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Scuti and Reality Gaming Group have teamed up to deliver a nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace through Scuti’s gCommerce platform. That enables game developers and publishers to sell their own NFTs inside the stores in their games.
The new NFT feature is an addition to Scuti‘s platform, which helps gamers earn rewards while playing games and then use those rewards to buy real-world goods from a store embedded inside the game.
Scuti’s founders believe that monetization is broken in games as they say it annoys gamers. The popular forms of monetization in games today will slow players down by forcing them to grind. It puts paywalls in front of them, makes them watch video ads they don’t care about, or fools them into buying goods that don’t really have much value.
Game developers add the Scuti button to a game and then let Scuti handle the rest. It runs the store, purchasing, supply chain management, fulfillment, data, analytics, upselling, merchandising, promotions, and more. Players can hit the Scuti button and spend what they earn in-game on real-world merchandise, like a pair of shoes for gamers. Scuti shows them the stuff that the people say they like.
Scuti creates a button in a corner of the game lobby or main menu, and it is passive so that it doesn’t consume resources during gameplay. Players must opt-in to access the store and rewards, which it’s dubbed “Scutis.” The gamer can shop and stay inside the game’s lobby or main menu while doing so. The ads within the store are compliant with the Internet Advertising Bureau.
The NFT craze
Above: Scuti puts a whole real-world e-commerce store in a game.
Image Credit: Scuti
Now the company has jumped on the NFT bandwagon to allow game developers and publishers to tap directly into huge consumer demand for NFTs through the Scuti ‘gCommerce’ SDK, giving players the ability to own, sell and trade digital assets. NFTs have exploded in other applications such as art, sports collectibles, and music. NBA Top Shot (a digital take on collectible basketball cards) is one example. Built by Dapper Labs, NBA Top Shot has surpassed $540 million in sales, just six months after going public. And an NFT digital collage by the artist Beeple sold at Christie’s for $69.3 million. Gaming has a couple of new unicorns, or startups valued at $1 billion, in Animoca Brands and Forte. NFTs are now selling at a rate of $247.8 million a month, though the initial hype around NFTs is dying down.
As the world’s first gCommerce platform, Scuti offers a seamless player experience and the potential for all game makers to tap into new markets (gCommerce and NFTs) through one software development kit (SDK) designed to monetize and improve every player’s experience.
The partnership with RGG will see Scuti-enabled games reach new heights, optimizing player engagement and retention through the deployment of bespoke NFT marketplaces, the companies said.
These marketplaces, powered by RGG’s Digital Asset Trading (DAT) Platform, will enable players to buy in-game assets with full, true digital ownership, all without ever leaving their games, thanks to the power of the blockchain.
Helping game devs
Above: Scuti lets gamers buy from inside a game.
Image Credit: Scuti
Tony Pearce, cofounder of Reality Gaming Group, said in a statement that the partnership with Scuti is the start of a wider shift for the games market. He said Scuti’s unique position as an in-lobby, cross-platform marketplace is suited to take advantage of blockchain technology, where will we see ecommerce, real-world items, and tokenized, in-game assets begin to interact with each other like never before.
Nicholas Longano, CEO of Scuti, said in a statement that each player’s experience will their games will become more enduring as a result of the engagement that comes from NFTs and in-game stores. The partners combine RGG’s expertise in blockchain and NFT marketplaces with Scuti’s gCommerce platform. This partnership will lead to the creation of brand-new revenue streams for all game makers, enhanced game experiences for players, and the seamless participation by brands, all through one SDK, he said.
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