Gala Games paves path for blockchain games in a deal with Brave

Gala Games, a blockchain games startup that Zynga cofounder Eric Schiermeyer help create, cut a little-noticed but very interesting promotional deal this week with Brave, the maker of the privacy-focused Brave Software web browser. And their deal shows a path for how blockchain-based game companies can survive and even thrive as they wait for their big audiences and big hits to come.

Blockchain games have a chicken-and-egg problem. They have cool technology — the transparent and secure distributed ledger technology behind tokens and cryptocurrencies — that makes them more appealing for gamers. But they are also so new that most gamers don’t understand how they work, and so they have small audiences. But those audiences are enthusiastic, and they spend a lot of money. The result is that they could siphon off some of the biggest spenders and savviest gamers, and become profitable as a niche until the day comes when larger audiences see their value and better blockchain games come along. The challenge is to create blockchain games that are simple to play and can ultimately drive huge audiences in the long run.