Off the Grid’s popularity is about ‘best of breed technologies’ 

Gunzilla’s Theodore Agranat said that blockchain technology helps “enhance’ gamer experience

article-image

Off the Grid modified by Blockworks

share


This is a segment from the Empire newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe.


The Off the Grid hype is still going strong, and anecdotally, I have to say that even my non-crypto husband has been playing it.

Anyway, on Empire today, Jason Yanowitz and Santiago Santos sat down with Gunzilla’s Theodore Agranat

Some of Agranat’s answers really help explain the popularity of Off the Grid — specifically, that’s it’s not necessarily about crypto.

Instead, “it is about best of breed technologies. In this case, blockchain technologies that will enhance the user experience. It’s all about the gamer and it’s all about the gamer experience.”

The team also had to innovate in order to incorporate the crypto elements. 

“To build up the marketplace, but we had to build our own blockchain because we didn’t find anything out there that really was up to the standards that we had … we ended up going with an Avalanche subnet that we highly customized, that we built on top of,” Agranat explained.

One of the things helping to differentiate Off the Grid is the use of a storyline. In a battle royale game like Fortnite, storylines aren’t always incorporated, but — putting aside the crypto of it all— perhaps that’s also what speaks to players. 

Admittedly, I’m not a PC player and I stick to my consoles, so I haven’t picked up the keyboard to test it out, unlike David. However, I am a sucker for a good storyline and that would be enough to get me into a battle royale game, which isn’t normally my cup of tea. 

Remember the a16z State of Crypto report from last month? I went back in and looked for gaming-related data to see if the data backs up a potential boom or if Off the Grid is alone on its own island, kind of like its in-game characters. 

Hot crypto subcategories — i.e. where everyone’s building this year — remain pretty focused: we have DeFi, blockchain infrastructure and socials at the top of the list. Gaming is a much smaller piece of that pie at 6.3%.

Source: a16z State of Crypto

To be fair, creating a AAA game takes time, and a decent amount of money. So perhaps we just needed a game like Off the Grid to prove the interest before we saw some pickup.


Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter.

Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter.

Get alpha directly in your inbox with the 0xResearch newsletter — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.

The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. Subscribe to daily Solana news from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.

Tags

Upcoming Events

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 18 - 20, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Flashnote Template Presentation (2).jpg

Research

With the recent election, it’s clear that there will be a meaningful shift in crypto regulations and legislation. Trump is likely as pro-crypto as a president can be. He launched (multiple) of his own NFT collections and is launching an Aave wrapper called World Liberty Fi. He has also spoken out and mentioned that he wants to make the United States "the crypto capital of the planet" and transform it into the "Bitcoin superpower of the world". He proposed creating a strategic national Bitcoin stockpile alongside support from Senator Cynthia Lummis, promising to retain 100% of all Bitcoin held by the U.S. government. More importantly, we’re likely to see deregulation across the board in a lot of industries, with crypto being one of them - as Trump has committed to keeping the crypto market largely unregulated. Crypto, DeFi in particular, has historically been knee-capped by overreaching and hostile governmental agencies and regulation by enforcement, as evidenced by the plethora of Wells notices and lawsuits over the past few years. With Donald Trump winning the presidency, Republicans taking control of the Senate, and being on the verge of securing the House, we think it’s likely that crypto realizes positive regulatory clarity. Below, you can find our analysts’ takes:

article-image

Solana is the crowd favorite to potentially flip Ethereum somewhere down the line, and it tends to feel realistic at times

article-image

Of course, a lot has happened since the 600+ survey respondents shared their thoughts between Aug. 15 and Oct. 1

article-image

AI’s future shouldn’t be decided by a handful of tech giants

article-image

A look at software wallet Exodus may show how an SEC shakeup could have a real impact on industry companies

article-image

Co-chairing Trump’s transition team to help fill administration positions is Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick

article-image

Reflect is a delta-neutral currency protocol that lets tokens accrue yield without touching the banking system