As blockchain games capture an increasingly large share of on-chain DApp activity, the likes of Polygon and Wax are luring developers with lower gas fees and by lowering the cost of minting NFTs. Not to be outdone, Solana recently went live with a new upgrade that allows mass railing at a fraction of the previous cost.
As blockchain gaming matures, the various underlying technologies that enable the space are fighting for a piece of the action.
Polygon sees an increase in activity
Thanks to a 53% monthly spike in daily active wallet users in the gaming space, in the month of March. DappRadar recently reported that Polygon has overtaken Hive to become the second most popular game series after Wax.
The analysis shows that wax continues to dominate the space in terms of portfolio activity. With blockchain gaming accounting for a growing share of all DApp activity, Polygon’s success indicates an increase in competition in the space.
But what exactly drives blockchain game projects to specific platforms?
For starters, the ability to scale easily and without incurring huge transaction fees is crucial. Game developers looking for rich smart contract functionality and significant transaction processing capacity have found a welcome home in wax, polygon, and protocol-based ecosystems.
While ERC721 tokens are deployed directly on the Ethereum Mainnet, they are proving popular in digital art. For example, associated gas fees make such a solution unsuitable for the mass monetization of NFTs that gaming applications typically require.
Instead, their ability to mint large batches of tokens all at once without breaking the bank has allowed workarounds to shine.
Of course, in terms of reducing transaction costs and enhancing scalability. It’s not just a gaming-friendly blockchain like Wax has been busy with. In recent years, a range of first-tier solutions such as Solana have attracted the attention of developers of all kinds.
Solana introduces an efficient NFT minting mechanism
Moreover, in a move likely to appeal to emerging blockchain gaming projects, the Solana Foundation on Thursday announced the introduction of state pressure. A new, more efficient way to store data on-chain.
Leveraging Merkle Trees, a type of data structure that allows for fast and secure validation across large data sets, state compression has some significant implications for the way NFTs are minted and stored on the Solana blockchain.
The recent upgrade will have a significant impact on the cost of minting new tokens. It allows a data structure more suitable for compression. Solana says compressed NFTs are 2,400-24,000 times cheaper than their uncompressed counterparts. This will allow developers to mint 100 million for as little as 50 sol.
Based on cost data from April 5, the Solana Foundation shows that the cost of creating new compressed NFTs is now an order of magnitude cheaper than using Ethereum. In fact, state pressure makes the cost to Solana developers more comparable to using Polygon. It is much cheaper when minted in batches on the scale of the millions.
Many gamers may not be interested in the underlying technology of any given game. This includes unnecessary fees, and expensive playback can have a detrimental effect on its user base.
As such, technical developments that make it affordable to widely launch new in-game items and features is an attractive proposition.
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