The global gaming industry has, without a doubt, repeatedly demonstrated its receptiveness to emerging technologies, including blockchain. Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), the umbrella term for all trustless solutions relying on the power of the community to function, cuts out the middleman.
The middleman’s absence gives developers more latitude to focus on what truly makes gaming tick: players and quality gaming environments.
The Age of NFT Gaming, The Future is Bright
The explosion of NFTs in 2021 built the perfect foundation for developers to unleash rewarding blockchain-based games. More game developers in the U.K. and the U.S. are now opting for NFTs and blockchain, incorporating them into their gameplay.
For what’s being offered, there is a sharp spike in the number of crypto wallets tied to blockchain games. The catalyst was the rise of play-to-earn models–acknowledged in the latest Blockchain Game Alliance report. In the first nine months of 2021 alone, it expanded 25X from slightly over 29.5k to more than 754k. At the same time, blockchain gaming portals racked in more than $2.5 billion in revenue in Q3 2021.
Those surveyed said the rise of P2E models was the primary driver, fanning demand in blockchain gaming. Others thought it was the benefits of players owning in-game assets, a diversion from how things were done in the past with centralized players blamed for controlling every aspect of gaming and its characters.
What is War Raiders?
War Riders is the first MMO multichain game for players to earn cryptocurrencies and blow up cars. Interested players must first acquire at least one vehicle designed to fit their varied needs. Vehicles and weapons are available at the War Raiders’ store.
What sets War Riders apart is its element of customization, which includes adding personalized messages—or logos. Here, riders can tailor their cars as per their specifications.
They are free to install custom-style parts and even install powerful weapons of their choice. Each car tags along with a customizable and upgradable garage.
An important distinction is that War Raiders is not a play-to-earn game. Instead, through its environment, gamers are rewarded with valuable in-game items which can be used within the game or sold in an external marketplace like OpenSea.
From there, they can take part by mining Benzene (BZN) using their race cars when they roam the wasteland or attack enemies and steal their coins. Benzene is the native currency of the platform.
Role of Garages
In a vast digital wasteland, the objective of all racers is to build the largest and strongest army of racing cars. As the racer drives through the wasteland, they encounter BZN pumps. However, they must be brought to the garage before being redeemed.
Benzene tokens are used for several purposes like purchasing ammunition, nitro-boost, armor, building new garages, or upgrading existing ones. Beginners can seek protection by renting out experienced racers’ garages. Notably, garages are expandable and are where personalized messages can be attached for companies to advertise.
War Riders’ garages are comparable to land in other blockchain games. They are strategically located and serve as a source of passive income depending on rental spaces. The entrance fee reward is a percentage of all BZN held by approved players docking in the garage space. The more parking slots are there, the more revenue in BZN is earned.
All transactions are automated and executed by secure smart contracts. Apart from earning revenue, garages can also serve as strategic bases for clans. In essence, clans are coalitions or armies driven by different strategies scouring the wasteland for more BZN and domination. Their end goal is to rule the wasteland and protect newbies for even more revenue streams.
Empowering Players: Benzene, War Points, and Badges
War Raiders’ in-game assets are owned by the players and are not, in any way, under the custody of the game developers. As expected, certain War Raiders’ vehicles and weapons are rare and valuable. Because of the NFT element, these rare items are minted only once, thus in limited supply. There is a community-governed marketplace where in-game NFTs can be swapped for another or sold for other cryptocurrencies.
Additionally, War Raiders have introduced badges. These are distinguishing marks, besides the personalized messages, placed on vehicles.
Badges can be used to present the car’s body material. Some badges in War Raider are rare and limited edition, translating to a higher valuation. Meanwhile, other badges are etched on vehicle mint and cannot be removed.
There has been an evolution in War Raiders with the introduction of War Points (WRP) gifted to players who perform specific actions within the game.
WRP is earned for kills, mining BZN, and BZN stash pick-ups. The more active a player is, the more they earn WRP. War Raiders also occasionally rewards top performers with custom badges and other prizes.
War Raiders Team
War Raiders is built by an experienced team operating from North America. Cartified Inc was founded in 2015 and is venture capital-backed by AU Venture Fund and Era Venture Fund.
By 2016, they had completed their acceleration program offered by Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator in New York. The Accelerator is one of the most prestigious in the world.
There are ten team members, of whom the visible are Vlad, Ryan, and Eddie. War Raiders are led from different ends to cater to marketing, development, and business development needs.
Notable partners include Chainlink, WAX, Coinbase Wallet, OpenSea, and Immutable X.
War Raiders Tokenomics: Benzene and NFTs
The maximum number of vehicles to ever grace the War Raiders’ metaverse is fixed at 1.18 million. There will be 20k premium vehicles, 150k Mid-Grade Vehicles, and one million regular vehicles.
They all comply with the ERC-71 standard on Ethereum and released as set out by War Raiders’ Vehicle Factory smart contract. The sale of premium vehicles has been completed.
Meanwhile, Mid-Grade cars will be sold during the Wasteland Beta, which starts in early March 2022. Regular Vehicles will be available upon Global Release.
Meanwhile, there are 100 million BZN as total supply, out of which 99.549 million are already in circulation. The team has integrated a burn mechanism that burns 30 percent of all BZN used when purchasing weapons, garage renting, nitro-boost, or purchasing armor. The remainder is channeled back to the liquidity pool.
At spot rates, BZN has a market cap of $2,097,681 as each BZN changes hands at $2.41.
Presently, BZN can only be traded on Uniswap v2 and v3 paired versus WETH.
War Raiders Catalysts
- Gaming and NFTs are projected to command billions of dollars in the months ahead. War Raiders’ approach of blending NFTs and fungible tokens gives them an edge, drawing demand. This would easily support BZN and its in-game items in the sessions ahead.
- War Raiders has partnered with heavyweights like Chainlink and Coinbase giving it credibility, a mark of trust among would-be partners and investors.
- Already, BZN has been listed on CoinMarketCap (CMC), the world’s leading coin tracker drawing over 30 million views every month. From the coin trackers, BZN users can easily track their performance.
- War Raiders has been lauded for what players say are “sick graphics” and one of the best games on Ethereum for making money. They are confident it would usurp Axie Infinity in the months ahead. This confidence explains why BZN could be a solid blockchain gaming asset.
- Ethereum is the most active NFT minting platform. The integration of ERC-721 NFTs and insistence on deploying from Ethereum increases their chances of success. Besides, most protocols constantly bridge to Ethereum, boasting War Raiders’ chances of adoption.
- In light of the high Gas fees in Ethereum, the partnership with NFT-focused Immutable X serves to improve user experience. Most gamers can swap their assets for hard cash, cheaply and conveniently.
- War Raiders have incorporated a burning mechanism for BZN. Thirty percent of every BZN used to purchase in-game items will be destroyed. The remainder rest will be plowed back to the mining pool. Technically, burning would support prices in the long-term, a net positive for holders.
- The War Raiders development team is experienced, comprising of gaming specialists. Cartified is also backed by two venture capitals giving them a solid financial base and, thus, more focus on gradually improving the game.
- All War Raiders’ Premium vehicles have been sold out. Those available in the secondary NFT marketplace are selling for thousands of dollars. Since BZN is the primary utility currency, upcoming Mid-Grade and Regular sales could pump prices.
- The team continues to build, recently introducing a critical update in the “Safe Zone patch.” The system is designed to attack cheaters using NPC Laser Turrets. Preceding this update was the War Riders 0.15.1, which doubled the size of the wasteland, added more spawn protection, and increased the number of BZN pumps.
- The game continues to find more support, including being on-boarded by NFTone Games—it is a multichain NFT marketplace for games, players, and artists.
- There is an opportunity for gamers to earn more BZN through garage rentals and even advertisements on their war cars.
- The game is player-facing. No BZN tokens were sold to investors or the public. Instead, 75 percent will be distributed through in-game mining and the rest to the team, including advisors.