visitor contributor
CEO mojito
Neil Mullins is the CEO of Mojito, the main Web3 engagement platform that helps manufacturers construct linked digital communities by means of tokenized loyalty, marketplaces, and immersive experiences.
With over 15 years of expertise constructing client merchandise, Neil has labored in quite a lot of industries, from DTC to vogue, healthcare, and artwork expertise, integrating engineering, technique, and storytelling to launch instruments that individuals truly use.
Previous to becoming a member of Mojito, Neil was a part of the founding workforce at Sample Manufacturers and spent a few years as an engineering chief at Gin Lane, the place he helped scale firms reminiscent of Sweetgreen, Hims, and Harry’s that now collectively exceed $10 billion. His profession spans the whole lot from writing kids’s books to constructing manufacturers from the bottom up, giving him a novel perspective on what drives connection, retention, and long-term worth.
At Mojito, Neil presently leads the event of next-generation loyalty infrastructure for Web3-native and conventional manufacturers, with a concentrate on seamless UX, real-world utility, and long-term neighborhood progress.
The next is a visitor publish and opinion piece by Neil Mullins. Mojito CEO
Web3 gaming is rising quickly, however the loyalty system hasn’t stored tempo. Over the past 12 months, blockchain gaming has not solely grown, however leveled up.
Based on the DappRadar Video games Report for 2024, this area reached 7.4 million lively wallets day by day and over 1,600 new video games had been added. With an inflow of recent customers, ecosystems, and experiments, whole gaming exercise has elevated practically 5 occasions in comparison with the tip of 2023.
However progress is barely half the story. Sustainment and neighborhood engagement stay difficult. In lots of video games, loyalty techniques really feel static or lacking altogether. As video games grow to be extra cross-platform, social, and community-driven, loyalty should shortly catch up.
A brand new wave of Web3-native loyalty packages means that change is lastly right here.
conventional loyalty is incorrect
In right now’s gaming ecosystem, loyalty is little greater than leaderboards, day by day bonuses, or half-baked factors techniques. These instruments really feel more and more disconnected from how gamers truly work together.
Based on Mistplay’s 2024 Cellular Recreation Spend Report, 79% of cellular spenders are actively engaged with loyalty packages, and 51% say they’d spend extra in-game if loyalty rewards offered extra worth.
The true motivation is progress, not perks. Gamers need a loyalty system that acknowledges the effort and time they make investments.
The identical story seems outdoors of the sport. Boston Consulting Group analysis exhibits that participatory loyalty packages drive sustained engagement. In video games, gamers count on comparable depth and adaptability, however many video games nonetheless depend on static rewards and platform-locked perks.
Client analysis platform Attest highlights this hole:
- 69% of US avid gamers ages 18-24 say cross-platform play is essential to them. Loyalty techniques want to increase past particular person video games and platforms.
- One-third of avid gamers discover in-game advertisements annoying and actively ignore them. Worth-based loyalty fashions carry out higher than advertising-based fashions.
- Suggestions from family and friends stay the most important consider making an attempt new video games. Loyalty can amplify this impact by means of community-based rewards.
On the similar time, whole industries are being compelled to rethink their engagement methods. Greater than 12,000 gaming jobs had been misplaced in 2024 as studios confronted rising prices and declining consumer acquisition income.
As reported by IGN, many groups are actually prioritizing sustainability over progress in any respect prices. Loyalty packages, battle passes, and reside service fashions have emerged as essential instruments to monetize and strengthen present participant communities.
However conventional instruments aren’t constructed for this new community-first gaming world. That is why increasingly more Web3 initiatives and gaming ventures are exploring new fashions.
Web3 The place Loyalty Rise
A brand new era of video games and platforms are turning to on-chain loyalty packages as a technique to meet fashionable participant expectations. Key options of those techniques embrace configurable rewards, wallet-native possession, and enhanced neighborhood engagement.
Take Decentraland’s new market credit score system for instance. Give gamers credit only for displaying up and exploring, collaborating in occasions, and testing new places.
These credit will be exchanged for avatar upgrades reminiscent of wearables and emotes. That is a straightforward technique to flip day by day participation right into a loyalty loop that retains gamers coming again time and again.
Mastercard’s Gamer Trade is one other signal of the place issues are heading. This permits gamers to transform loyalty factors from banks, retailers, and airways into in-game forex for prime titles, and is proof that even legacy manufacturers acknowledge that loyalty is turning into a battleground in gaming.
Infrastructure can also be evolving. Mojito Loyalty permits manufacturers and initiatives to combine on-chain loyalty options (quests, rewards, and neighborhood development) instantly into video games and digital experiences.
In the meantime, video games like Forgotten Runiverse are evolving their loyalty packages to make use of play-to-earn mechanics and construct extra sturdy participant economies. Their strategy suggests what’s doable once you deal with loyalty as a core a part of the participant expertise, quite than a advertising add-on.
Throughout these examples, the sample is obvious. When loyalty is participatory, clear, and transportable, it turns into a driver of engagement quite than an afterthought.
Loyalty turns into the following layer of the sport
Retention curves alone are usually not sufficient to construct a sustainable gaming neighborhood. John Wright, vice chairman of cellular publishing at Kwalee, mentioned: “It isn’t about aiming for a 7-day, 14-day, 28-day retention curve. Corporations have to construct a brand new sort of loyalty system that retains gamers coming again for a 12 months.”
On-chain loyalty allows that change. This permits builders to reward your complete participant expertise, together with not simply what occurs in-game, however the whole lot gamers contribute, reminiscent of collaborating in occasions, creating content material, and constructing neighborhood.
Loyalty turns scattered actions into tangible progress that gamers can see and really feel. And as gaming strikes in the direction of open economies and cross-platform identities, it is not only a nice-to-have. It is turning into a brand new important layer within the sport stack.