.”

However, Yezi also emphasized the need for newer GameFi projects to provide a better gaming experience while maintaining quality tokenomics. “Gamers are no longer satisfied with simple profit-calculating models like those in previous games such as Axie Infinity and StepN,” she stated.

“Over 60,000 players participated, with more than 30,000 owning advanced game characters and over 10,000 users making purchases. During this test phase, we achieved fiat revenues of $3 million, and we were able to allocate over $1 million for token buybacks according to the clause of our white paper.”

Seraph: In The Darkness game intro. Source: Steam

“This test phase preliminarily achieved the payment and conversion of traditional users to the Web3 domain, especially through veteran players’ livestreams,” Yezi continued. The game is slated for launch later this year, offering both a free-to-play version and a paid version, should players wish to engage in trading and monetization.

Currently, the floor price of non-fungible token (NFT) equipment is 0.2 Ether, and there is a $50 entry fee to access the in-game transactions market. “Seraph Studio does not have plans to release any other games at the moment. However, our in-house developed custodial wallet, ActPass, will become a gaming asset issuance platform in the near future, launching more quality games through investments or collaborations,” Yezi concluded.

Last month, Cointelegraph reported that Web2 players often spend hundreds or even thousands on in-game purchases that are supposedly theirs to keep but frequently end up with nothing that lasts. Blockchain operability has at least partially solved this problem by allowing players to buy, sell, and own their immutable in-game assets.