Conversation with the former president of Polygon Labs: Gaming will be a key factor in promoting the mainstreaming of cryptocurrency

Arrangement & Compilation: Shenchao TechFlow

Ryan Wyatt is the former head of YouTube Gaming and president of Polygon Labs, and a guru in business development, strategy, and product.

In this episode, Ryan explains why crypto gaming is here to stay, his experience with YouTube and the path to Web3, what cryptocurrencies unlock for gaming, and more.

Host: Mert & Garrett

Speaker: Ryan Wyatt, former head of gaming at YouTube and president of Polygon Labs

Podcast source: Lightspeed

Original title: "Web3 Gaming: A False Hope or Crypto's Path to Mass Adoption?"

Program: link

Air date: September 21

Ryan’s early gaming career

Ryan started his career at Major League Gaming (MLG), where he was mainly responsible for organizing games and refereeing, and later chose to join Machinima, a company dedicated to building the first gaming video network on YouTube, providing players with online video content.

During Ryan's tenure, Machinima received investment from Google Ventures, which established Ryan's close relationship with Google. Ryan's experience at Machinima and MLG gave him a deep understanding of the gaming video industry. He often sent long emails to YouTube and Google pointing out their shortcomings and how those shortcomings negatively affected companies like Machinima.

After Susan Wojcicki became CEO of YouTube, she noticed the email from Ryan. Susan believed that YouTube needed someone who understood video games, and after many interviews, Ryan was successfully selected as the head of YouTube's gaming department.

Ryan mentioned that although he is very familiar with YouTube's products and has deep friendships with many creators, he is relatively young on the YouTube team. He needs to learn from senior members of the team how to be a better leader, how to lead a team, and how to think from a larger strategic perspective.

Ryan initially worked with Polygon as a consultant, providing guidance and advice to the company from a gaming perspective. Through conversations with Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal, Ryan developed a deeper interest and enthusiasm for Polygon and the entire crypto space.

Ryan felt that missing out on the opportunity to join Polygon and delve deeper into the crypto space would be like missing out on the early days of YouTube and gaming videos, a feeling that prompted him to more seriously consider devoting himself fully to the crypto space. After careful consideration, Ryan decided to join Polygon full-time. He believes that this is a field full of infinite possibilities and opportunities, worthy of his investment of time and energy to explore and develop.

Ryan joins Polygon as CEO of Polygon Studios, where he is responsible for hiring and building the Polygon Studios team. This is a department focused on NFTs, games, and the Metaverse. He began to build his own team and hired the current CEO of Polygon Labs to work together to promote the development of Polygon.

The potential and challenges of cryptocurrencies and blockchain in gaming

Ryan believes that virtual world and metaverse-type games are ideal for integrating cryptocurrencies. These games provide an immersive, continuously evolving virtual environment in which players can interact, trade, and build communities. In these virtual worlds, cryptocurrencies can be used to purchase, trade and manage digital assets.

Ryan said he likes to know the history of his game items, including who has owned them and whether they were used in specific game events. This information can increase the value and appeal of the items. He mentioned third-party sites like Skinport and CS:GO Float, which act as intermediaries for digital items, allowing players to trade items outside of the game. But these systems are still imperfect because they are centralized and controlled by game developers.

Ryan believes that blockchain and cryptocurrencies can lead to better ownership and control of digital assets. He would like to see a system where players can store their items from all games in one wallet, which can be transferred between games.

He emphasized that the current system is controlled by game developers who are unwilling to share data and control. Blockchain and cryptocurrencies can change this dynamic and bring a more balanced power between players and developers. Through blockchain technology, players can truly own their digital assets, which game developers cannot change at will. This not only increases the value of the assets, but also enhances players' control over their assets.

Ryan admitted that there are currently no high-quality Web3 games, and in order for players to accept these new technologies, attractive games need to be developed. He mentioned that a lot of capital is being invested in the development of Web3 games, but many games may return to Web2 because they first need to ensure the quality of the games.

How encryption technology enhances game development and player experience

As the number of quality games on the market increases, it becomes increasingly difficult to entice players to switch from their current favorite games to new ones. Ryan emphasized that people's time is limited, so the quality and appeal of the game is crucial to attracting them to invest their time and energy.

User experience (UX) plays a key role in attracting and retaining players. Ryan believes that even if the current UX has some problems and inconveniences, these problems can be overcome if the game itself is good enough. Making a great game is the key. The quality and gameplay of the game will determine whether it can attract and retain players.

Ryan believes that generative AI will become a powerful tool to help create richer and more complex content. Humans will continue to move into other professional fields, using AI as a tool to enhance their abilities. He does not believe that AI will completely replace humans, but sees a future where humans and AI work together to promote innovation and development.

The presenter mentioned that the Unity game engine faces problems due to its inability to effectively track and obtain usage fees for its engine. This challenge involves how to accurately and fairly calculate and charge fees for developing games using the Unity engine.

Ryan believes that cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology may provide a solution to this problem. Through blockchain, game usage and circulation can be tracked more accurately and transparently, helping Unity and other game developers simplify payments and track usage.

With cryptocurrencies and blockchain, payments and transactions can become simpler and faster. This will not only help solve the problem of Unity usage fees, but also provide game developers and players with more convenient payment and transaction methods.

Reasons and solutions for gamers’ resistance to NFT

Ryan mentioned that players’ resistance to NFTs mainly stems from their lack of understanding and distrust of this new technology. Many players lack understanding of how NFT and blockchain technology work, security and reliability. Negative news and information about NFTs in the media have also affected players' opinions, and some irresponsible behaviors and scams have caused players to be skeptical of NFTs.

Some people believe that NFT may lead to a "pay-to-win" situation, affecting the competitiveness and fun of the game. Players are worried that NFT will affect the balance and fairness of the game. Because NFT introduces a new economic model and changes the way players obtain and trade game items, some players feel uncomfortable and dissatisfied with this change.

Ryan believes that to solve players' resistance to NFTs, education and communication need to be used to increase players' understanding and trust of this new technology. Game developers and NFT project parties need to consider players' concerns and ensure that NFT will not affect the balance and fairness of the game, while also protecting the interests and rights of players.

He emphasized that NFT and blockchain technology have huge potential to change the gaming industry and provide players with more ownership and control, but this will take time and effort to achieve. Game developers, NFT project parties and players need to work together to explore and build a fair, transparent and sustainable NFT and game ecosystem.

The future of crypto and gaming

Ryan believes the crypto industry is at an interesting stage of development. He sees great potential and future development opportunities in this industry, although there are also some challenges and uncertainties. He believes that the crypto space and blockchain technology will take many years to fully realize their potential.

Ryan believes gaming can be the savior of cryptocurrencies. He sees a strong connection between gaming and cryptocurrencies and believes gaming will be a key factor in driving the mainstreaming of cryptocurrencies. Not only can games make cryptocurrencies more attractive, they can also provide players with real usage scenarios and value.

Ryan emphasized the importance of DeFi in games. Liquidity is crucial to the success of games. DeFi can provide the necessary liquidity and financial tools for games.

Ryan predicts that the crypto industry and gaming will undergo a series of changes in the coming years. Advances in technology and greater capital investment will be key factors driving the development of this field.