Does blockchain have a place in gaming? AMD thinks so.
Last Friday, the chip maker joined the Blockchain Game Alliance, an industry group devoted to promoting and standardizing the technologies for online gaming. As the first major hardware provider to join the alliance, AMD's goal is to supply the CPU and GPU chips needed to help gaming-related developers efficiently run blockchain-based features over their platforms.
But why blockchain? And why now when the market for cryptocurrencies continues to dive?
It's true blockchain is best known for powering today's virtual currencies by acting as a digital ledger to record every transaction. However, the same concept can be applied to the gaming world. Imagine a blockchain keeping a record of all the virtual items purchased in a game. Or perhaps, the blockchain acting as a way to distribute PC games themselves.
The real selling point with blockchain is how it works by operating as a distributed platform. As a result, no one company or server is running the digital ledger. Instead, a blockchain runs as a decentralized network across the internet, giving stakeholders, or in this case gamers, more control of their digital assets.
It's why AMD is bullish on the technology. "Next-generation blockchain game platforms will give gamers access to exclusive online content, and provide new ways for them to truly own it. They will also provide game publishers with new channels to distribute digital game content," said the chip maker's head of blockchain technology Joerg Roskowetz in a statement.
Last Friday, AMD also announced partnerships with RobotCache and Ultra, two companies that have been creating blockchain-based PC game stores to rival Steam. Both platforms promise to take less revenue from game developers (at 5 and 15 percent, respectively, compared to Steam's 30 percent). Players, on the other hand, will have the option to resell their previously purchased games and also mine/earn virtual currencies from Robot Cache and Ultra.
As part of the partnerships, AMD is going to distribute games to customers that will be redeemable on Ultra's game store. "Additionally, AMD and Ultra will work together to optimize cryptographic computing performance on the platform for gamers using AMD processors and graphics cards, and will continue to explore additional collaborative activities in the future," the companies said in a blog post.
You can sign up for early access to both RobotCache and Ultra. Ultra plans on officially launching in the coming months.