Blockchain games won’t flourish as long as their underlying infrastructure can’t facilitate their growth. At least this notion is what motivated web3 gaming company Ex Populus to build gaming-centric chain Xai, which is an L3 built on Arbitrum. In addition to its infrastructure, Ex Populus is also busy making games, including upcoming fully onchain deck builder Final Form.

We thought it a good time to check in with founder and CEO Tobias Batton.

When networks aren’t designed with a priority on gaming, they severely limit what can be built, leaving players with games that are just okay and not great.

Tobias Batton, Ex Populus

BlockchainGamer: With plenty of existing web3 infrastructure already, why did you think the industry needed an additional gaming L3 chain?

Batton: Web3 infrastructure at present isn’t designed to allow web3 games to grow, which is what drove the creation of Xai. When we started to look for a network for our games at Ex Populus, it became clear that none of the options on the market were optimized for gaming or have the processing speeds needed to make incredibly ambitious projects possible.

That’s when we set out to create a truly purpose built network for gaming and believe we’ve created the only true gaming option on the market.

In what way is Xai different from other gaming rollups?

For starters, we’re the fastest network building on Ethereum out of all of the other gaming rollups. This allows us to process more onchain and makes high throughput operations like gaming much more efficient on Xai. On top of this, we’re redefining the way that gamers interact with web3 games through innovations like wallet abstraction, improving the user experience for newcomers.

Our team prides itself on truly supporting developers as they build on Xai and giving them the tools they need to succeed with programs like our Tokenomics Bootcamp. This is in contrast to other gaming chains that will promise developers the world but not provide real support to bring games to their platform.

Why did you choose to leverage Arbitrum?

With our vision for Xai, we needed to make sure we had technology that could sustain the scalability of a proper gaming network, and work with a team that shared our ambitious outlook on what web3 gaming can provide for the industry. Offchain Labs and Arbitrum fit that bill and we worked collaboratively with their team to develop Xai as a Layer 3 in its Arbitrum Orbit network. As we’ve grown into a standalone chain, their team has remained supportive and we’re thrilled with the partnership we’ve been able to forge for the benefits of both parties.

Is it more important for such ecosystems to have a large number of games or a few high volume games?

It’s definitely important for ecosystems to have multiple games available for their players and to have a healthy schedule of new releases. With that said, it’s less about having high volume games and more about having developers who are making engaging and fun experiences that happen to be built on, or incorporate, web3 technology.

The volume and player numbers will follow if the game makes players want to keep coming back, with consistent content releases to keep it fresh. That’s a lot of what we are seeing with games like Helldivers right now. It’s a fantastic game with a great design, but there’s not enough content to keep players around long term. That’s what makes games great and what will drive the volume numbers behind flagship titles.

Why do you think web3 gaming isn’t mass market yet?

There’s multiple factors but the lack of purpose built infrastructure is definitely a leading cause. When networks aren’t designed with a priority on gaming, they severely limit what can be built, leaving players with games that are just okay and not great. On top of this, there still hasn’t been that “wow” moment for a blockchain game that naturally brings a traditional gaming playerbase into the web3 gaming ecosystem. The evolution of gaming has always been on the back of a breakout experience in a new market. Web3 will be no different.

With the advancement of infrastructure in our space, combined with real developers and studios that have been grinding for years on a tried and true gaming experience, it feels like the market-moving game is likely around the corner.

How will Xai contribute to the mainstream adoption of blockchain?

The easiest way to bring about mainstream adoption is to just build great games, which is what is driving our Vanguard: Genesis campaign. We’re also continuing to push the capabilities of our network, having led all ETH-based blockchains in transactions per second over the last few weeks. As mentioned, in order to have great games there has to be great infrastructure – Xai is proving to be the chain to support those games and we’re confident that we’ll be at the center of mainstream adoption for blockchain-based games.

Can you tell us more about where your own games – Final Form, LAMOverse, and others – are currently up to?

Final Form is next to be released, and we are very excited about the project.  The game is fully onchain while also boasting AAA production values. This opens a world of possibilities for composability and modability, while also improving security. 

From everything we have seen, we believe Final Form is the most ambitious fully on chain game in the industry and we believe it has the potential to put a big dent in how the industry makes and publishes games.

There are examples of developers being too ambitious and spreading out too thinly in trying to combine both game making and infrastructure. Do you see any risks in this regard?

There is definitely a learning curve for developers moving from web2 to web3, so there can be issues that arise in the development process. This is where the support of the chain comes in, helping to fast track developers onto the platform and get them leveraging web3 capabilities without hassle. The goal is to have developers focused on the actual building of the game, while allowing the chain itself to provide the infrastructure needed for the title to be successful.

If you entered the web3 gaming space as a developer today, would your priorities be different in any way?

Traditional game developers entering the web3 gaming space should educate themselves on the discipline of tokenomics. When done correctly, tokenomics open a world of possibilities for traditional gamers.  Games can be truly free to play, with no need for a premium price, or paid in-game items.  You are in essence designing your own municipality, with its own economic levers and dials. It’s an amazing new world.

Discover more via Xai’s official website and X account.