Marketplaces in games aren't new.
Valve’s Community Marketplace launched in 2012. It allows players to buy and sell in-game items and assets with community members for Steam Wallet funds. Each time you trade on the Valve Community Marketplace, Valve takes 5% (15% on some items) on each transaction.
Valve doesn't allow you to take your funds out of your Steam Wallet, nor does it allow you to visit other marketplaces to trade items that you may own on Steam, unless Steam acts as the intermediary (with the third party site taking a fee in addition to steam). In fact, Valve may go as far as to ban or shut down your account, or sue for legal damages if you are found to be trading on external unofficial third-party marketplaces.
Also, how often does Steam update it's marketplace with new features? Does it have to? Who's it competing with? What is known is that it frequently introduces new trade and market restrictions. If players want to find and use an alternative third-party 'unofficial' marketplace for their items, Valve may simply ban or restrict those players.
Valve’s Community Marketplace launched in 2012. It allows players to buy and sell in-game items and assets with community members for Steam Wallet funds. Each time you trade on the Valve Community Marketplace, Valve takes 5% (15% on some items) on each transaction.
Valve doesn't allow you to take your funds out of your Steam Wallet, nor does it allow you to visit other marketplaces to trade items that you may own on Steam, unless Steam acts as the intermediary (with the third party site taking a fee in addition to steam). In fact, Valve may go as far as to ban or shut down your account, or sue for legal damages if you are found to be trading on external unofficial third-party marketplaces.
Also, how often does Steam update it's marketplace with new features? Does it have to? Who's it competing with? What is known is that it frequently introduces new trade and market restrictions. If players want to find and use an alternative third-party 'unofficial' marketplace for their items, Valve may simply ban or restrict those players.
A new type of Marketplace
I’ve been working as a UX Designer at Illuvium for just over a year now. At Illuvium we’re on a mission bringing you the world's first interoperable blockchain games. One universe, multiple games, all interoperable. These games are all underpinned by the ImmutableX platform which in turn lives on the Ethereum blockchain network.
We recently (6 or so months ago) released our V2 version of the IlluviDex. The IlluviDex is our marketplace where players can buy, sell, trade in-game assets and any other tradeable assets within our ecosystem.
V2 featured user experience updates such as the ability to view land assets on a map, transfer your items to other players, improved filtering and so much more. We’re right around the corner from releasing our next major ‘update’ to the IlluviDex with the release of our collectable game, Illuvium Beyond.
One thing that sets blockchain games with marketplaces apart from traditional games with marketplaces is the fact that while we have our own marketplace, we can’t control or dictate where players go to trade their in-game items or assets... and this is a huge win for gamers.
What if Valve allowed players to trade on other marketplaces?
Imagine, if Valve (Steam) or another large company allowed their players to trade elsewhere, where would players go? Maybe the question is best asked like this - what would draw players to any given marketplace? Better features? Ease of Use? The point is, it’s up to us as players to decide.
Illuvium and blockchain games allow players to trade on any third-party marketplace, meaning there’s more opportunity for players to: find a marketplace that suits their needs and trade on marketplaces that they actually like.
On the flipside, this opens up a bunch of competition and not just for the third-party marketplace developers, but more competition for us at Illuvium too! There’s already a bunch of L2 marketplace where players can go to trade beyond the IlluviDex, including TokenTrove, IMX Marketplace, snoopy, to name a few, and they all offer different experiences.
Illuvium and blockchain games allow players to trade on any third-party marketplace, meaning there’s more opportunity for players to: find a marketplace that suits their needs and trade on marketplaces that they actually like.
On the flipside, this opens up a bunch of competition and not just for the third-party marketplace developers, but more competition for us at Illuvium too! There’s already a bunch of L2 marketplace where players can go to trade beyond the IlluviDex, including TokenTrove, IMX Marketplace, snoopy, to name a few, and they all offer different experiences.
For the first time in gaming history, a third-party marketplace could offer a better experience and attract more players than a first-party marketplace - and you, as a player, could trade there without being penalised, sued, or having your account shut down. This sounds like a crazy concept.... but it shouldn't be.
What this means is that as designers we have to be better at what we do to design and deliver a better experience for players - or players will simply go elsewhere. For players, this means marketplaces will continue to compete or differentiate to attract players, and overall the entire player experience across the board will constantly elevate and improve.
The future is now and our voices will be heard.
Illuvium Beyond and a slew of updates to the IlluviDex are coming March 7th 😎
The future is now and our voices will be heard.
Illuvium Beyond and a slew of updates to the IlluviDex are coming March 7th 😎