Coda labs, a Web3 game studio, recently undertook a survey to gain a better understanding of the sentiments gamers have towards the concept of blockchain-based play-to-earn games. The results proved to be less than favourable towards the concept, with only 52% of gamers (clarified by Coda Labs as being those not involved in cryptocurrency or derivatives) being familiar with common Web3 terms.

The survey itself was conducted with around 6921 participants from around the globe. 81% were classified by Coda Labs as ‘Gamers’ (those who did not or only sporadically utilised crypto technologies), with 16% being ‘Crypto gamers’ (those who own NFT’s or utilise cryptocurrency frequently and game) whilst 3% were classified as ‘Crypto non-gamers’ (those who utilised cryptocurrency etc. but did not game).

What can we get from all this?

Coda’s survey should be taken with a grain of salt. Aside from the disparity between the mainstream gaming audience and those invested in cryptocurrency (19% of respondents total) the survey itself mainly deals with the concept of play-to-earn, that being earning cryptocurrency whilst playing games, as its main definition of Web3 games. Their calculation of the average perception of NFTs as well stood at around 5.2/10 which they termed as ‘neutral’.

However, it should be noted that this was calculated from a relatively unfavourable response from gamers (only 4.5/10) compared to a very strong favourable response from crypto gamers (8.1/10). Given that anyone invested in cryptocurrency or NFTs is likely to have strong faith in the volatile blockchain market this would explain their responses skewing the result somewhat. Again, the relatively small response pool of crypto gamers and non-gamers should be noted here in comparison to the vast majority of gamers being polled.

What’s telling here however, is that only a slim majority of gamers are familiar with Web3 terminology or the definition itself. Given that blockchain remains divisive, this indicates that despite the polarising nature of Web3 online, it’s yet to even be perceived by the majority of gamers. Comparatively, 89% had awareness of Bitcoin (one of the largest cryptocurrencies) so this could not be taken as simply ignorance of blockchain technology in general.

Although Coda Labs was optimistic about the results of the survey, it does indicate without a doubt that Web3 remains tied strongly to the perception and debate around cryptocurrency. Both gamers (37%) and crypto gamers (60%) viewing it as the main defining benefit of such games. Late last month we reported on Coda Labs’ rebrand from Coda and their shift towards Web3 gaming.