Web3 and blockchain technology are becoming more and more prominent, and companies in the technology sector are eager to carve out a place in the new frontier.

Mobile games are no different. Companies are harnessing the power of technology to create new experiences for players, whether it’s giving them the opportunity to earn money while they play or simply offering new mechanics.

We spoke with Superfine CEO Christian Calderón about how Web3 is impacting the mobile gaming space.

Pocketgamer.biz: First of all, can you introduce yourself and your history with the mobile space as well as Superfine?

I have had the privilege of working with and learning from some amazing teams over the years. Together we have created and released some amazing games.

First as an executive at KIXEYE (acquired by Stillfront), where we created games like Backyard Monsters, which was an early inspiration for Clash of Clans, then at Dots (acquired by Take-two), where I released the game Two Dots, and then at Ketchapp (acquired by Ubisoft), where I worked on a lot of games like 2048, Stack and others.

In 2019 we started Gamejam, achieved over 250 million downloads and became one of the leading mobile game publishers. Today, we’ve rebranded to Superfine, with a new focus and a bold mission in Web3: we want to multiply the Web3 gaming market 1000x.

Preservation has been a running theme in the gaming industry, with console generations leading to the loss of games, the death of online stores (and Flash-era websites) erasing parts of game history. games and even the march forward of the phone operating system forcing developers to keep older games or see them removed from the list. How do we create an accessible and secure platform that avoids this concern?

Immutability is one of the most important features of blockchain technology to ensure that the network is permanent and immutable. While it’s still early days, the blockchain provides an opportunity for the preservation of our games. With new infrastructure we can get there.

There will be bumps on the road to decentralization, and we’re all a bit unsure how this tech revolution will play out, but I think the winners of the infrastructure race will value ecosystem development over politics and corporate greed.

One of the many reasons cited why Flash Player was eventually removed was security; With Web3/Blockchain playing so heavily on issues like scarcity (via limited run NFTS) of digital assets, what kind of considerations do you take into account when selecting your partners for a project like this?

For web3 game studios, the task of selecting partners is incredibly important. With so many opportunities in such a new space, there is an explosion of companies ready to partner with you.
For us, when we select partners, we look at their track record in the industry, the team, and of course the product.

Hypercasual has been one of the interesting developments in the mobile gaming space for some time, and one of the most interesting things is that 99.99% of the users who play those games are unaware of that general term that is used to describe the mechanics. In many places, including Pocket Gamer, it’s often referred to as a genre, while it’s actually something of a fusion of style, attitude towards mechanics, and monetization.

How did you find working in the hypercasual space compared to your previous engagements?

When we started making these games, most game developers didn’t think of them as games, and to me, this marked the beginning of the wave of contemporary mobile game design: games that transcend the boundaries between what we consider to be a game and what we consider to be. which is not traditionally considered a game. At first, it was mostly about art, feel and emotion. Then, as it became more competitive, the industry transitioned to whoever could come up with the best combination of features, mechanics, styles, themes, in a game iterated quickly, but meticulously, to arrive at the perfect ROAS.

Expanding on the last question; Hypercasual is a term and category that exists regardless of whether end users know its name. Blockchain and Web3 technology came with an explosion of terms that were not widely known outside of the tech industry. How much do you think the ‘language’ of a technology plays in mass adoption?

I don’t want to downplay embedding in Web3, but it’s important to note that Web3 benefits from an existing Internet adoption curve that has been building since the 1960s. It wasn’t until the late 1990s that we had ways easier to use for the public to use the Internet, which started the growth in adoption. Similar to what we did in the ’90s with the Internet, we’re doing it today with Web3, making it easier to use.

Mass adoption of Web3 gaming will also need to be driven by focusing on how it benefits players, rather than the technology used to enable those benefits. Focusing on the technical side is a bit like running a UA campaign for a mobile game that focuses on the fact that it’s made with Unity. Users won’t convert based on that, they will continue to convert based on how much fun they think the game is for them.

Arguably we are at a major junction in a technological revolution. How do you see the role of Web3, Blockchain and decentralization technology in gaming in the coming years, and are there any new emerging technologies that you are excited about?

Blockchain solves many problems, but most importantly it allows us to do things we couldn’t do before. It is also very exciting to think about combining blockchain with other emerging technologies such as cloud computing, machine learning, and AI.

Decentralization will play an increasingly important role in gaming over the next few years, not just for the game assets themselves, but for most game components such as production, investment, publishing, localization. and design. There are multiple paths to decentralization for our industry across the entire value chain.

The next few years will be a time of experimentation and iteration to build a bridge between these use cases and mass adoption.

Where do you see mobile gaming in the next 10 years?

One thing is for sure, we are in for a wild ride. There are some fundamental changes underway that will play out over the next 10 years. As an industry, if we do our job right, the next 100 million gamers who participate in web3 won’t even know they’ve done it, but they’ll benefit from the awesomeness it enables.

We are also likely to see changes in the audience for mobile games. We will see the Roblox generation grow to have disposable income and the authority to spend it. We will also see an older generation that has been playing for over 15 years, ready for more complex mechanics and business models.

On the marketing side, I think we are likely to see an evolution in how we acquire, interact with, and understand our player base, driven by machine learning and pseudonymous identifiers like blockchain wallets. This in particular is what we at Superfine are focusing on and we are excited to play our part in the bright future of mobile gaming.