Polemos has today launched the Armory, a platform for renting and staking blockchain game assets.
The Armory allows gamers who may not own game NFTs to rent them for a short period. Armory users can also rent out assets they own but are not using – “staking” them – and in the process earn money.
“Polemos has always believed in the benefits of decentralized gaming, and we’re proud to take it a step further with the world’s first independent blockchain game platform,” co-founder and co-CEO Sascha Zehe said.
“By providing a convenient solution for borrowers and lenders, we’ve opened up lending of game assets to the whole industry.”
Initially only assets from PvP fighting game Galaxy Fight Club are available to be rented or staked. Example of assets that can be rented are weapons and characters (see image above), both necessary to play the game. Other games will be added as the Polemos development team builds and refines the platform.
Not a simple build
Co-CEO Richard McLaren, who is also the Chief Operating Officer (COO), said a number of technical challenges had to be overcome to launch the service. The technical backend solution was developed with Guardian Labs, and McLaren says it is unprecedented.
“We are not aware of a platform that has as fully realized a solution as we have. There are other NFT lending platforms and protocols that have components of it, but the combination of safety at the backend combined with ease of use, understanding and detection of in-game mechanics, which are specific to gameplay: we don’t see anything nearly as fully realized as what we’re launching.”
See Polemos game expert Cavan “Caveman” Roe give an overview of the system in the video above.
McLaren said true ownership of games assets goes to the heart of the promise of blockchain technology in games.
“It’s only a matter of time before we see mainstream acceptance of player ownership of the assets they earn. This, I believe, will propel gamefi [blockchain gaming tech] into the mainstream within the next five years.”
How the system works
McLaren explained that the Armory works by setting up individual crypto wallets for every user of the system.
A gamer browses the rental marketplace, makes a rental payment, and the asset is transferred to that gamer’s Polemos wallet. The gamer can also transfer their own assets into that wallet.
Next, they connect to the game – at the moment, as mentioned above, Galaxy Fight Club – play using their rented and owned assets, and at the end of the rental period the Polemos assets are returned.
The owned assets can be transferred out at any time.
This system is necessary because otherwise – given the decentralized nature of the blockchain – there would be no compunction for the renter to return assets, and nothing to stop them “burning” or transforming the assets in-game.
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