- Push & Shove
- Posts
- Splinterlands Is More Than A Game, It's A Platform
Splinterlands Is More Than A Game, It's A Platform
Hawks21 Gaming
01 Sep
"Push & Shove. There's not going to be enough for everyone."
Splinterlands Is More Than A Game, It's A Platform
I recently had the pleasure of participating in a Twitter Spaces event hosted by Bulldog. During that discussion he posed an interesting question. "Splinterlands has had a first-mover advantage. Could we see someone utilize some of the traditional second-mover advantages and swoop in to compete?" I've thought about this a lot before, but never had to articulate my thoughts until that moment. I gave a (long-winded) answer that covered some of the points I'm about to write about, but I wanted to expand on that thought further.
For those unfamiliar, first-mover advantages are the benefits of being first to a particular market. In this case, Splinterlands was not only one of the first play-to-earn card games, but one of the first play-to-earn games in general to have solid footing. This gave the team massive advantages. Anyone who was interested in the space early on would automatically have to be interested in Splinterlands. There weren't many other options!
This provided the company with the revenue, users, brand, consumer trust, and most importantly, expertise necessary to iterate on their game and build it to what we see today. The most popular play-to-earn game in the world right now. That isn't to say Splinterlands got to this point solely because they were one of the first. On the contrary, it required a long line of fantastic decisions by the team for Splinterlands to even be in the position to have a first-mover advantage and even more great decisions since to maintain it.
All that being said, why would there be risks of a second-mover coming into the space and trying to knock Splinterlands off its throne? Well, there are some legitimate advantages second-movers have!
First, Splinterlands has done a lot of the hard work for them. They've built a massive user base that is interested in play-to-earn card games that a second-mover can easily tap into. Next, this new game would have the benefit of viewing Splinterlands as a whole from the top down. What do the players like? What do the players not like? They keep the things the players like and they try to avoid the things the players don't like!
Compounding that dynamic is that Splinterlands, like all first-movers, is at the disadvantage of having to move more slowly than someone who is just starting up. Splinterlands has a user base that has already poured assets and time into the ecosystem, so each decision they make has to be thought through meticulously. This often leads to stagnation by first-movers while the second-mover counterpart is able to move quickly to capitalize on opportunities.
Reading that back, it comes off like I'm nervous this might happen to Splinterlands, but I'm actually not! Of course it's a risk, but Splinterlands' decision to turn itself into a gaming platform has basically quelled any concerns I had about this. Here's why.
The two big advantages first-movers have over potential competitors is expertise and infrastructure. The problem is, these things don't last forever. Competitors eventually develop expertise, and building out the infrastructure is incredibly difficult, but not impossible. First-movers who eventually fall often fail to recognize, either through arrogance or inability, that these advantages are finite. Not Splinterlands though.
Splinterlands is weaponizing these advantages. The team has realized that someday there's a good chance there might be a play-to-earn game more popular than Splinterlands, but they're going to make sure that it's on the Splinterlands gaming platform. They're inviting developers to tap into their expertise, infrastructure, and user base as long as they design and build their games alongside Splinterlands, ensuring that they are tied together. This is a brilliant move, and one that requires equal amounts of foresight and humbleness. Outside of direct value flowing back to Splinterlands players from this decision. There are a couple of more benefits.
First, these new games are testing grounds for new ideas that Splinterlands could eventually implement back into the core game. For example, it has been said that Genesis League Soccer gameplay is going to have multiple steps throughout each game. It's going to be increasingly difficult for bots to participate in that type of game given the increased complexity. If all goes well and Splinterlands decides it wants to further inhibit bots, they could borrow some of the principles they tested and implemented with GLS and put them into the core game.
Second, these new games will be potential funnels back to Splinterlands. If everything is hosted on the same platform and moving between games is seamless, the Splinterlands core game stands to benefit from increased users coming to the platform. Let's take Genesis League Soccer again for example. Naturally, this game is going to appeal to a specific audience that Splinterlands doesn't. Soccer fans! These fans joining the platform and being introduced to the ecosystem will increase the likelihood they check out the core Splinterlands game and consider playing. Now, if you zoom out and consider Genesis League Football, Genesis League Basketball, Genesis League Baseball, etc, etc, etc. You can see how that can be an extremely powerful funnel back to the core game.
I couldn't be more excited about the trajectory of both the core Splinterlands game and the larger Splinterlands gaming platform that is in its infancy. I think it was a perfect strategic move for the company to position themselves this way and it basically ensures that Splinterlands players will continue to benefit not only from the game itself, but also from a thriving play-to-earn ecosystem.
As Always, Push & Shove.
Chaos Pack Tracker
Well we got the big push last night that I talked about in the last newsletter, but unfortunately the first couple days were extremely slow. I do think we've turned a corner though and I fully expect us to hit the 10,000,000 pack mark by this weekend.
MASSIVE Season End Rewards
I love seeing everyone posting their season end rewards. It's just a great reminder every two weeks how rewarding this game can be to those who stick around for the long-term. I've seen my fair share of amazing pulls, but nothing comes close to what bcsthehung1989 pulled yesterday.
They pulled 32,530 SPS in a SINGLE chest. Can you imagine? $1,820 in one chest. I've never seen anything like it! This game rewards you. It might not be today. It might not be tomorrow. It might not even be the day after that, but if you stick around long enough and work your way up through the leagues, your day will eventually come.
Also, I see you sitting there at number two Stever82! Love his content, so be sure to check out his stuff!
Sponsor: The Bird Gang Membership!
Huge shout out to our first sponsor... ME! That's right, this edition of Push & Shove is brought to you by me, myself, and I. In all seriousness, I recently launched a Discord server and a membership platform for my supporters and think it's worth checking out if you're looking for a way to support my content.
I'm not just asking you for money either, you'll be getting some things in return!
Benefits Of Bird Gang Membership:
Access To Members Only Chat
Unlock Card Flipping Alert Channel
Unlock Gold Foil Alert Channel
Early & Exclusive Access To Certain Videos
Priority Chat Access
Discounts On All Future Products
Participation In Riftwatchers Bulk Buy*
OG Bird Gang Status**
*I'm planning on doing a Riftwatchers bulk buy, but reserve the right to change my mind once we find out more details if the economics don't make sense.
**In the future I'm planning on adding more benefits to the membership package and increasing the price. If you join before that increase, you'll be locked in to the lower $5 per month price as an OG Bird Gang member.
Too often memberships are treated like donation centers where the content creator takes the money and gives out some emojis or shoutouts. Nothing against those, but that's just not how I operate. I worked hard, and will continue to work hard, to provide a membership that actually benefits my supports, and ultimately, pays for itself.
We've already had a few nice wins in our Card Flipping Alert and Gold Foil Alert channels. One Bird Gang member actually switched out his Regular Foil Chaos Agent to a Gold Foil Chaos Agent... AND PROFITED $10 after an alert. Paid for two months of membership in a matter of minutes. I do all the hard work checking the markets so you don't have to!
Also, you'll hear exactly what I'm buying as soon as I buy it. Here's an example. A video will be coming out shortly about how much I like Vouchers right now. Unfortunately, it takes time to record and put out content, so information gets stale or isn't as actionable. Well, here's me telling my Bird Gang members I was buying Vouchers seconds after doing it!
Interested? Become A Bird Gang Member Here:
Cost Of Membership:
$5 per month
Still Have Questions? Join The Discord And Ask!
Monetization Update
August has come to a close, so I figured it was the perfect time to do our second monetization journey check in! We saw an 85% increase in revenue from July to August, so extremely excited with that.
A handful of things led the charge. First, having a full month of monetizing YouTube made a huge difference. I'm honestly pretty surprised with the number. Definitely didn't think 1.2K subscribers would turn into ~$110 in revenue for the month. I'm really enjoying making videos and watching the community grow.
Next, we saw a pretty substantial increase in Gameplay rewards. This was largely from the introduction of SPS rewards, which has sent our reward chests and battling rewards skyrocketing in value. Very excited to see the September data when we have this system for a full month. On top of that, we saw ~$22 in rental income for the month. Not bad! Makes me potentially want to spend more time renting out my main deck, but I just love playing the game too much!
Last, but certainly not least, the launch of our membership was a huge boost to the bottom line. A huge thank you to everyone who has already joined. As I mentioned above, I really think I can create a place that puts out far more value than it costs to enter, and I'm going to work incredibly hard to make that happen.
No new launches coming any time soon. I have some ideas in my head, but between the YouTube, Twitter, Newsletter, and now Discord, I'm going to focus on growing and solidifying those channels and giving value back to my early members before anything new comes out.
Feedback
Have any suggestions for the newsletter? Want to yell at me about something? Tell me I'm doing a great job? Do it here!