Arbitrum Proposes $250 Million Gaming Fund

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Arbitrum Establishes $250 Million Fund for Gaming

Recently, the cryptocurrency community was abuzz with excitement as the Arbitrum team proposed a massive investment plan in the Web3 gaming sector. With ambitions of becoming a major player in the decentralized gaming world, they aim to establish a $250 million fund to develop this sector over the next three years. However, this plan quickly became a topic of controversy, with many questioning its prudence.

Proposals Live For Voting
3. Catalyze Gaming Ecosystem Growth on Arbitrum
🗳https://t.co/7eH0sMDj15

4. Philot Phase: M&A for ArbitrumDAO
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5. Front-end interface to force transaction inclusion during sequencer downtime
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— Arbitrum (💙,🧡) (@arbitrum) May 29, 2024

The story began in March when the proposal to establish the Gaming Promotion Program (GCP) appeared on the Arbitrum forum. The proposers argued that while Arbitrum’s DeFi sector was booming, GameFi had similar potential. Therefore, they believed it was the perfect time for Arbitrum to dive into this “game.”

The goals of the GCP are quite ambitious: to attract and retain talented game developers, promote the use of Arbitrum technology in the gaming industry, and support the development of high-quality, long-term vision games. To achieve this, they proposed an enormous budget of 225 million ARB tokens, equivalent to over $250 million.

The funds are allocated as follows:

160 million ARB to attract developers (25 million for grants, 135 million for investments)
40 million ARB for rewards and bounty programs
25 million ARB for operational costs

Community Reaction

However, when the proposal was put to a vote from May 24 to June 8, it quickly faced a wave of criticism from the community. The first point of contention was the sudden increase in operational costs, from $10 million in the initial draft to $25 million when it went to vote. Many felt this number was excessively high and hard to justify, especially since it accounted for 10% of the total budget for just three years of operations.

But the most controversial aspect was the total investment amount. Many community members believed that pouring $250 million into game development was excessive and unwise. They pointed out that while traditional game studios struggle to develop with limited budgets, hundreds of millions are being funneled into Web3 games of questionable quality.

In reality, many current Web3 games are criticized for focusing solely on the “earn” aspect, neglecting the player experience. They often have monotonous gameplay centered around “click-to-earn” mechanics, lacking the creativity and depth found in traditional games. Therefore, such a massive investment in Web3 gaming is seen as disproportionate and potentially wasteful.

Arbitrum’s story highlights a sad reality in the cryptocurrency world: sometimes, excitement and the desire to “keep up with trends” can lead to poorly considered decisions. While investing in Web3 gaming is not a bad idea, the approach and scale of investment need careful consideration.

Instead of racing for quantity, perhaps blockchain projects should focus on quality: supporting visionary developers, encouraging innovation, and prioritizing user experience. Only then can Web3 games truly take off and prove their value, rather than becoming just another “bubble” in the crypto world.

ARB Chart

The ARB chart as of 4:20 AM on June 3, 2024, on Tradingview.