The article was first published on June 9, 2022.

This year, Vietnam has proven itself to be the most promising land for Web3 startups in Southeast Asia. In a listicle recently published by e27, we covered 21 Web3 companies operating in the country –and we are certain that these companies will not be the last.

This time, we would like to spotlight Iron Sail, a collective effort to contribute to the development of the blockchain gaming space.

Launched in October 2021, Iron Sail results from a partnership between blockchain-based game hub Whydah and seven local gaming studios: Topebox, Wolffun Game, IMBA Game, Hiker Games, Divmob, 1B Game Studio, and KEIG Studio.

As a GameFi Hub, Iron Sail serves as the gateway to the metaverse by investing in promising GameFi projects. Its goal is to move toward an open metaverse where “everyone and everything is connected”, both online and offline. The project also aims to make blockchain game development more accessible and sustainable.

An example of a project that it is running includes Ark Rivals, an epic sci-fi action strategy NFT game. Having completed its Alpha launch in January, it saw 80,000 prospective players vying for 1,000 open slots. A month later, Iron Sail launched an initial exchange offering (IEO) and an initial decentralised exchange offering (IDO) for Ark Rivals. The project itself launched its Mainnet on April 26.

There is also another project called Raramuri, which is claimed to be the first marathon in the metaverse. Incubated by Whydah, it combines KardiaChain’s state-of-the-art technologies to provide an outstanding experience for runners.

The team behind Iron Sail had been strongly involved in the local GameFi ecosystem last year. Examples of the projects that it had been involved in included the launch of My DeFi Pet in April 2021. The game became the most played game in just three months and the second most used Dapp on the Binance Smart Chain. It had also launched Thetan Arena in September 2021, whose user base surpassed Axie Infinity’s as the largest one in the industry by December of the same year.

Also Read: Demystifying NFTs and DeFi

Working together for the ecosystem

How did the partnership between Whydah and the game studios come to be? In an email interview with e27, Iron Sail Founder Tri Pham explains that following the success of My Defi Pet in 2021, many game studios turned to Whydah for advice and investment opportunities. They view Whydah as an institution that can offer in-depth partnerships with expertise in blockchain tech integration to create long-term value.

“By leveraging Whydah’s know-how in smart contracts, tokenomics, metrics design, and community development, game studios can focus entirely on game making instead of stretching their resources thin trying to tackle unfamiliar fields,” he explains.

The founder details the collaboration between the game studies and the blockchain solutions providers to empower the community along with these values: Respect the games, build a sustainable community, and give investor value.

So, what is the common challenge in blockchain gaming that the partnership aims to solve?

“Blockchain is a relatively new technology, even to global firms. Hence, it is challenging to implement blockchain into the core gameplay while operating the token economy system,” says Tri Pham. “Although blockchain is the best tool for players to keep track of their actions, assets, and trading activities for value, improper application of the technology may impair the overall in-game experience – from game lags to additional steps required to complete game activities.”

This is where Whydah’s expertise comes in, as it provides and advises on blockchain integration for this transformation of traditional businesses –in this context, the video game studios.

” … we help studios to deploy their games on different blockchain platforms to keep the games functioning normally while simultaneously providing the ability to have on-chain
records of all gamers’ actions. By reframing ‘crypto activities’ and including them as part of the gameplay, Iron Sail also introduces crypto investment concepts to newcomers and spices up the experience for hardcore gamers at the same time,” Tri Pham explains.

Also Read: Coins.Ph Co-Founder Ron Hose’s new NFT rental marketplace Playdex nets US$2M

In terms of customer acquisition strategy, how does Iron Sail aim to do things differently?

“We aim to acquire users through game genre diversification and a hybrid player base. We gather crypto players, via token incentives, as well as traditional gamers, via a freemium model. As Iron Sail is the collective effort of seven studios, each project will have its own unique value proposition. Each studio, and the game, will focus on its strengths in specific categories, rather than follow the market trends,” the founder explains.

“From Iron Sail’s perspective, we will acquire potential users and investors through various marketing strategies. This involves pushing social engagement on multiple channels to form sustainable communities with mutual goals and leveraging business with quality partnerships. Above all, we prioritise the quality of the game – it will have to speak for itself, and players will be the judge of that.”

Blockchain gaming in the future

With collaborations such as Iron Sail emerging in the ecosystem, one would certainly wonder about the future of this industry, starting with the next five years. When sharing his vision about it, Tri Pham highlights the role that blockchain technology will play.

“Blockchain has the potential to be the next pillar of technological advancement in the next five years, and the metaverse will open a new era of human interactions in the digital age. As a pioneer, Whydah and the Iron Sail project will seize the opportunity to scale up the open metaverse, starting with GameFi, and later SocialFi, before expanding across other realms,” he says.

“We strongly believe that GameFi is likely to be a strong foundational building block for developing the open metaverse based on its innate interactiveness and gamification. By developing a sustainable GameFi ecosystem such as Iron Sail and a healthy investment environment such as Whydah’s ecosystem, we lay down a functional framework for a true metaverse to be built upon.”

Also Read: A beginner’s guide into the world of NFTs

The founder is a firm believer in the possibility for the metaverse to continue expanding its use cases.

“Looking ahead, the metaverse could then branch out to other sectors such as education, entertainment, or any other e-activities that one can dream of. We believe that demonstrating what users can do in the metaverse will trigger a deeper sense of intrigue to encourage greater exploration,” he closes.

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Image Credit: Iron Sail

The post All hands on deck: How Iron Sail strengthens blockchain gaming ecosystem through collaboration appeared first on e27.

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