YGG Web3 Games Summit reinforces PH as center of web3 gaming adoption

by Excel V. Dyquiangco / December 7, 2023

Yield Guild Games (YGG), a pioneer in the web3 industry, has brought together over 90 local and international web3 game developers, content creators, esports athletes, venture capitals, and various government officials for the first-ever YGG Web3 Games Summit held in Bonifacio Global City from November 18 to 25.

The week-long summit aimed to celebrate web3 gaming and showcased the community committed to securing the Philippines’ role as the home of web3 gaming adoption.

According to YGG Pilipinas Country Lead Mench Dizon, the summit was “the Web3 games event to watch out for,” and the equivalent of the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco but for web3 games.

Among those who participated in the YGG Web3 Games Summit was Sky Mavis Co-founder Jeffrey “Jihoz” Zirlin, who announced the return of Axie Classic and acknowledged the pivotal role Filipinos have played in the success of Axie Infinity and the Ronin blockchain—which has third-party games being built on it, such as the current hit web3 game Pixels.

“In the last day, 82,000 Filipinos have played Pixels, and I am looking directly at the Google Analytics data. These are real people, these are Filipinos. Ronin is back. The Philippines is back. It is clear, as we enter a new cycle, that the Philippines remains the beating heart of Web3 gaming,” he said.

Other global developers also took the opportunity at the YGG Web3 Games Summit to test and launch a slew of new web3 games in the Philippines. Among them were Ragnarok Landverse, a free-to-play Web3 game that serves as the follow-up to Ragnarok Online, PROJECT XENO, Parallel, Star Atlas, Nine Chronicles M, MetaCene, Riftstorm, Cryptopia, Mighty Action Heroes, and more.

YGG Co-founder Gabby Dizon said, “For the next two years at least, all of these games will first launch in Southeast Asia. In fact, the country that leads in terms of Web3 gaming adoption is the Philippines.”

“Asian countries are markets that really understand Web3, blockchain, and user-generated content and how they can engage into it and leverage it, not only from the brand perspective but also from the creators’ and player’s perspectives,” added Sebastien Borget, co-founder of The Sandbox.

Bringing global opportunities to Filipino Web3 gamers

During the summit, Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Undersecretary Jocelle Batapa-Sigue pointed out that there are six sectors driving the digital economy in the Philippines, the second of which is gaming.

“[I]t means that we really have a very robust and vibrant gaming industry,” she noted.

With the global appetite for web3 and cryptocurrency dulled by regulatory uncertainty in many parts of the world, YGG said the national government’s presence coupled with the impressive list of international Web3 game developers present signaled an exciting shift in sentiment.

For Dizon, the summit could not have been more timely, with such an impressive roster of hot Web3 games launching at the summit, signifying that gaming guilds are back stronger than ever. With these new Web3 games being launched, many on par with the quality of traditional games, he foresaw that Filipino gamers more accustomed to mobile and console gaming will explore the benefits of Web3 gaming.

“For all of us here, we want millions of people to come in. We want the games to be fun and be accessible to all types of gamers and we want to introduce them to Web3 elements when they delve deeper,” he said. Dizon also explained that some Web3 games are free to play, with gamers given the chance to own a part of the virtual economy by purchasing in-game non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Adding to that local appeal with free-to-play elements, are games like Anito Legends, a strategic auto-battler inspired by Filipino mythology and developed by Filipinos but with global appeal. Anito Legends co-founder and CMO Jayvee Fernandez emphasized the need to introduce a truly Pinoy game to which Filipinos can relate and connect.

“We’re making use of Filipino folklore, tikbalang the saranay, the alan, all of these mythical creatures put together,” he said.

To ensure that Filipinos can take full advantage of this global opportunity, YGG has a variety of structured programs to build up skills and reward the community through education and achievement initiatives like the Guild Advancement Program (GAP) and Superquests, as well as events like the YGG Web3 Games Summit and the various community events they host year-round.

The summit also reinforced the viability of pursuing a career in Web3, through the live learning sessions by YGG’s Web3 Metaversity program open to all attendees during the event. For those taking their Web3 gaming more seriously, the summit also included cosplay competitions and esports tournaments.

Supporting all those who chose to compete in web3 gaming, legendary boxer Manny Pacquiao was on hand to award a total of $100,000 cash prizes to the winners of the PROJECT XENO Pro Tour Manila esports tournament held as part of the YGG Web3 Games Summit. Barangay Ginebra San Miguel players Jared Dillinger and Tony Bishop, also delighted the conference delegates with a showcase of the co-op top-down action shooter Riftstorm live on stage.

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