WITH blockchain still very much in high-speed development – it hasn’t even scratched the surface of its capability.
And that applies more than any other to the immensely popular gaming industry.
Now a new wave of gaming focused connectivity is getting set to revolutionise the space as it moves away from traditional hardware to cloud-based ecosystems.
Playkey, a game-virtualization service which provides users around the world with distributed networks of powerful home computers is charging ahead thanks to a successful ICO.
A token success
At the end of last year its PKT token raised $10.5 million, in the form of 23,665 ether and 221 bitcoins, as well as an additional $3.9 million in fiat currency in a pre-sale.
Now the Russian start-up is actively engaging with 2.5m users, has entered into the European and UK market and has an eye on a roll out to the USA later this year.
It is giving speed to PCs that can’t run state-of-the-art games due to a lack of hardware processing power and access to entertainment for millions at a fraction of the price of a full upgrade.
Gaming in the cloud
Playkey games run in the cloud on hardware offered by miners, says Egor Gurjev, the start up’s CEO who began development in 2013 and launched the gaming service two years later.
He said: “Gaming enthusiasts all over the world are missing out on playing some of the biggest and best gaming titles available, simply due to a lack of the expensive, powerful hardware that is required to run the games sufficiently.
“It is for this purpose that the gaming industry is set to shift to the cloud where processing power can be shared, a step that will drastically change the face of the gaming industry.”
Egor contends that Blockchain is an amazing way for owners of high end equipment to ‘rent’ out their servers to individuals whose equipment is lacking, enabling all gamers to play the latest games and ruling out the need to keep up with the ‘console cycle’ that exists currently.
He continued: “Like many industries, the blockchain will put the power back in the hands of the users and enable transparent, safe transactions and communication between gamers without the need for intermediaries.
“Whether it’s the sale of gamer-earned goods or online gaming security, hackers and scams that are relatively common in this space will have a much harder time of things.”
Team work makes the dream work
Playkey runs from 120 Nvidia grid-powered servers which offers anyone with access to the internet the capability of entering a brand new environment that is helping to supercharge the requirement for cryptocurrency.
Egon adds: “Decentralised gaming will soon depend on the exchange and investment of cryptocurrency.
“The Playkey Token will offer future users can expect safe and clear payment processes and crypto transactions are easy-to-monitor even if they are not yours.
“For example one user is perfectly able to view the contents of a crypto wallet by only possessing the wallet address if the transaction was done under the smart-contract of the decentralized cryptoexchange like EtherDelta.
“It is also worth saying that there will be a much heavier impact than we are even able to comprehend or foresee at this point, we’ve yet to unleash the full capabilities of blockchain technology.
“It is not simply the addition of cryptocurrency and the removal of intermediaries.
“It is the introduction of an auditable, verified store of data including players moves within a game, collating every possible measurement of data it can, all in a protected but open ledger.”
Whilst some solutions are closer to completion than others, blockchain is ready and waiting to completely transform the gaming industry, creating a more transparent and effective industry.
“Gamers are such a passionate group of people, who feel strongly about the industry,” added Egor, “A decentralized setup incorporating the many benefits of blockchain will hand the power back into the hands of gamers themselves, creating a democratized platform for all.”