Purpose
The article discusses the goals of the Gala Games and Entertainment ecosystem and the reasons behind the decision to create an entertainment ecosystem.
Assumptions Made
This article assumes the reader understands the information in the following articles:
What is an ERC20/721/1155 contract?
What are Non-Fungible-Tokens (NFTs)?
Summary
What is Gala Games and Entertainment?
Gala Games and Entertainment is an entertainment company focused on pioneering the games, music, and film industries. Gala Games and Entertainment was founded in 2019 by Eric Schiermeyer, one of the co-founders of Zynga. Under Schiermeyer’s leadership, Zynga launched popular hits like Poker, Mafia Wars, and Farmville. Now focusing his efforts on Gala Games and Entertainment, the team has grown to include the brilliant minds behind popular titles such as Command and Conquer, Doom, Unreal, Halo, Left 4 Dead, Call of Duty, and many more.
What is GalaChain?
GalaChain is specifically designed to handle the transaction throughput needed for games to grow and scale while providing provable and verifiable ownership to token holders. With the ability to scale horizontally to handle an infinite number of games, GalaChain is designed to be the backbone of the Gala Games and Entertainment ecosystem.
The Power Of NFTs in Gaming
The purchasable in-game items within the Gala Games and Entertainment ecosystem are Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). These items range in utility, with each in its unique way!
Some NFTs may be as simple as a cosmetic change for a playable character, while others allow players to own an in-game character. In some cases, the character progression will be tied to the NFT. This empowers players with full ownership of their items (NFTs) with the ability to gift or trade their items to other players.
Depending on the NFT, owners can Play-And-Earn with their in-game items. In some games, when a player completes specific daily challenges or wins a certain amount of matches, they get rewarded with the game’s cryptocurrency. This could be rewarded in $GALA or another cryptocurrency made entirely for the game, such as $SILK in Spider Tanks. This cryptocurrency can be utilized however the player sees fit. Thanks to blockchain integration within the game, players have complete control of NFTs and rewards.
Players can rent out their NFTs through games that have a rental system in place. So, instead of a person having to give full ownership of an NFT to someone else, they can use the rental system featured in a game. This system would be integrated directly into the game and have an easy-to-use interface in which players can lend or rent without having to exit the game. This is all possible through Smart Contracts that allow NFT owners to safely and securely share access to their NFTs with other players so that they can benefit from them. The rental system will also divide rewards between the owner and the renter. This effectively lowers the barrier of entry to allow just about anyone to participate in the Play and Earn ecosystem.
Gala Games and Entertainment’s original focus was solely on gaming, but Blockchain technology has exhibited valuable properties that are effective beyond just gaming. As a result, Gala Games and Entertainment has expanded and begun to use its expertise to change the music and film industries by empowering artists, rewarding fans, and building a decentralized ecosystem.
Transforming the Music Industry
In the world of Music, there has been a substantial disconnect between the artists and their supporters. Instead of selling a song to fans directly, artists have to partner up with a record label or various streaming services to gain traction. Unfortunately, these services often give the artist very little back in revenue. Furthermore, some of the most popular platforms require a monthly subscription fee without allowing users to own the songs. Artists may also need to provide exclusivity to a particular streaming platform which limits their audience.
While this may be convenient, Gala Games and Entertainment is providing an alternative through Blockchain. Artists can now sell their music directly to their supporters. In addition, their fans can own an original copy of the song as an NFT, and the NFTs have more benefits than just owning a physical copy.
One of the remarkable things people can do is participate in Listen and Earn, made possible through a decentralized music streaming platform. Node owners, NFT owners, and listeners, can all participate in this ecosystem to support artists, earn rewards and engage with their favorite artists in ways they could never do before.
Blockchain Revolutionizing Film
Like music, the film industry has also had its share of problems. Films and shows have been widely available to watch on DVDs or Blu-rays. Still, recent trends have shown that the industry is transitioning towards digital-only media, in which many platforms require a subscription to their service. While this does provide an easy and convenient way of accessing content, it also prevents a person from owning an actual copy.
Often, a film or show may be exclusive to a specific streaming service and not shown anywhere else. This exclusivity forces people into multiple subscriptions to view all of their favorite content. With media pushing towards a subscription model, content creators are less compensated for their work.
Rather than making a direct upfront sale from selling their physical media at a store, content creators often have to pay a large percentage of their revenue to the streaming platform. There’s also more considerable competition on the streaming platforms where the platform dictates what is pushed to the front page while the up-and-coming creators are left behind.
Gala Games and Entertainment strives to develop an alternative to the current system. Film creators will be able to sell their content directly to supporters and allow them to access unique experiences. Like Music, Gala Film will have a Watch and Earn ecosystem that will enable creators to, Node Operators, Owners, and Supporters to enjoy, earn rewards and benefit from it. This is possible due to the integration of Blockchain technology and the Gala Node ecosystem.
What To Know About Nodes
A decentralized network of nodes powers the Gala Games and Entertainment ecosystem. Each node type has a specific workload critical for the network to run. Workloads are the tasks done by each node license. The first nodes released were called Founder’s Nodes. Everyone who operates a Founder’s Node is contributing to the growth of this decentralized network and can vote on decisions regarding the direction of the Gala Games and Entertainment Ecosystem. Other nodes exist and can perform specific tasks to help the ecosystem function properly. These nodes may help run game servers like in Last Expedition or be the music player of the Gala music ecosystem like for Gala Music.
Empowering the People
With the power of decentralization, people can finally take back ownership of their favorite games, music, and films. Gala Games and Entertainment is revolutionizing these industries using blockchain technology and going against the grain. Through systems such as Play and Earn, Gala Games and Entertainment has given away more than 2 billion dollars in rewards to its community through the ecosystem. This has changed numerous community members' lives and brought many people living in developing nations out of poverty. As these systems grow and mature over time, with more games, music, and films being added to the platform, Gala Games and Entertainment strives to elevate both the ecosystem's participants and its content creators.