Xais goal is to become the gateway to Ethereum gaming

CoinDesk reports:
The main contributors to the third-layer game network Xai, based on Ethereum, say they aim to build the next Valve, developing their ecosystem in a way similar to the video game giant behind the Steam market and some of the most popular games in history.
Tobias Batton, co-founder and CEO of Ex Populus, explained that the Valve model is their vision for the future of the gaming network.
Just as Valve has its own in-house studios creating games like “Half-Life,” “Counter-Strike,” and “Portal,” Xai also has Ex Populus working on multiple games that are about to be released. Similarly, just as Valve provides development tools, Xai is also providing development tools through a partnership with Sequence.
Batton told Decrypt via Zoom: “This is how we look at the Xai ecosystem in a broad sense.”
While Valve games are widely popular, the company is best known for its market-leading Steam platform. Valve’s store is very advanced, currently hosting over 100,000 games, while Xai currently has only a few games. However, Batton says that there will be a healthy library to choose from at the end of its new Vanguard: Genesis event.
Data from L2beat shows that the transaction volume of this event soared almost instantly, with Xai accounting for 41% of all transactions in the Ethereum scaling network ecosystem, setting a historic record for transaction volume.
In the past 30 days, Xai has recorded the most transactions in any Ethereum Layer 2, with over 114 million transactions; Coinbase’s Base network is a close second with 83 million transactions in the same period.
However, most of the activity is unrelated to gaming, as users first interact with this budding network through the rewards program in the Vanguard: Genesis event, which launched in January.
“A lot of the first activity that people are paying attention to is something called our Vanguard Mints, which is a huge NFT drop,” Batton said, explaining that more and more transactions are coming from Unicorns Bingo, a money-making mobile game. “I think as more things get released throughout the event, you’ll see a lot of activities related to gaming.”
This is another event following last year’s Xai Odyssey, with a similar surge in user activity – 500,000 connected wallets generating a total of 5 million transactions daily, and the token’s total value approaching $200 million at the peak price of Xai in February.
“Vanguard: Genesis” will continue until November, and it will help launch over a dozen new games on Xai, but this is not the only content on the network – other games will be launched through collaborations with Xai and The MIX, as well as other releases. In addition to these new games, the event will also provide new missions, achievements, and rewards for the community.
“We see it as an ecosystem-wide event,” Batton told Decrypt. “We can build up this huge momentum curve and then put that momentum into different game releases.”
Later on Tuesday, Crypto Unicorns marked the start of this edition by completing the migration from the Ethereum sidechain Polygon to the third-layer game network based on Arbitrum. This powerhouse gaming brand in the cryptocurrency industry provided a play-to-earn activity (Unicorns Bingo) during the migration process.
While Crypto Unicorns are already well-known, Batton highlighted a lesser-known project called “Lost Glints,” which is one of the games he is most excited to launch.
“I encourage you to go look at their Twitter account and the media. Oh my gosh, it’s so cool,” Batton said. “This might be the best-looking card game I’ve ever seen, and that says a lot, because Parallel looks great. But I think ‘Lost Glints’ takes it a step further.”
In addition to these games, Batton is also excited about “Final Form,” a card-driven auto-battler game being developed by his former Populus studio. In addition, several other games are planned to be launched through the event, some of which had not been announced at the time of writing.
Returning to the comparison with Valve, Batton believes the Vanguard: Genesis event can rival the annual Steam Summer Sale, which has become a reliable event for gamers. In turn, this will not be a one-off event. Instead, the plan is to do “two to three seasons” annually, as he put it.
“Each season will feature a set of games we promote. I think the focus might be on launching new games,” Batton said. “But we’re also very willing to bring back games from the first few seasons, especially if they have new things to offer.”
This is the long-term vision. Currently, the team’s focus is on “Vanguard: Genesis,” and Batton hopes the event will bring must-play games to Xai and help the network deliver on the promise of the massive hype and valuable token drops earlier this year.
“Our focus has always been on: let’s go out and find the best 3A, quality games. Let’s launch six of those games in 2024,” he said.
Andrew Hayward, Editor