Imagine a world where video game players have actual ownership over their characters - it's a concept that 26-year-old Paul Taylor is already working overtime to make a reality.
In his current role as Chief Strategy Officer for web3 video game developer Fancy Studios, he's leading the charge on crypto gaming, also known as GameFi. This refers to blockchain games that offer players tokenized incentives and treat players as an owner versus just a customer.
However, Taylor wasn't always a believer in crypto. From January 2018 to February 2022, Taylor worked for the private equity team at major investment management firm BlackRock. "Ironically, I was actually known as one of the biggest skeptics on crypto. To be fair though, most projects were highly questionable at that time," he says. That said, he didn't want to pass up an opportunity.
"I've been following the crypto market since 2017 and have consistently seen more capital moving into the industry, and the use cases continue to increase," says Taylor. "As a lifetime gamer, crypto gaming naturally got my attention and I quickly realized the potential. I think any gamer who has played a game for many hours will instantly appreciate the ability to buy, sell, and trade your in-game characters and items to others. Additionally, having the ability to use assets from one game to another, also known as interoperability, is really tangible. Imagine playing as your favorite character from your favorite childhood game in any modern game today."
When learning more about GameFi, he spoke with numerous founders of some of the most successful gaming companies in the industry and ultimately found a mentor in one of the co-founders of the open-world blockchain AAA game, Illuvium.
Taylor was so committed to the concept of GameFi that he figuratively put his money where his mouth was, quitting his secure and highly competitive position on Wall Street to take a chance on the future of gaming because of his faith in the idea. "I figured that if I'm going to take a career risk, I might as well do it properly and go all-in," he says.
That led to him becoming the Chief Strategy Officer of Fancy Studios, which produces hyper-casual mobile games developed with player ownership via NFTs (non-fungible tokens) and interoperability in mind. "My current role is ideal because it allows me to apply my personal love of games with my business background," says Taylor, who is in charge of business strategy, business development, project management, investments, and strategic partnerships.
Fancy Studios is off to a strong start, having already sold hundreds of thousands of its NFTs and has a large dedicated community playing its first game Fancy Birds, a variation on the casual game Flappy Birds where users guide birds around obstacles. Their second game, with a long waiting list of eager participants, is Fancy Birds: Sky Wars, a multiplayer PVP game where up to 10 players can duke it out flying their birds to try to shoot down others in a top gun style dogfighter. It's expected to have a full production release in October.
This is a new approach to gaming, where players get to retain ownership of their game assets, including characters, upgrades, and any other digital items they earn playing a Fancy Studios game. It's a clear break from the traditional model of games where people can pay huge amounts of money yet have zero ownership of any gaming asset. If players quit a traditional game, they lose everything, while if they quit a Fancy Studios game, they still own everything.
"Admittedly, GameFi might seem like lots of buzzwords with complicated ideas, but it's based on an easy-to-understand concept of empowering gamers," says Taylor. "The next generation of gamers will want to play their favorite characters across all the games they play and own what they spend money on, and Fancy Studios is leading the way in line with that vision."
Yet even though any new business idea has inherent risk, Taylor is optimistic that he's an early pioneer of a market that has solid growth potential and a sustainable future.
"I honestly think that in five years' time, what we now call 'GameFi' will just be called 'gaming.' The unique approach that sounds novel now will become the norm, and it's far more valuable to be committed to that transition at the start versus trying to join halfway through," says Taylor.
