The first real modern computer games in which Bitcoin is integrated are coming. In the MMO game Infinite Fleet, players command a fleet of starships and in the First-Person shooter Lightnite offers a similar battle royale experience to the popular Fortnite. In both games you can earn bitcoin, and sometimes even lose it.

What if you didn’t earn points in computer games, but small bits of bitcoin? Would that make it even more fun or exciting? And what if you could just sell the game items you’ve earned with blood, sweat and tears when you’re tired of a game, so it wasn’t a waste of time? You could take the proceeds with you to the next game, so you don’t have to start from scratch again.

It is just a selection of the innovations for the games industry that are possible thanks to Bitcoin. Sometimes the ideas have been around for a long time, but were hardly workable due to the high transaction costs and other limitations inherent in the traditional financial system. Contemporary games therefore usually do not go further than closed economies and relatively high minimum amounts.

However, Bitcoin and second-tier scalability solutions open up a world of new possibilities. With microtransactions worth a thousandth of a cent (or even less), an open economy, and true ownership of digital assets, Bitcoin has the potential to take the games industry to the next level.

Two games at the forefront of this new development are Infinite Fleet and Lightnite .

Infinite Fleet

In the Massively Multiplayer Online game Infinite Fleet , players command a fleet of starships in an endless universe plagued by alien threats. By taking on the aliens together with other players, players can earn the in-game currency INF, which can be used to buy new starships and various upgrades.

Infinite Fleet differs from existing games because the in-game currency is a token on the Liquid Sidechain. The INF ‘money’ therefore does not only exist in the game, but also outside of it. The INF token can be sent, received and possibly traded via a Bitcoin wallet with support for the Liquid Sidechain. You could therefore sell what you earn in the game for a small amount of bitcoin.

INF tokens are required to play the game and the only way to get them is to earn them in the game or buy them from other players. Like Bitcoin, INF tokens have a pre-programmed scarcity, which helps to preserve value and prevent inflation from an unrestrictedly growing money supply. The distribution of INF in the game is based on in-game events. Based on this economic model, the INF token should develop economic value and a price through free market forces.

Infinite Fleet is interesting because it is one of the first high-quality games to use innovations made possible by Bitcoin. Using Bitcoin company Blockstream’s Liquid Sidechain is also interesting, as sidechains are one of the ways Bitcoin is being scaled up for mass use. Sidechains are linked to the Bitcoin blockchain but have different properties. For example, the Liquid Sidechain is faster, cheaper, more private and it offers new possibilities such as the issuance of tokens. Infinite Fleet is, in a sense, a demonstration of the capabilities and use cases that it allows.

Infinite Fleet is being developed by Pixelmatic, which has strong ties to Blockstream. The CEO of Pixelmatic Samson Mow is also the Chief Strategy Officer of Blockstream. And Bitcoin pioneer Adam Back, also from Blockstream, is one of the investors. Infinite Fleet is scheduled to be released sometime in 2021.

Lightnite

Lightnite is a ‘clone’ of the hugely popular First-Person shooter Fortnite . In the game, players compete against each other in a battle royale until one victor remains. Such games are usually packed with nerve-racking action, but Lightnite ramps up the excitement even further by incorporating Bitcoin.

In Lightnite you can earn small amounts of bitcoin. For example, when you eliminate other players or when you are the last one standing. Weapons, skins and other upgrades can also be purchased in the game for small amounts of bitcoin.

There is a ‘casual’ game mode where you don’t risk anything, but it only gets really exciting with the ‘Arena’ game mode; there, all participants put some bitcoin on the line and the winner wins the entire pot. You can therefore earn bitcoin, but also lose it. This gives a whole new psychological dimension to what is normally an already adrenaline-pumping game. Depending on the amounts involved, these types of systems could even create new revenue models for professional e-sports gamers.

Lightnite uses the Lightning Network for transactions. This is a so-called second-layer scalability solution that makes bitcoin transactions lightning fast and cheap. In addition, the game also uses the Liquid Sidechain to link unique items to tokens (via NFTs; Non-Fungible Tokens ). Just like with Infinite Fleet, these objects can be managed via a Bitcoin wallet with Liquid integration or traded with other players.

Lightnite is the latest and most ambitious project from Satoshi’s Games, who previously developed some simple Bitcoin games. The Alpha is scheduled to start at the end of this year and release sometime in the summer of 2021.

Other games

Infinite Fleet and Lightnite belong to a new generation of Bitcoin games, but they are certainly not the first games to use Bitcoin. For years, there have been all kinds of relatively simple games that have tried out the concept, including many gambling games. At the moment there is a lot of experimentation with games that use the Lightning Network.

However, developing a serious, more high-quality and modern game takes a lot of time and resources. The technology is also still in development and despite the fact that more and more resources are being added for game developers, not everyone is aware of the possibilities, nor convinced of the usefulness. A decisive success of a Bitcoin game like Infinite Fleet or Lightnite could change that, perhaps ushering in a new era for computer games.

Of course, it remains to be seen how governments respond to it. It is of course possible that they see such concepts as risks for money laundering or terrorist financing, as is often the case. If that results in strict and threshold-raising regulations, it can throw a lot of spanner in the works for these types of games.

For more information, check out the Infinite Fleet and Lightnite websites. Or try one of the other games in the list on LNroute.