Sexy Narrative Pilgrimage: AI+ Games
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Sexy Narrative Pilgrimage: AI+ Games
AI + gaming is a compelling narrative, with AI development being an inevitable trend, and gaming being one of the key application areas in the Web3 industry.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: Sleeping Heavily in the Rain
From my perspective, there are essentially two ways to approach the convergence of Crypto and AI:
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What can crypto do for the AI industry?
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How can the AI industry empower crypto?
I’ll write another article later about AI+ computing (computational power). Today, I’d like to focus on a sub-sector under the “AI+ applications” theme: AI + gaming.
Currently, the largest AI gaming project by market cap is likely $PRIME. Parallel is a sci-fi themed card game similar to Hearthstone (this game itself isn't AI-related and is deployed on Base). In the future, the team plans to launch another mobile game called Colony, which emphasizes two concepts: Solana + AI Agent. A mobile-based AI game layered with Solana (mobile) integration—possibly significant.
Previously, Parallel completed two funding rounds: the first led by Paradigm raised $50 million, and the second raised $35 million, with participation from Solana Ventures.
In addition, the AI protocol Wayfinder launched by Parallel is also worth watching.
Another AI gaming project backed by Paradigm is AI Arena (co-led by Paradigm and Framework Ventures, raising $11 million).
AI Arena is a PvP fighting game. Simply put, players train their own AI characters to battle in the game. The gameplay resembles Nintendo’s "Super Smash Bros."
One interesting aspect is that AI Arena aims to enhance players’ AI literacy through gamification. Additionally, AI Arena places strong emphasis on player-created NFT assets (AI training data), aiming to build an IP asset marketplace and facilitate a two-sided market.
Currently, you can visit the official website and complete social tasks to earn points: https://hub.aiarena.io/ref/284ZA79Y
There are two other AI + gaming projects associated with Binance (BN). The first is Xterio, which raised $45 million and launched an AI pet game. The second is Ultiverse, which raised $13.5 million and introduced the Bodhi Protocol. Bodhi Protocol leverages large language models and Stable Diffusion to generate various in-game content.
However, both have been overhyping for too long—I'm somewhat turned off by these two projects.
For more details, check out Mint Ventures' overview: "Project Spotlight: Ultiverse, the AI + Gaming Project Backed by Top-Tier Institutions": https://mirror.xyz/mintventures.eth/-c9ZT6hvE7taPk4lcmhNnD2rE1jif9WjKIjjRmCJWEs
Both Xterio and Ultiverse fall into the category of platform infrastructure protocols. We can think of them as game publishing platforms. Xterio has released one AI game, while Ultiverse provides foundational infrastructure for AI game developers to build upon. In this sense, Ultiverse holds greater potential than Xterio.
Another infrastructure-level AI gaming protocol is $NIM, the first child chain of $DYM Staker. $NIM is a RollApp built on Dymension, using EVM as its execution environment, Celestia for data availability (DA), and Dymension for settlement. While not explicitly stated, my understanding is that it aims to provide AI infrastructure services to make life easier for AI game developers. Currently, NIM Network has launched an AI Game Alliance, with protocols such as Avail and Ocean Protocol already confirmed as members.
From a macro perspective, AI + gaming is a highly compelling narrative. Advancing AI is an inevitable trend, and gaming remains one of the key application areas in Web3. It's certain that more projects like those mentioned above will emerge in this space—or existing projects will attempt to rebrand themselves under this narrative.
So how do you profit?
Participate early in free point-grabbing campaigns or buy into expectations (for example, $PRIME is expected to launch the Colony Alpha version in Q4 2024 or Q1 2025). When it comes to token speculation in AI gaming, I’m only considering $PRIME and Avatar (NFTs).
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雨中狂睡Sleeping in the Rain
