Open Game Manifesto: How Can B3 Enhance the Web3 Gaming Industry?

Original Title: "Open Game Manifesto: How B3 Elevates the Web3 Gaming Industry?"

Original Source: Jay Jo and Elsa, Tiger Research

Key Points Summary

The Web3 gaming industry has experienced a downturn after the initial hype. Critics point out that the closed ecosystem structure is a fundamental problem. Former Coinbase employees and Base Chain founding members have created B3—an infrastructure optimized for gaming at the third layer. The team has developed high-performance, low-cost industry-specific infrastructure and built an open gaming ecosystem based on high interoperability to break through the structural limitations of the Web3 gaming industry. The vision of B3 is not limited to addressing the constraints of the Web3 gaming industry. They aim to provide a new paradigm for the traditional gaming industry through a community-centric governance model, cooperative inter-game modes, and expanded virtual economic development.

1. Web3 Gaming Industry Crisis: Speculation or Innovation?

Web3 gaming was initially seen as the growth engine of the gaming industry due to the new possibilities brought by blockchain integration. However, contrary to early expectations, public interest quickly cooled, and skepticism about its "innovativeness" continued to ferment.

Data confirms this shift. The search volume related to GameFi on Google Trends has continued to decline after its peak, and the primary GameFi token trading volume remains low. Despite this, many builders still believe in the revival of Web3 gaming. However, after the speculation wave receded, rebuilding public trust has become challenging. While the cryptocurrency industry has found growth points through institutional adoption, the Web3 gaming industry is still stagnant.

Today, Web3 gaming stands at a crucial crossroads: will it become a true vessel of innovation, or will it succumb to the final chapter of a speculative bubble? To move forward, the industry must face its constraints and formulate a clear breakthrough strategy.

2. Fundamental Limitation of Web3 Gaming: Walled Gardens

The core crisis of Web3 gaming stems from its closed ecosystem structure. Despite its emphasis on openness and interoperability, the reality often falls short. Blockchain technology theoretically allows users to own in-game assets and freely transfer them across gaming platforms—this is precisely the core value proposition of the field.

However, the current Web3 gaming ecosystem presents a paradox: Most games run on isolated blockchain infrastructures, forming "walled gardens." This fragmentation, by dispersing an already limited user base and diluting liquidity, restricts the industry's growth potential. Game companies compete in a zero-sum environment, vying for a "piece of the pie" rather than collaborating to "grow the pie," hindering innovation and hampering overall development.

To break this pattern, Web3 games must dismantle closed structures and build an open, interoperable ecosystem. This requires more than just technical patches—it demands a strategic shift from individual competition to collaborative growth, allowing developers, platforms, and communities to co-create value.

Some projects have already begun to address this challenge. For instance, the blockchain game infrastructure project B3 initiated by the creators of the Base Chain proposes an "open gaming" vision, aiming to address the interoperability challenge at a structural level and provide a fundamental solution to the fragmentation of the Web3 gaming ecosystem.

3. B3: Pioneering a New Era of Open Gaming Ecosystem

B3 is a blockchain game infrastructure project founded by former Coinbase employees and Base Chain founding members. While building the Base ecosystem, the team identified a key limitation: existing blockchain infrastructures could not support the high transaction volume demands of gaming applications, leading them to develop a high-performance, low-cost solution tailored for games.

Source: B3

B3's ambition goes beyond optimizing throughput. After launching its mainnet in August 2024, the team released the "Open Gaming Manifesto," aiming to address the structural issues of Web3 gaming. The manifesto advocates for maximum interoperability, transforming games from isolated islands into integral parts of an interconnected open ecosystem.

B3's technical direction and grand vision have attracted attention from top-tier investors. The project has raised approximately $21 million in seed funding from institutions like Pantera Capital and Hashed. As of May 2025, the B3 chain has reached 6.9 million wallet addresses, with over 300 million transactions—establishing its leading position in the Base ecosystem's gaming infrastructure.

3.1. Open Gaming Layer Three: Gaming-Optimized Infrastructure

The Open Gaming Layer³ is the philosophical foundation and technical cornerstone of the B3 vision, achieving two main goals through the concept of a third-layer infrastructure:

First, to develop a high-performance Rollup infrastructure called the "B3 Chain" to provide a gaming-optimized environment;

Second, to assist game companies in building scalable "Game Chains" based on the B3 Chain, maintaining interoperability while achieving independence.

3.1.1. B3 Chain: High-Performance Rollup Infrastructure Built on a Base Chain

The B3 Chain provides infrastructure for game developers without the need for a dedicated blockchain. Built on a Base Chain, it inherits the security and flexibility of the EVM stack while achieving low-cost, high-performance transaction processing through an Optimism-based off-chain scaling solution.

This off-chain third-layer infrastructure is specifically designed to meet the needs of the gaming industry. While existing layer-two solutions have improved general performance, they still face cost and throughput limitations when dealing with millions of concurrent game transactions. This challenge is akin to rush hour traffic on a multi-lane highway—widening lanes (layer one) helps, but congestion remains unavoidable.

The B3 Chain addresses this bottleneck through a third-layer architecture designed specifically for games. By providing dedicated channels for game transactions—similar to a bus lane on a crowded highway (third layer)—it achieves both high throughput and cost efficiency.

As of July 2024, the B3 Chain offers a single transaction cost of only $0.001, significantly lower than Ethereum Layer One ($0.34), Base Chain ($0.017), and even Solana ($0.004). This allows developers to reliably and efficiently operate blockchain games, eliminating cost friction.

3.1.2. Game Chains: Customized Infrastructure with Independence and Scalability

The B3 team provides internal toolkits and technical support to companies developing "Game Chains" based on the B3 Chain. This model is akin to an independent network of hotels connected through a global reservation system—game companies retain autonomy while achieving seamless interoperability within the broader B3 ecosystem.

These gaming chains adopt a hub-and-spoke architecture: the Base Chain serves as the central hub, with B3 Chains and individual game chains acting as spoke nodes. This structure allows each game to operate in its own high-performance environment while maintaining cross-chain connectivity and shared infrastructure. B3 extends Optimism's "superchain" concept to the third layer, providing a scalable framework that enables assets and interactions to flow freely across chains without sacrificing sovereignty. Developers can add functional chains on demand, similar to designing microservices. For example, a dedicated chain can be established for high-traffic NFT transactions to avoid the "noisy neighbor problem" (where a particular workload impacts overall infrastructure performance).

Currently, four game studios are building game chains:

· Parallel Studio's Prime Chain

· Infinigods' God Chain

· SuperGaming's SuperGaming Chain

· MySpace founding team's Reach Chain

These chains form the early pillars of an interconnected open gaming ecosystem supported by the B3 infrastructure.

3.2. Basement.fun: On-Chain Gaming Platform

Basement.fun is the B3 team's first frontend client, providing a user-friendly entry point for on-chain gaming. This platform allows users to experience blockchain games without requiring specialized Web3 knowledge and offers developers an easy-to-use tool for deploying and managing on-chain games.

3.2.1. User-Friendly Design: Seamless Onboarding Experience

Source: B3, Tiger Research

Users can register with just their email or phone number. The platform supports integrated social login, MetaMask and other EOA wallets, and Coinbase Wallet's global account model. A guest mode allows for instant gaming without logging in, significantly reducing the entry barrier.

To enhance usability, Basement.fun utilizes B3's proprietary account and on-chain abstraction technology called AnySpend. This feature enables users to access cross-chain assets instantly through a single login account—no bridging or exchanging required—providing a seamless Web2-like experience that brings blockchain games to mainstream users.

Source: B3, Tiger Research

Apart from gaming, Basement.fun also serves as a social hub to facilitate player interaction. Through a "Play-to-Win" real-time tournament model that combines competition and cooperation, it supports an immersive experience where all gameplay processes and rewards are recorded on-chain to ensure transparency.

3.2.2. Developer-Friendly Release Platform: Web-based Game Launcher

Source: B3

Basement.fun also acts as a release platform, offering a web-based game launcher for easy deployment and management of blockchain games. Through this platform, developers can implement key blockchain features such as token gating (restricting access to specific token holders) and a task system based on on-chain activities. Additionally, the platform provides operational tools such as game testing, leaderboard management, and notification features, allowing developers to focus on game design and content creation rather than backend infrastructure.

4. Assumption: B3 Will Shape the Future of the Gaming Industry

Source: Tiger Research

B3's open gaming vision not only applies to Web3 games but also brings new possibilities to the entire gaming industry. While the traditional industry has developed for decades, it is still constrained by centralized decision-making and closed economic structures. B3 aims to break through these limitations by building a more open, interconnected, and community-driven ecosystem, paving the way for innovative new paths.

4.1. Assumption: Will Game Development Decision-Making Shift from Publishers to the Community?

In traditional games, major publishers control core decisions, limiting development and creative diversity. Studios often rely on commercially validated rehashes or sequels rather than investing in new IPs, leading to innovation stagnation. B3 will provide an alternative model through tokenized community governance. Using B3 tokens, the community can directly vote on game projects, and selected projects receive development funding through grants.

Obsidian Kickstarter Countdown Live, Source: Obsidian Entertainment

This model enables game development to more transparently reflect player interests rather than publisher interests. Similar to successful cases such as Pillars of Eternity, which gained community support through Kickstarter, or Stardew Valley, which revived the farming genre outside of commercial constraints as an indie game. B3 aims to open up space for original player-driven creativity that is not limited by top-down market logic. Ultimately, B3's open game vision goes beyond technical interoperability, introducing a more transparent and inclusive governance structure that empowers the community to shape the development direction, injecting new vitality into the game industry.

4.2. Assumption: Is the Game Industry Shifting from Competition to Collaboration?

The traditional game industry suffers from structural inefficiencies, most notably in the form of isolated user data. This fragmentation results in difficulties in precise targeting and cross-platform marketing. Coupled with rising user acquisition costs and decreasing marketing efficiency, companies face significant challenges. In contrast, B3 introduces a global state system that aligns with the open game vision, allowing user data, achievements, and reviews to be shared across all game chains. This shared infrastructure supports more precise and efficient marketing.

Source: B3

B3 proposes various collaboration models based on high interoperability. The "shared incentives" model encourages games to jointly expand their user bases through cooperation, replacing the competition for exclusive users. For example, if a user in Game A purchases an item in Game B, Game A will receive a portion of the revenue as a referral reward.

The "shared liquidity" model achieves free flow of in-game tokens through B3 tokens or other underlying assets, allowing games to focus on content development and ecosystem collaboration rather than fragmenting resources in liquidity battles. These models directly address the volatility and inefficiency of the Web3 market. Earlier this year, the drastic fluctuations in project token liquidity related to Trump and Melania exposed the vulnerabilities of the existing system and the short-term speculative nature of projects. B3's collaborative ecosystem structure charts a sustainable long-term development path for Web3 games—moving beyond competitive fragmentation towards shared value creation.

4.3. Assumption: Blurring the Boundaries Between Games and Finance?

Linden Dollar transactions in Second Life, Source: Second Life

The game industry has long bridged the virtual and real economies. For example, Roblox creators monetize game content, and the Lindens in Second Life create an economy comparable to that of a small country's GDP. However, these economic systems operate within closed environments. Platform owners and publishers charge high fees, limiting users to creating and capturing value within a specific ecosystem. This centralized platform structure hinders users from fully realizing their economic potential.

B3 builds an open and extensible economic ecosystem through high interoperability to solve these issues. In the B3 ecosystem, each game chain supports the seamless cross-game use of digital assets. The shared token sink model allows players to use B3 tokens across games to acquire advanced items or undertake special missions, creating a value cycle that transcends game boundaries. This effect is similar to economic activities expanding from domestic markets to global trade, increasing market scale and liquidity.

This structure extends user economic activities from individual games to the entire B3 ecosystem, empowering users to truly own and manage the value they create. B3 will tighten the connection between virtual assets and the real economy, establishing gaming as a legitimate economic activity beyond entertainment. Its infrastructure will enhance models such as the Axie Infinity scholarship and promote wider adoption.

5. Conclusion

The Web3 gaming industry is currently undergoing a transformation similar to the early 2000s Internet bubble. Initial hype and speculative interest have given way to a downturn, leading to fundamental questions about sustainability and revealing unforeseen challenges. Such cycles are a necessary stage in the maturation of disruptive technologies. The industry must now focus on accurate self-assessment, practical problem-solving, and innovative value transformation.

Against this backdrop, B3's "Open Game Vision" is significant. They are not only creating new games but also clearly diagnosing the structural problems of the Web3 gaming industry and providing specific solutions. While emphasizing the technical philosophy of interoperability, they are building an open and collaborative ecosystem. B3 brings together key members driving the Base Chain to the forefront of the market, with a team covering DeFi, governance, game infrastructure, social platforms, and NFT domain experts, combining technical infrastructure capabilities with hands-on experience in implementing experimental models.

In summary, B3's open game vision is expected to address the practical issues in the Web3 gaming industry and contribute diversity and creativity lacking in traditional games. If their vision succeeds, Web3 games will break out of the niche market of cryptocurrency enthusiasts and gain a true competitive advantage in attracting mainstream players. These transformations may have a profound impact on the broader gaming industry in the long run.

This article is a contributed piece and does not represent the views of BlockBeats.