Don’t be deterred from exploring this space: Kokoswap CEO

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) within “traditional” gaming spaces are becoming increasingly popular as game developers look to new technology to keep ahead of trends. Kokoswap looks to be at the forefront of that.

To demonstrate how keen the industry is to adopt NFTs, GameStop, one of the largest brands within the gaming industry operating over 4,800 locations globally, announced a project for an NFT marketplace earlier this year.

Meanwhile, Electronic Arts (EA), one of the largest gaming development and publishing companies, is also embracing the crypto space, with the CEO recently calling NFT and play-to-earn games the “the future of our industry.” Just today, veteran UK-based publisher, Team17, announced its own foray into NFTs, with a series of artworks featuring their enduringly popular Worms characters.

To learn more about this emerging space, CryptoVista spoke with Christopher Edward Clarke, CEO of Kokoswap, a decentralised finance platform that includes NFTs, an upcoming augmented reality blockchain game called “Kokoverse”, an automated market maker, and a native token, $KOKO.

CryptoVista: Why did you create KokoSwap?

Christopher Clarke: Kokoswap really is a passion project that grew from the team and my love for gaming and all things crypto. Although multiple NFT projects were coming out, we realised none of them really gave a true utility & backed up what they promised to deliver. With Kokoswap, we want to create an AI/Augmented reality game that will advance Game-Fi into a fully immersive user experience for the crypto community.

CryptoVista: In gaming circles, microtransactions and pay-to-win models have been unpopular amongst consumers. How is NFT gaming different?

Christopher Clarke: Right, so I think the main difference is the symbiotic nature that NFT gaming has with crypto. The value of the money earned through NFT gaming is ultimately decided by the players and community.

For example, in the Kokoverse the player earns $KOKO and uses that to buy in-game assets or trade/swap. This itself creates a circular utility for the token. The value of the $KOKO depends on the players, so that itself creates an intrinsic motivation for the gamers to keep adding value to the token.

Play-to-Earn games and NFTs change the whole dynamics of how much fun you can achieve in the game, and that’s what this new system is about. Web3 is all about owning a part of the network, unlike just using it in older traditional games.

It is simple really: the more the people use the network, the more everyone is rewarded.

CryptoVista: What differences are you seeing in both the players and the game devs when comparing traditional gaming and NFT gaming?

Christopher Clarke: You have to keep in mind that crypto – and especially NFT gaming – is a growing industry that is still in its early life cycle.

I would say that there are game devs and players out there who don’t really see a value to NFTs and crypto and think it’s a useless addition to their existing system, but I would highly disagree, as this is the next step into the future.

Although NFT gaming has come in like a storm, people are still learning and trying to implement various ideas! For a world that’s seemly moving into the metaverse, NFT gaming opens a new revenue stream for everyone to benefit from.

CryptoVista: Play-to-Earn is enticing for the players for obvious reasons, but what is enticing about the play-to-earn model for game developers?

Christopher Clarke: I would say that integrating with the upcoming Web3 is quite an innovative concept for today’s game developers. It’s all about creating technology and gameplay that is truly immersive with the help of emerging tech like AI, AR, and VR.

I think another attractive element is creating designs and gameplay backed by the blockchain that will help with authentication and true ownership of games created.

CryptoVista: It feels like NFTs have suddenly exploded, why do you think that is? What is driving that? When will it stop?

Christopher Clarke: You know, we live in the age of the Internet, where the ownership of digital content is very blurred. It goes without saying that once anything is uploaded online, it becomes public property!

Related: Dr. John Hawkins on NFTs as an investment opportunity

The very essence of NFTs was to create digital content that showcased true ownership, and somewhere along the way it truly exploded into this niche of digital creation and collection.

The driving force definitely is the collectability and the exclusivity that owning an NFT brings. The digital world is all about community, and so many of these artists have successfully created these cult followings for their projects.

CryptoVista: What are the pros and cons of how NFTs are used today? How can the “image” of NFTs be changed?

Christopher Clarke: NFTS are great but like all investments, they do have both pros and cons. The pros include ownership of content, the possibility to go up in value, different asset applications, blockchain security, the status symbol, the community aspect and so much more.

For the cons, well, the main one is the crypto industry’s volatile nature, the lack of guarantee on the sale of your NFTs, scam projects, and high fees that limit accessibility.

Going forward, I think the perception of NFTs as a luxury investment needs to change. For mass adoption to happen, NFTs need to be accessible! That is why I think gaming is the perfect avenue to create the mass adoption needed. The Kokoverse is built on a multichain network to support accessibility of all users.

CryptoVista: What would you say to those, both players and devs, who are resistant to publishers implementing NFTs or play-to-earn models?

Whether we like it or not, the future of the digital world is changing. Like the 2000 Internet revolution, there will be some cream at the top. But don’t be deterred from exploring this space. Tech is advancing rapidly and NFTs are the cutting-edge technology that allows a lot of possibilities, like smart contracts.

You can’t reap the benefits if you don’t participate.