The App Store and Bitcoin have had a bit of an odd history, as Apple has both blocked and allowed various Bitcoin apps over the years. There’s Bitcoin Billionaire (Free) which has almost nothing to do with Bitcoins and then there’s games which tip you in actual Bitcoin to play them because… Reasons? Well, the next Bitcoin-y thing to hit the App Store is Spells of Genesis, which is a collectable card game with arcade elements that uses Bitcoin’s blockchain technology to power the whole in-game economy.
The game’s web site explains it better than I ever could, but essentially by using the blockchain they’re able to totally restructure how digital card systems work. In Hearthstone (Free), for instance, saying you “own" your cards is pretty generous. They’re locked to your account, and the only thing you can do with them is either play with them or disenchant them to craft other cards. In Spells of Genesis, your cards and the in-game currency exist on the blockchain. This means you’re free to do whatever you want with them, including trading or selling them completely independent of anything to do with the game itself.
It’s an interesting solution to the “problem" (using some pretty exaggerated air quotes there) in most/all digital games in that the things you have are exclusively trapped inside of those in-game economies and you often can’t trade or sell those digital goods even if you wanted to. What’s going to be interesting with Spells of Genesis is whether or not the game will hit the critical mass it needs for this economy system to even matter.
You can have the most innovative and open in-game economy ever, but a vibrant playerbase is going to be what gives that economy any kind of value. The free to play market is a brutal one, and not particularly kind to those looking to disrupt the status quo of Clash of Clans clones with aggressive user acquisition plans. Regardless, I’m always excited for someone trying something new, as it’ll be fun to watch from the sidelines.
For more information on Spells of Genesis please do check out their web site, they get pretty in-depth with how all the economy stuff works which will likely make a lot of sense to you if you’re already familiar with the world of Bitcoin. Oh, and of course, there’s a thread on our forums.
