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BigTime trading is active, is Web2.5 gaming relying on popularity or market-making?

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BigTime trading is active, is Web2.5 gaming relying on popularity or market-making?

The BigTime project, involving former Decentraland CEO Ari Meilich, has announced the launch of pre-season tournaments, attracting market attention and listing on multiple exchanges, causing significant price volatility in the short term. However, controversies have arisen, such as substantial devaluation of in-game assets and the phenomenon of market makers manipulating the game token prices for their benefit.

What is BigTime? Another Web2.5 Game

BigTime, founded in April 2021, is a PC-based MMORPG game that combines fast-paced combat and NFT collection features. The gameplay can be compared to "Diablo" and requires game equipment of GeForce GTX 1060 or above, indicating that the game graphics are at least on par with mid to high-end action games.

BigTime aims to address the infrastructure limitations faced by previous blockchain games by adopting a "on-chain assets, off-chain gaming" model.

Related Reading: Two Paths for Games: Web2.5 or Full Blockchain

To address Gas fee issues, BigTime has launched an official open market and utilizes the technical patent Vault to help players simplify management of external wallets and enjoy real-time transaction settlement. This approach makes the process of purchasing NFT assets simpler, allowing those who have not used crypto wallets to become game players. Currently, BigTime only supports USDC payments and will gradually introduce ETH in the future.

The team behind BigTime comes from well-known game companies such as Epic Games, Blizzard, EA, and Riot, totaling 89 employees, with 38 core members.

BigTime Game Economic Model

  1. Token Positioning:

    • BIGTIME is the core token of the Big Time game
    • Players can earn this token by participating in game activities
  2. Token Launch and Growth:

    • Initial launch price was 0.01, now risen to $0.24
    • Currently listed on multiple exchanges, including OKX, BingX, Pionex, Bitget, Coinbase, Binance
  3. Token Distribution Strategy:

    • No pre-mining, ICO, investor issuance, or team allocation
    • Distribution as follows:
      • 60% for player rewards
      • 20% for community referrals
      • 20% for ecosystem and financial needs
  4. NFTs in the Game:

    • Aesthetic NFTs:
      • Used solely to enhance the game's visual effects and display player status
      • Do not affect the game's core values
    • Functional NFTs:
      • Serve as in-game items that can produce other NFTs and BIGTIME tokens
      • Impact the game's economic cycle
  5. Through this method, BigTime lowers the entry barrier, allowing free players to easily participate, while incentivizing paying players. Through the aforementioned economic model, BIGTIME aims to create an environment that encourages player participation and fairness, while ensuring the stable growth of its token value.

Community Criticism: The essence of BigTime's token economy is still about mining, selling, and farming in-game currency

Future Challenges and Prospects for the Game

BigTime's model brings new possibilities for blockchain games, but its off-chain operation means that some rules can be modified by the team at any time, to a certain extent contradicting the original intention of blockchain. Additionally, the sustainability of its economic model remains to be verified. However, by attracting talent from traditional game development fields, Big Time shows tremendous potential in the gaming industry.

According to DappRadar statistics, the blockchain gaming market remained steady in 2023, outperforming the overall blockchain market.

Furthermore, through the MMORPG game format, players have more opportunities to create value within the game through role-playing, social interaction, and game achievements compared to other blockchain games, promoting economic circulation.The results of such attempts are still subject to market validation.

Funding Information and On-Chain Activities

In May 2021, BigTime successfully completed two rounds of funding totaling $21 million, with one round of $10.3 million led by FBG Capital. During the previous bull market, some opinions suggested that FBG was known for short-term speculation, with many cases of rapid sell-offs after pumping.

On-Chain Data Display

lookonchain

According to Lookonchain data observations, with player withdrawals, the $BIGTIME price has dropped from its peak, indicating a lack of long-term confidence in BigTime among players, who may lean towards mining and selling.

CoinGecko data shows that nearly 90% of $BIGTIME trading volume is concentrated on OKX, Bitget, DigiFinex, Pionex, MEXC exchanges, with over 40% of liquidity coming from OKX. As of the deadline, $BIGTIME is trading at $0.24, up nearly 242% in the past 7 days