Why AI Won’t Rescue an Unplayable Web 3.0 Game

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AI in gaming is nothing new, but recent AI advancements provide numerous new ways to enhance games and their user experience – even if gamers themselves don’t particularly love it.

Whether leveraging AI to produce realistic enemy behavior and motion matching in ‘The Last of Us‘ or more accurately depicting real player skills and tactics with hyper-realistic animation in EA Sports’s ‘FC 2024,’ new AI use cases are subtly augmenting the majority of the gaming series we love.

It could go from what some veterans call a ‘necessary evil‘ to a feature that both players and developers value.

So, it’s no surprise that AI technology would also be applied to the world of Web 3.0 gaming – also commonly referred to as ‘blockchain’ or ‘NFT gaming.’

But can it be done in a way that doesn’t try to put digital duct tape over a messy game experience?

AI can play a (supporting) role in Web 3.0 gaming

When compared to the traditional gaming sector, Web 3.0 games are still infants, and like the broader crypto industry, have experienced their fair share of volatility.

The sector gained significant prominence during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, when many people were on unpaid leave, due to its introduction of play-to-win mechanics – with popular games like ‘Axie Infinity’ uniquely blending nostalgic gameplay with ownership of in-game NFT assets.

In attempts to replicate the success of ‘Axie’ and a few others, many new Web 3.0 gaming projects began launching.

However, it soon became clear most of these projects would fall short for one reason or another.

As the crypto industry imploded during the summer of 2022, Web 3.0 gaming and NFTs lost much of the little allure they had left, causing even the most popular games in the space to suffer by association.

This led to a steady decline in users, value and venture capital, forcing three out of every four games to shutter.

Without the cover and easy money of a bull market, the industry’s structural flaws and long-term sustainability became glaringly apparent.

Fair or unfair, critiques of first-generation Web 3.0 games were harsh – they are boring, lack compelling storylines, focus too much on the in-game economy and employ ‘pay-to-win’ mechanics.

Web 3.0 gaming’s main focus should be on correcting this narrative.

As Bitcoin settles at over $60,000 while the wider crypto industry continues its comeback almost two years after…