Interview with PolkaFantasy’s Key Strategists for Game Development by CoinPost: “The Cores to Successful NFT Games & Potential”

Interview with Key Strategists from PolkaFantasy

PolkaFantasy is the world’s first Japanese ACG-dedicated blockchain ecosystem, with its unique NFT marketplace, NFT wallet and multiverse games.

At the NFT pre-sale event held last August, the firm recorded a total sale of 470 million yen. On December 7, PolkaFantasy’s NFT marketplace beta version was officially launched.

This time, we interviewed three key members from the PolkaFantasy project and discussed its recent activities and future plans.

A Deep Dive into Game Development

CoinPost: What did you do before you joined PolkaFantasy?

Alex: After graduating from college, I was a businessman. I also lived in Japan for quite some time. After that, I founded a startup company myself and started developing apps.

I started studying programming there. After working at a game company, I became the COO of a blockchain consulting company.

PolkaFantasy was drafted around February last year (2021). At that time, NFT was a hot topic, and multiple NFT marketplaces appeared. I felt the future of NFT was there.

Most of the NFT projects are overseas, and specialized in blockchain. The fact that Japan had the strongest content power in the world but NFTs were not that popular is very questionable for me.

I have always loved Japanese culture since I was a child, I play games, and I love manga and anime. Therefore, I was wondering if it would be a great opportunity to create content based on the Japanese 2D culture, and present it to the world as an NFT game.

I have also been involved in the blockchain-related consulting business, so I have the knowledge to build what I envision.

CoinPost: When did you join PolkaFantasy, Mr Watanabe?

Watanabe: I joined pretty recently, and I was introduced to them through Mr. Okada (Mr. Daishiro Okada, a former COO of Square Enix in North America a few months ago.

I have a long-standing relationship with Mr. Okada. And it is the first opportunity to make an NFT (non-substitutable token) game, so I was intrigued and decided to join!

I have been in the gaming industry for such a long time. I had a lot of experience in developing online and social games from the console. So I figured that I could make use of my experience to lead this project .

In the current PolkaFantasy, SIE is in charge of the “back-end system”. We are designing the system. The client (system work) is done by another experienced partner company, and I am in charge of legalizing with the backend team and management team.

CoinPost: How about you Matsuoka-san ?

Mr. Matsuoka: In my case, when I co-founded the Game Culture Association, I heard from Mr. Okada about games in the digital currency and blockchain industry. I got offers and invitations from various places at different times back then. PolkaFantasy was one of them.

Alex, as a foreigner, is incredibly familiar with Japanese culture and is certain about the direction he wants to go. I think what you can trust is only the “personality” in the end. Whether you get in for the money or if you want to make a really interesting game, you can tell immediately by listening to it (laughs).

I decided to be a part of it because this project makes me believe that we could build a fun future together.

The Game Nature of PolkaFantasy

CoinPost: What kind of game is PolkaFantasy?

Alex: The first game is going to be a “3v3 card battle”. We are planning the second game with Mr. Watanabe and Mr. Matsuoka, and would like to challenge ourselves to build games in other genres as well.

CoinPost: What are the difficulties you faced when creating a blockchain game?

Alex: The most difficult part is to maintain both the fun of the game itself and P2E (playing and earning). Some of the existing games have an economical ecosystem (unique ecosystem) implemented, but it was easy to maintain to some extent because it is not the actual money that is distributed in the game.

But it’s not the case with blockchain games. Starting with the design of NFTs, such as unique tokens and characters, the difficulty of balancing will jump up in the ecosystem where you can buy and sell with actual money. Perhaps you’ve seen many blockchain games that end their service within a few months to a few years.

I think the biggest hurdle is to create that with solid foundations and a complete ecosystem while maintaining the game quality that can be enjoyed by a large number of users.

Matsuoka: That’s right. Inflation mechanism is essential to a game and a business in the long term, so if you don’t make users pay for certain items in the game, your company is not making profits.

However, I wonder if there are conflicting parts. If the game balance is gradually inflated just for profit, it may destroy the fun of NFT games and the factors that may be valuable in the future.

How do you set the specification that “NFTs issued in the past may have value in the future ?” We need to get users to expect this part as well. When it comes to just billing games, users gradually move away.

I think that how to strike a balance is the most important and difficult part.

Difference Between BCG & Normal Game

CoinPost: What do you think about the difference between BCG and normal games?

Watanabe: I think the biggest difference is the existence of “investors”.
I think most of the investors (traders) who invest in blockchain games want to make a profit through the game.

I think it’s quite difficult to provide a complex game design to such people. Probably they might quit in the short term.

Mr. Matsuoka and I are currently planning the second game for PolkaFantasy, and we have an idea about counter-measures in that area.

I think it is a plan that has the potential to solve both the anti-inflation problem and the concerns investors have. If it works well, it may be possible to set it apart from past gaming experiences.

The Future of BCG in Blockchain

CoinPost: Where do you think the potential and interesting parts of blockchain games lie?

Watanabe: Given the popularity of blockchain games and cryptocurrencies, I think the first thing that comes to mind is that the “Play-to-Earn” concept is coming to life.

Everyone has to be aware of the act of “making money”, which is directly linked to the foundation of daily life, and I think that communication is the second most important thing.

Communication is one of the interesting things about capturing games, isn’t it? It’s interesting to capture while talking to your teammates in this era, for example, “wilderness action (TPS battle royal game)”. I wonder if the number of people who are feeling that way is increasing.

It would be a great world if this were an era where children before they went out into society could experience it. Through NFT games, rational logical thinking and flexible problem-solving abilities will be nurtured, and more efficient children will be born to increase profits. That may be the experience that even if you become a member of society, you will be able to immediately become a force at your place of employment.

CoinPost：What is difficult about creating a community in your opinion?

Watanabe: I don’t think there are many patterns that work well when trying to create a community. I think there are many patterns in which companies support and expand things that are born spontaneously.

I was aware of such a part in the development of the second game. It is difficult for beginners and intermediate players who are unfamiliar with the game to catch up with the high-level play that traders and high-ranking players do.

However, there is a demand for weapons and characters with high rarity, so if investors support players by renting it under the “scholarship system (* 1)” beginner players could also shine.

* 1: A system that obtains the distribution of rewards earned by borrowers as consideration for lending NFTs using in-game functions.

The demand for hiring future star players will also be created by early investors. If that happens, I think the true ecosystem will begin to turn around. If players can make money without spending a lot of money, it will be possible to go up with the extreme story “one arm of the game”.

Investors own lands (virtual land) and rent out weapons with high rarity. Since the profit for what happens in the land comes in, you can make income (asset protection benefit) without actually playing the game.

In that stage, the community of star players will be starting to build. A community of ground is also fostered, and a flow such as “You must negotiate with that game guild (organization) to enter this economic zone” occurs.

On the other hand, it gets a little closer to the real world, so there is a possibility that there will be some squeaks in the community, but it is natural to make friends who are really close friends and like the rivals I mentioned earlier. I think it will occur. I think it’s like “He’s the one who follows me”.

Such a phenomenon occurs at each (community) hierarchy. Players aim for that. I wonder if investors will want to hire stronger players.

Reasons for Creating A Hybrid of Normal Games and Blockchain Games

CoinPost: PolkaFantasy recognizes it as a hybrid of existing games and blockchain games. Is it designed to recognize the use of blockchain technology during play?

Watanabe: Game players do not necessarily have to recognize that this is a blockchain game.When you can put your game asset on the market, I think that you will be realized that this is the blockchain game through NFTs

I think that investors in the crypto industry are different as they have knowledge from the beginning.

I think users are playing social games with smartphones now, but in the case of blockchain games, there is a high barrier for entry by first buying related tokens, paying money and then starting. I think there is a high possibility that that part will gradually be lifted.

The Outlook of PolkaFantasy’s Future Plans

CoinPost: Finally, Please tell us about your future plans.

Alex: There are various challenges to create a GameFi ecosystem like no one has ever experienced before , but I would like to overcome them one by one. I want to create an ecosystem that is sustainable for many years.

In that sense, it is our strength to have a strong team even in the blockchain industry where projects are crowded.

There are legendary members of the game industry in our team, so I think we can do big things.

First of all, structuring a healthy ecosystem is the driving force that drives the team.

Member Bio

Alex Hui
PolkaFantasy・CEO
As a director/COO specializing in blockchain business development and operations, he has led numerous projects to a successful path. He also won two global awards for applications in the past.

Yuki Watanabe
PolkaFantasy・Senior Development Advisor
Started working in the Japanese Self-Defense Forces. After obtaining his CCNA from SIE, he ventures to GameOn Co.Ltd to work as a Network Engineer.
With his exceptional expertise in the gaming industry, he joined Square Enix Co.,Ltd as a specialist. He was involved in developing a wide range of games, including social, VR and arcade games,

Masayuki Matsuoka
PolkaFantasy・Game Advisor
Won №1 Champion in the world ranking three times in the PC version of “Yu-Gi-Oh” when he was a student. Also won the “Rockman Exe” series in Osaka, Tokyo, and Nagoya.
After joining CyberAgent Group as a business director working as a game capture media and app producer,
He established the “General Incorporated Association Game Culture Association”. together with Mr. Okada, the former COO of Square Enix’s US corporation.