Web3 gaming is on the rise, and Mythical Games is one of the companies leading the charge. With titles like Blankos Block Party, NFL Rivals, and Nitro Nation World Tour, it is amassing more users each week, becoming a force to be reckoned with in this nascent industry.
Rarity Sniper had the opportunity to interview Jonathan Goodwin, a community lead for NFL Rivals, about the accomplishments of the company, the challenges facing Web3 gaming, where the next boom in the industry will occur, and more.
Enjoy.
Hi, thank you for agreeing to participate in this interview. Could you introduce yourself and the role you play at Mythical Games?
I’m Jonathan Goodwin, the community lead on NFL Rivals. I handle all gamer-facing comms for the game and support our product team in figuring out what to build next for our amazing community and gamers.
Could you catch us up on what’s been happening at Mythical? We know NFL Rivals is performing well. You launched Nitro Nation World Tour and are debuting the mobile version of Blankos Block Party. Very exciting times.
Yeah, we’re hitting amazing benchmarks with NFL Rivals: we’re close to 3 million downloads, retention is above industry averages, and our revenue goals are on track. We also just launched Nitro Nation World Tour, an awesome mobile racing game, with a ton of downloads and we’re seeing a lot of interest in our coming Blankos Mobile launch. We’re so excited about what’s next with all three titles and everything else we’re developing.
Your company has had a lot of success bridging the Web2-Web3 gamer gap. Is there a particular way you go about designing games to appeal to both demographics?
What’s core to both of those personas? They’re gamers! So we really focus on making the games as great as they can be, and the game economies naturally fall into place around them. We tuck the blockchain tech underneath the game so no one needs to worry about gas fees, connecting their wallets, or getting scammed by a random bad actor on the internet. What’s also resonating is the feeling of ownership blockchain tech provides. Our gamers feel real ownership for their game items, and are reaping the rewards of that ownership.
In your opinion, what are the largest challenges facing the adoption of Web3 games and how can the industry work to overcome them?
The biggest challenges are basically the same ones facing the whole gaming industry: building great games at an affordable cost and getting the game in front of the right community of players. As long as web3 games build for an open-ended economy and make the players’ use of the blockchain technology seamless, they won’t face any unique challenges versus traditional gaming.
Play-to-Earn seems to be faded a little bit as a meta. What can we learn from that meta, and how can we improve on it to make the next generation of games better?
Blatant Play-to-Earn gaming continually tends to rely on new people entering the game economy, and usually, you wind up with people treating the game like it’s real income to pay the bills rather than a fun game that kicks out some money here and there. When that happens, the game developer must routinely tweak the economy to stay a step ahead of the ruthless optimizers who will farm out any and all gains to be found. Web3 games need to make collecting the game pieces and playing the actual game fun, rather than letting someone turn it into a job.
Where in the world do you suspect we’ll see the next innovation in Web3 gaming and why?
I expect Japan or UAE to be the next big hub for web3 gaming. The culture around gaming is historically rich and resilient, and their governments are rapidly producing rational frameworks for the use of blockchains and NFTs and giving guidance to industries on how to incorporate these technologies.
When it comes to technology, how are you using NFTs in your games currently and do you have any ideas about how they will be used in games in the future?
We use NFTs to secure our in-game items so players can safely buy and sell them from each other. With NFL Rivals, our limited edition player cards are backed by NFTs, and the Nitro Nation workshops and car skins are also backed by NFTs. It’s not hard to imagine companies experimenting with NFT-backed season passes that make certain rewards or advanced progression an exclusive commodity that players will bid against each other to obtain.
Recently, the Mythos blockchain ranked #3 in total NFT sales volume for the month, which is a big win for you and Web3 gaming. How has using your own blockchain and the MYTH token benefitted your games?
The Mythos blockchain is semi-permissioned, which means no one can write on it without getting (our/the DAO’s) approvals. We did this to protect our players from the risk of scams, which we believe went a long way in earning their trust and also leading Apple and Google to work with us and feature us on their mobile storefronts with NFL Rivals.
A bit of creative imagining. When you picture the Web3 gaming environment in the next three years, what would you like to see and why?
I have been beating the drum on interoperability in web3 gaming for years. It’s the secret unlock that can drastically change how game marketing is done. Instead of spending a ton on ads for each player, you could target players that hold certain NFTs and give them an in-game item or benefit, just for holding a Cool Cat or a player card from NFL Rivals. It’s really the game-changer I want to see most.
Thank you so much for your time. Is there anything else you’d like to add?
I’m so proud to be a part of the groundbreaking team at Mythical. We have great stuff in store with NFL Rivals, and I truly can’t wait to see what we come up with next!
Where can our readers find you?
I’m @imtalljonathan on TwiX, but you should really follow @PlayNFLRivals if you want more fun!