READYgg ecosystem adoption to date
The software development kit (SDK) and API were first made available to third-party developers in October 2021. The package of services, branded under the rubric “The Ready Games Network” or READYgg, were part of a development process that began in November 2020. At the time, Ready had produced over 300 original mini-game competitions, with skill-based cash prizing for the best players. These mini games were deployed into an app called “Ready Games” running on iOS and Android, with three new titles appearing weekly, from May 2018 to October 2020.
The games were built in READYgg’s companion creation app- Ready Maker- with a backend supporting the live ops required to run what were continuous mobile esports tournaments. Over the course of the tournament platform’s lifetime, Ready concluded that real-money gaming provided players with a powerful “play to earn” mechanic, but the regulatory and technical complexity of running RMG tournaments limited the potential for scale. Moreover, games of skill tend to favor the truly skilled players, reducing scale further, as more casual players correctly deduced their probability of “winning” was quite low.
Based on these findings, READYgg undertook a process of diversifying “play to earn” mechanics rewarding players for their “time” and effort spent in the game with a focus on internal use cases:
Diversification of prizing from cash prizing, to status-oriented prizing (achievements, consumable rewards), fairly common in the gaming industry.
A move away from turn-based solo competitions to synchronous PvP contests.
The ability to rapidly inject all the PvP infrastructure into a casual game format, with an eye towards a) matching the pace of ‘fast to fail’ hypercasual game development and b) injecting PvP mechanics that are opposed to fast failing mobile mechanics because PvP systems are intrinsically time consuming, and expensive to deploy, with minimal efficiency from game to game.
For a variety of reasons, it became clear that no existing third-party solutions existed to enable READYgg’s use case. Ready concluded that the best path would be to create, for its own internal use, a “shell” whose purpose is to rapidly prototype PvP games, with full game economies.
By approximately April 2021, Ready was operating a code base that allowed for rapid prototyping of core PvP mechanics:
Matchmaking.
Player login.
Friends lists.
Leaderboards.
Using its own titles, Ready proceeded to roll out additional PvP dependent features, and by August 2021 the following were added to the list of functions:
Player inventory.
Achievements, awards, level progression.
Deployment of hard and soft in-game currencies.
At this stage READYgg made two important decisions:
Test the market with third-party developers.
Run a series of blockchain gaming experiments.
To achieve point #1 required the automation of the in-house toolkit. READYgg undertook the process of abstracting and automating the existing stack, with the goal of delivering a “self serve” SDK and API to developers, that would ultimately require no direct support from READYgg. In parallel to this development effort, READYgg sought out “alpha testers” to “socialize their solo title(s).”
In August 2021 the first dev teams were onboarded to the READYgg solution. The goal was to effectively build version 0.1 of the self-serve SDK, using their real time feedback to optimize. This process culminated in mid-September with a partially automated SDK (v. 0.1), and the onboarding of a second dev cohort to work towards further refinement (v. 0.2). The technical goal was to arrive at a condition where by December 31, 2021 it would take a skilled dev team about 10 working days to ingest all the READYgg functions. This goal was reached as follows:
Concurrent with dev onboarding, READYgg conducted a KPI analysis. For games that shifted from solo mode to multiplayer mode, what was the effect on D1/D7/D14/D30 retention? Across the board, READYgg saw a 2x increase in retention metrics from solo to multiplayer mode.
From the developer perspective, retention is a North Star metric. It is the fundamental basis to measure the health of a game, and has knock-on effects on revenue generation: the more retained players, assuming a stable conversion to paid, the higher the revenue. From READYgg’s perspective, the model was to capture “marketplace fees” from the devs using READYgg. Instead of charging a licensing fee, typical of SaaS models, Ready wanted to create a “virtual goods economy” using its infrastructure, and take commissions on marketplace sales. This, the company felt, aligned developer and Ready interests: “Your success is our success” while minimizing barriers to adoption.
Developers responded enthusiastically to the program, validating the market opportunity for a self-serve, turnkey social gaming platform, with marketplace economics.
READYgg maintains an up-to-date list of games deployed, along with links to install: link
Concurrent with the dev program, READYgg initiated a series of blockchain gaming tests, leveraging another core feature - the “avatar system.”
Designed to serve multiple purposes, the avatar system is an important requirement for a virtual goods economy:
Avatars are a canonical form of player identity: designing and customizing an avatar is a method of establishing who the player “is” both in the core game, and in the “meta game” that sits outside the core game.
Fashion- meaning branded, styled avatar clothing- has shown a powerful ability to increase player spending. Whether it’s a tie-in with top-tier IP, such as Marvel characters (e.g. Marvel themed skins in Fortnite), or high-fashion in surprising places, such as the collaboration between Gucci and Roblox.
Avatars can sit in the “metagame” - meaning they can represent the player without necessarily being required to exist in the core game. This creates a portable, “universal” asset enabling portable avatars that don’t disrupt or require core game mechanic compatibility. For example, a poker game and a golf game could share the same avatar system in the pre- and post- game results and player profile screens, without having to inject the avatars into what are first person game experiences.
Remixing, “modding” or otherwise “bottom up building” is a powerful UGC creation mechanic, generating a long-tail of sellable virtual goods. This is evident in Minecraft and Roblox, where thriving UGC marketplaces developed as a central component of the play experience. Avatars, as a potentially universal meta-game component, become a natural canvas for UGC marketplaces.
READYgg issued an in-house app called ICON: Avatar Fashion, and used the app to develop a turnkey, abstracted avatar system that could be injected into existing SDK and deployed into any game that wanted to open this form of a virtual goods economy. ICON is used as a way to introduce RGN’s marketplace to players and to onboard creators to READYgg’s virtual goods infrastructure.
This avatar system SDK includes a creator tool and marketplace to support ‘play to earn’ mechanics and NFTs. Players can make and sell items directly in READYgg’s marketplace for other players and developers to purchase, under their own “fashion label,” linked to an NFT. This also provides a pathway for branded IP to collaborate with the avatar system, by releasing limited edition virtual goods. This became the basis of the first blockchain-based gaming tests.
These tests, conducted in September-October 2021 involved selling limited edition NFT-backed avatar assets in partnership with Brooklyn-based artist Nazarov and Epik Prime, who handled the minting of the “Nazarov Collection.”
Items were placed for sale using in-game currency inside ICON, called “iCoins.” The iCoins were purchased with fiat via Apple and Google’s mobile IAP systems. Key findings included:
A shift in ARPPU from $4 to $23, as players purchased the Nazarov items.
Compliance with Apple and Google’s policies while purchasing an NFT: as the in-game currency had been purchased through IAP systems, Google and Apple received their 30% marketplace commission. Compliance with app store policies removed a regulatory barrier to mainstream adoption on mobile.
The “normalizing” of a wallet concept- in this case the crypto wallet was invisible to the user (handled by Epik). An amateur player could own a unique Nazarov item. A more “crypto educated” player could visit Epik Prime, and from there sell the item.
In late November 2021, READYgg conducted a second blockchain gaming test, putting up for auction “store front hashtags” on Epik Prime. The sale lasted for 60 hours and included six storefronts. These were presented as:
Hashtags that would be used across RGN to organize avatar cosmetics.
Owners of the hashtag would receive 5% of GMV in perpetuity, from sales affiliated to that tag.
The six items items at auction ranged in price from $197 to $997, with a total reserve price of $2,382.
The auction was a success: all the items sold out, with an average price of $550 per hashtag. The total sold was $3,441, or 130% of the reserve price.
Both these tests validated the notion that blockchain dynamics could add a powerful accelerant to the game economy, by shifting the experience from “renting” or “consuming” game assets to “creating” and “owning” game assets.
Ready is pushing forward with these experiments: In Q1 2022, Ready will deliver a capsule collection with the Smiley company. Top brands, such as H&M, Ganni, Pacsun, Palladium and Lee Jeans, have recently launched collaborations with Smiley. What makes Ready’s collaboration unique is that it’s Smiley’s first virtual goods collection.
85% of the early adopters to READYgg expressed “strong interest” in blockchain based solutions being integrated into their games. The simplified modular system of READYgg allows developers the ability to only integrate the components that they need to power their games, which allows for an accessible way to make their games into “blockchain” games, that is appealing to the gameplay and player base. They can add NFT components, Play to earn components, or they can integrate everything READYgg blockchain related.