3XP Gaming Expo - Event highlights

The web3 gaming space truly needed you, 3XP. Gg!!

Major web3 conventions drew thousands of enthusiasts these past few years, but now games finally have their own dedicated conference— a conference that feels like the start of something special.

Attending 3XP to showcase, discuss, learn, and exchange all things web3 gaming made us realize how much the industry has evolved. Developers, content creators, investors, journalists, and players all acknowledged that while most games are still in the development or polishing phases, major advancements have been made around user experience, with a particular focus on gameplay and overall entertainment (and luckily so!).

But what actually went down on June 8-9 at 3XP, the first-ever web3 gaming expo? Here is our recap!

1. Two stages, 130+ speakers

The variety of speakers and brands talking and inspiring the audience on stage was huge. Game developers, infrastructure builders, investors, content creators, DAOs, and many others shared their views on the present and future of the space in over 40 talks.

Both high-level and technical topics were addressed: game design, game financing, the role of ownership and trading, security, Zero-Knowledge Proofs, and scalability were the main themes.

On the Sequence side, our CEO Peter Kieltyka joined the panel “Choosing the Right Infrastructure for Your Game” together with representatives from Google Cloud, Consensys Mesh, Stardust, and Mysten Labs. The session addressed the main differences between building web2 games vs web3 games, the opportunities for new player experiences that web3 unlocks, the development dilemmas game studios face when thinking about web3 integration, and if they should do a light integration or move everything on-chain.

Michael Sanders, our Co-Founder and Chief Storyteller, also spoke on the main stage, where he outlined the challenges for game developers wishing to explore web3, and the tools needed to build seamless player experiences. The solutions available to builders have in fact evolved rapidly, making the development effort now less painful and less costly.

Overall, speakers shared great expectations about what’s to come this year, and in 2024, as more development tools and financing options become available to game studios. Optimism in the industry’s future remains high.

2. Esports battles all day long

One of the other major highlights of the event was definitely the Esports Arena.

The Arena stage hosted live tournaments with pros and content creators of the caliber of Meteos, Brycent, CryptoStache, YellowPanther, Iceyyy competing throughout the two days on titles such as Skyweaver, Champions Ascension,Wildcard, Shrapnel, Aurory, and My Pet Hooligan.

More than 500,000 viewers watched the Twitch streams! We anticipate more esports teams will start competing in web3 titles in the coming months!

One of the main after parties was also organized by the esports team Faze Clan in their Hollywood headquarters, which made some waves among the community at the venue and got crowded in no time.

3. Exhibit area and game showcases

The exhibit area saw more than 25 studios, networks, and service providers showcasing their titles and solutions. The floor was buzzing with opportunity and fun activities (tugs of war are back in fashion?).

The quality of games at 3XP was awesome, and it’s evident we’ve entered the second generation of web3 games. The first generation saw titles that needed to think about and solve for the tech, whether wallet set up, ensuring security, or accounting for gas fees and scalability issues due to L1 limitations. They also suffered from an overemphasis on tokenomics, Play-to-Earn models, and NFT drops. This, of course, helped in boosting initial user growth and financing, while favoring early investors, but at the expense of long-term sustainability. Generation 1 titles were simply gamified finance experiments, rather than actual fun games. The second generation of web3 games, which are now in development, can benefit from developer platforms like Sequence, and builders can focus entirely on making a great game without needing to worry about the technical challenges of integrating web3. Game studios are also much more careful in launching utility-less digital collections and are seeking to design fun and sustainable models to integrate digital collectibles into player experiences, rather than the other way around.

The atmosphere at the Sequence booth was great throughout the conference, and it was awesome to meet so many of you! We were excited to not only showcase Skyweaver (which was also streamed in the Esports Arena) but three other games that have been built using Sequence.

Hunters On-Chain by BoomLand

Hunters On-Chain is the web3 adaptation of the immensely popular mobile game Hunt Royale. It’s an action-packed RPG with a free-to-play model where players engage in thrilling competitions against other players and the game environment itself. Players who demoed Hunters On-Chain during 3XP were raving, so they’ll be pleased to know that the game’s highly anticipated mainnet release is rumored to be imminent ;)

Sunflower Land by Thought Farm

Sunflower Land is a delightful farming game that has captured the affection of hundreds of thousands of players with its endearing aesthetics, strategic components, and lively community. In Sunflower Land, the objective is to expand your farming empire, create rare game assets, nurture your adorable Bumpkin companion, and adorn your island with charming decorations. Attendees at 3XP highlighted the game’s extreme intuitiveness and fun and we had a few people come back over and over to keep playing.

Defimons by Mon Studios

Defimons is an expansive multiplayer adventure game centered around collecting creatures. It offers players an immersive storyline, strategic turn-based combat, engaging minigames, RPG elements, and a host of other exciting features. The players we spoke with all commented on how strategic the combat system was, with more than one argument about which monster was the coolest breaking out!

Final Thoughts about 3XP

To us, 3XP was a monumental moment for web3 gaming. We finally feel the industry has its own high-caliber conference, and it reminds us of the magic of early GDCs and E3s.

Game developers, studios, infrastructure builders, players, influencers, content creators, journalists, and ecosystem partners were all present and enthusiastic. Everyone was serious and passionate about web3 playing a significant role in the future of games. We also saw a lot more game developers from traditional, big game studios and groups like AWS and Google Cloud making web3 pushes.

From the conversations we had, there is a balanced perspective between the amazing opportunities ahead, coupled with what the industry needs to break through. Investments in web3 gaming continue, and there are a ton of amazing titles in the pipeline. Equipping developers with the right tools to build and scale new web3 experiences will be key, and we look forward once again to pioneering and sharing solutions that will help the ecosystem evolve.

Big kudos to the entire 3XP team and everyone who attended for creating such an amazing event! We’re excited for 3XP 2024 :)