Developer’s Guide to IGO — What is an IGO and how can you participate as a gaming project?
TLDR; An IGO is a method for blockchain gaming projects to raise funds and acquire resources to launch successfully.
If you’re a blockchain gaming project or game developer trying to understand more about how to launch your game through Initial Game Offerings (IGO), this is an all you need to know guide. Our goal is to build a series of articles on IGO so that you can be supported through your launch.
If you’re a gamer trying to understand how to participate in an IGO, you can refer to our guide for gamers here.
What is an IGO?
An Initial Game Offering (IGO) is a process by which blockchain gaming projects acquire capital, advisory resources and early gamers before a public release. By announcing an IGO, gaming projects encourage gamers to participate in the early development of their game, either through purchasing pre-release tokens to fund the development, or through beta testing to offer feedback. In return, these gamers get rewarded with in-game assets that are only exclusive to pre-release investors and/or beta test participants.
Why should my project launch through an IGO?
Two reasons. As IGOs are public and open to all investors, gaming projects can attract gamers to purchase their tokens before the release of the game. This means that you can get funds without heavily relying on private sales or accredited investors.
By doing so, you can also drum up hype for your game pre-release. Having a stake in the game encourages a sense of ownership which provides an incentive for gamers to participate in the development of the game. This is a strategic move that allows you to easily recruit initial users and beta testers for your game to make sure you’re on the right track.
Benefits of launching IGO with BinaryX:
Launching through an IGO can provide a ton of value to gaming projects, and it is important to know what kind of help you will need or want to receive.
To be part of an IGO, you first need to choose a launchpad to work with. IGO launchpads offer a variety of services to help you achieve a successful launch of your project, including but not limited to access to a pool of investors that can potentially give you the funds you need to propel to the next level of development.
At BinaryX, we assess each project on a case-by-case basis, and offer a tailored service to give the project the kind of help they most require.
Below are some benefits of launching through an IGO:
- Tech/Infrastructural support e.g. Side Chain, Smart Contract Functionalities
- Nailing the infrastructure to launch your project can be hard. We provide support for projects requiring help to build on application-focused side chains or to fine-tune their smart contract functionalities for scalability and interoperability. Developers can create their own side chains to make it cheaper and faster for gamers to get onboarded and transact on their game.
2. Tokenomics modeling
- We offer strategic counsel and iterative feedback for protocol designers to create tokenomic models that work for your specific project. Getting your Tokenomics right is extremely important as it is the main way your project generates revenue.
- A good tokenomics model should be (1) able to provide good and actual benefits for gamers who add value to the game, and (2) actually answer the needs of gamers. We explain more on this in our tokenomics guide.
- There are three types of tokens — utility, security and investment tokens. Utility tokens are meant to be consumed by the gamer, and we typically refer to them as in-game tokens or platform tokens. For example, games developed by BinaryX require gamers to purchase our platform token, $BNX, to acquire characters or skills in the game.
3. Launch campaign
- On top of pre-launch support, we also provide support for project launches. We can help provide strategic counsel for marketing and PR efforts to drive the sale of your game at launch.
4. User acquisition and access to community
- The BinaryX launchpad offers exclusive access to our gamer community so that games in early development can start building their own group of supporters without having to start from scratch.
Case study — SHIT Labs IGO by BinaryX
To help you visualise the IGO process, we will use an example of an IGO that was launched by us in mid 2022.
SHIT Labs approached us to help launch their game through an IGO by reaching out via contacting our team directly. We provided the following services:
- Infrastructural Support
We provided support in terms of connecting with side chains, auditing the smart contract functionality of the game’s blockchain, and validating the network.
2. Tokenomics Design
Our team of developers evaluated the tokenomics model proposed by the project team, and provided adjustments to the design to maximize the value to gamers.
3. Token Distribution (Exposure Campaign)
We announced the launch of SHIT Labs IGO via our social media channels, including Twitter, Discord and Telegram, garnering over 172109 views and 17181 engagements that really drove the hype of the launch.
With our help, SHIT Labs IGO achieved the following results:
- 3786 BNX was raised (≈ $550,000 USD)
2. Price of $POOP rose 3.2 times within 9hrs
3. 1,380 token holders (11 Oct, 2022)
If you would like to IGO with us, you can apply on our website, or reach out to chat at business@binaryx.pro.
About BinaryX
BinaryX is the GameFi platform behind play-to-earn games CyberDragon and CyberChess, both of which run on the BNB chain.
BinaryX began as a decentralised derivative trading system. The team gradually evolved into developing decentralised video games, and is now transitioning to becoming a GameFi platform offering IGO services to bridge Web2 developers to Web3.
As one of the top 10 projects on the BNB Chain, BinaryX has a vast community of more than 100k coin holders and 15K monthly active wallets. It is also one of the largest metaverse projects by trading volume on the BNB chain, with more than 260 million in market cap. BinaryX also has a token, $BNX, that has consistently demonstrated strong performance despite the bear market.
For more details and information about BinaryX, please visit www.binaryx.pro/igo
