Get Your Game On: Blockchain and the State of the UK Gaming Industry

Peer pressure is a helluva thing. I wasn’t going to pick up Monster Hunter World, but when the other three members of my squad bought it, obviously I had to jump on the band wagon. Now that I’m hunter rank 6, stylin’ in my freshly crafted Tzizi armour, I have no regrets. Except maybe the late nights I’ve donated to the monster hunting cause.

Meanwhile, in gaming news…

Blockchain is Gamefying Reality, Fifteen Million Merits at a Time

With every advancement in technology and gaming, we come closer and closer to Black Mirror episodes becoming reality. Though its uses are usually linked to cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, blockchain technology has already become an integral part of some surprising industries, including agriculture, energy companies, and the art world. But simplifying microtransactions in gaming is where blockchain is really digging in, and blurs the lines between reality and virtual reality with games like Pokemon GO, which gives monetary rewards for physical actions.

Jo Twist on the Ups and Downs of the UK Gaming Industry

Jo Twist, CEO of Ukie, the UK’s trade body for games and interactive entertainment businesses, spends her time promoting the game industry, most recently doing so at the London’s Games Festival where she talked to The Standard:

“The ability to experience something and step back to say, oh that’s happened because I did this. Gaming can help you reflect on an issue and impacts you in a way that broadcast media couldn’t do. It’s time now for people think about games as a serious format; they’re not just about shooting people or for children. They are a way to treat serious topics and experience serious things, as well as entertain.”

But while the games and innovations are making waves, the UK still struggles behind the scenes, as shown in recently released data on the gender pay gap. However, there are gaps in the nature of the data itself, including a lack of data from Activision, Ubisoft, Ninja Theory, Nintendo UK, Sega, and Playground Games.

The median gender wage gap is 17.85 percent within the games industry, versus the national median of 9.7 percent. The disparity is most notable at Sumo Digital (34.5 percent), Rockstar (31.8 percent), and Codemasters (27.9 percent).

“Importantly, businesses now need to be proactive and ensure they are taking the right steps in their policies and approaches so they can create the best opportunities for people and therefore an inclusive and diverse workforce, especially in senior leadership and management roles,” Twist told GamesIndustry.biz.

Now Play This

For three days during the London Games Festival, visitors got to partake of the Now Play This exhibition which featured 25 games and game-related artwork. The 2018 themes of the exhibition focused on place, pattern and game-making, as the industry tackles sensitive subjects, strives for cultural recognition, and challenges the misconceptions surrounding it. Participants were invited to play games, browse the library of game-related books and zines, share their own work, and help in the creation of one giant game.

Games Bleat

Welcome to Games Bleat! I’m Joesph, your local gaming cultist, and I’ve been staring into the moonless abyss all week to catch a fleeting glimpse of an elder god to pass its horrifying knowledge onto you! What I saw may have wormed its way into my soul, forever preventing me from seeing the light of god, but it also gave me these sick games deals:

PC

• Penarium $2.49
• Beyond Eyes $3.74
• Atomine $2.49
• The Deed: Dynasty $1.19
• Interplanetary: Enhanced Edition $5.09
• Hard West $4.99

PlayStation

• Dark Souls III: The Fire Fades Edition $19.99

Nintendo

• Ittle Dew 2+ $23.99
• Knight Terrors $2.00

Having seen the tail of a far deity, I also learned of a dark ritual that would push me even closer to the abyss. Coincidentally, that’s also where this week’s fresh games were found!

First we have The Librarian, a game about a librarian protecting her temple from the ghosts brought by her darkest dreams. Next is a short visual novel called One-Eye, about an eponymous tree spirit searching for an enigmatic contest in the woods. Finally is the free-to-play browser game Just One Boss, which has one of the most charmingly fun antagonists I’ve ever seen in a game.

That’s it for this week’s bleat! I’m going to go take a nap and hopefully forget some of these dark truths whispering to me from beyond the stars. Catch you next week for more games, news, and of course some sweet, rapturous, deals!