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Japanese technology conglomerate Softbank is partnering with Oasisa gaming-optimized blockchain built for gamers.
Softbank will be joining Oasys as an official validator, meaning it will and together they will explore the development of blockchain-based services for the gaming industry. That means Softbank will help provide the security and computing power for Oasys’ proof-of-stake blockchain network, making it easier and cheaper to transact for its gamers.
Through the collaboration with Oasys, Softbank positions itself as a player in blockchain gaming. Oasys cited a report from Research and Markets that the blockchain gaming market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.3% from 2020 to 2025, to be worth $3 billion by 2025.
The move comes on the heels of another Oasys validator announcement by Japanese game publisher Square Enix, the maker of the Final Fantasy games.
Oasys is based in Singapore and Japan.
Softbank and Square Enix were some of the major parties to join Oasys’ blockchain, which already has support from other initial validators including Bandai Namco Research, Sega, Ubisoft, Netmarble, WeMade, Com2uS, and Yield Guild Games.
Oasys creates an ecosystem for gamers and developers to distribute and develop blockchain-based games. It solves the problems game developers face when building games on the blockchain. The strategy is to build the fastest network powered by the gaming community, a scalable network powered by triple-A game developers, and a blockchain that provides the best user experience with fast transactions and free gas fees for users prepares participants to the Oasys and play.
Oasys is a multi-tiered Ethereum virtual machine-enabled, proof-of-stake public blockchain project scheduled to fully launch in 2022.
While Oasys plans to eventually move as much of the management of its project to the community as possible (some call it turning it into a DAO – Decentralized Autonomous Organisation), it is currently registered as an exempt private company limited by shares based in Singapore .
This is similar to the organizational structure of other foundations and companies behind other public blockchains such as Solana Labs, Ethereum Foundation, Terraform Labs, etc.
The company is mainly registered in Singapore because Japan (and to some extent Korea) has many regulatory issues regarding the treatment and taxation of crypto assets. Singapore, on the other hand, has a balance between a global crypto hub and a regulatory framework for a blockchain gaming business hub to succeed in Asia Pacific.
The core team of Oasys is from Japan and is an expert group of developers behind Doublejump.tokyo, one of the most successful Web3 game developers in the world with more than five years of experience developing various blockchain games. The two most popular game titles – My Crypto Heroes and Brave Frontier Heroes, were the most sold blockchain games since their release in 2018 to early 2020 (the world’s leading blockchain game for trading volume, number of transactions and number of users on Ethereum).
Oasys was conceived with the idea of 21 initial validators to provide stability, security and structure to the project, including major Korean gaming companies – Netmarble, Com2us, Wemade, NHN and Neowiz.
Oasys also recently partnered with ConsenSys to be the industry’s first to produce a gaming-optimized wallet for players, and also announced a partnership with Mythical Games, a leading developer of crypto-native games to serve as its first validator.
Current consensus mechanisms are so focused on decentralization, security, and privacy that this can come at the cost of speed, performance, and cost. To make blockchain-powered gaming solutions attractive to game developers and succeed in winning the hearts and minds of players, they must be highly scalable with fast transaction speeds and low/zero gas costs for users, the company said. They must have a well-designed user interface, be fully optimized for performance, and be interoperable across different multiverses. That’s what Oasys is trying to do.
Blockchain games are designed to be borderless and regionless, so in addition to benefiting the Korean market to develop high-quality games globally, this also reduces friction for projects like Oasys to partner with Korean game developers to expand to other markets.
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