The Emergence of a Videogame Production Sector on the Blockchain

Description

The blockchain has been hyped to constitute a major disruptive technology in the nearfuture, and will have major impact on several industries. Described as a distributed,immutable and incremental record of transactions into chained blocks, it emerged in theaftermath of the 2008 financial crisis as a protocol of peer-to-peer transactions aimedat counterbalancing the opaque, centralized and intermediated financial system(Nakamoto 2008). The blockchain is the technology that supports the creation andoperation of cryptocurrencies - i.e. encrypted digital currencies -, such asbitcoin. However, its potentialities reach well beyond the financial sector.The obvious advantages of the blockchain are traceability, authentication of ownershipand direct, truly peer-to-peer exchanges (removing transaction costs). Associated with‘smart contracts’ which record and enforce agreements, its possibilities extend to proofof-concept, proof-of-work, simultaneity of purchase and transfer of ownership, shorterdistance between authors/creators and users/consumers, projects and investors.This project addresses the processes of emergence of videogame production using theblockchain. The videogame sector is touted to become one of the major fields ofexperimentation of the blockchain. Innovative technologies, cross-gaming, blurredboundaries between virtual and real world and new forms of exchanges are alreadybeing tested. This sector will probably contribute to the adoption of blockchain andcryptocurrencies by the general public via a spillover effect. However, its actualemergence hasn’t been thoroughly investigated yet. Our research is based on theproposition that blockchain technology is reconfiguring game development and that ananalysis of the processes underlying such reconfiguration is timely. Our main researchquestion – how is blockchain reconfiguring game development? - will be broken downinto the following questions: what are the constitutive elements of game production onthe blockchain? What are the obstacles and opportunities opened up by the blockchainfor game production and how have these materialized so far? What are the connectionsbetween this emergent sector and its environment?To study this emergent subject in context, we will use a critical realist framework, whichdistinguishes between co-constitutive and non-constitutive relations in a situatedprocess. Our methodology will consist in an exploratory case study of games existing onthe blockchain or in an advanced development phase. It will be informed by semidirected,open-ended interviews, and technography based on specialized sources ofinformation and interaction on the blockchain and videogames. The currentexperimentations of blockchain gaming will provide valuable insights on thepotentialities of blockchain technology in the field of videogame production.