Did you know? The game chain Mythos in the Polkadot ecosystem has surged into the top three in global L2 transaction fee revenue rankings! Officially establishing itself as a leader in Web3 gaming L2!
Data from Token Terminal shows that in the past 30 days:
Mythos chain transaction fee revenue reached $1.4M
Ranked 3rd among all L2 blockchains
Market share as high as 13.3%
Surpassing many popular chains like OP Mainnet, Immutable, Unichain, zkSync, etc.
This achievement is driven by the explosion of chain games like (FIFA Rivals) and the continuous growth of on-chain activity and revenue driven by Mythical Games' on-chain quick trading mechanism (Quick Trade).
Mythos is not just relying on hype; it has already generated a tangible revenue model among real game users — it is one of the very few chains that have truly achieved a closed loop in Web3 business.
Currently, (FIFA Rivals) has been launched, and within just 7 days of release, it has topped the charts in over 100 countries. Its activity, retention rate, and ratings are all excellent, with an Android platform rating as high as 4.8, making it one of the best-performing games in Mythical's history. This means they not only created a game with a good experience but also truly embedded Web3 into the game's business system, and players are almost unaware of it.
Behind this is Mythical's pragmatic understanding of Web3 technology:
How to achieve global transactions without sacrificing the experience?
How to make 95% of players who never spend money also contribute to the game economy?
How to transform Web3 games into a new business model of 'seamless use and on-chain monetization'?
What supports all this is their choice of underlying chain: Polkadot is the only platform that meets the three major requirements of 'security, flexibility, and control.'
In this in-depth interview (part two), Mythical founder John Linden shared:
After introducing the Quick Trade mechanism, Mythical's Web3 transaction fee revenue share skyrocketed from 20% to 65%!
Creation, splicing, sales, profit sharing — perhaps the 'digital supply chain' of Web3 games is coming.
Polkadot is the only platform that can meet all our needs.
FIFA Rivals has covered over 100 countries in just one week since its launch, but our goal is 100 million users.
How to build a sustainable Web3 game economy?
Popularizing Web3 through fun games.
If you're also thinking: Can Web3 games really work? Mythical may have already provided the answer.
Continue reading to see the full content!
If you want to see the previous article (The Web3 Philosophy and Story Behind the Most Likely Project to Break Out from Polkadot: Mythical Game!)
After introducing the Quick Trade mechanism, Mythical's Web3 transaction fee revenue share skyrocketed from 20% to 65%!
Kevin: You mentioned that one pain point of Web2 games is that the current mainstream advertising monetization model severely affects user experience, even driving users away.
John Linden: Yes, this is a big issue. We are also repeatedly pondering commercialization paths. In the past, the business model of games has shifted from one-time purchases to free play + in-app purchases, and then to microtransactions, with many changes. Recently, it has returned to advertisements, and many games are simply filled with ads.
But this is actually quite off-putting. Recently, when I was watching a match of Inter Miami in Philadelphia, I let a kid try our new game (FIFA Rivals). His first reaction was, 'Where are the ads in this game?' I said, 'There are no ads.'
He suddenly brightened up: 'Really? Then I play every day!'
This shocked me — kids now assume that games 'must have ads,' while 'no ads' has become the attraction.
Advertising is particularly ineffective in some countries. For example, in many markets with low credit card penetration, it is difficult to monetize through in-app purchases and can only rely on advertisements. But advertisements can harm the gaming experience.
We tried another approach: introducing an in-game trading market and quick trade (Quick Trade) mechanism.
We have tried this mechanism in the NFL game with great results, and it will also be included in the FIFA game.
The principle is like this: for example, a player says 'I want to exchange for a Ronaldo,' offering to exchange three items from their inventory. What connects this is a Web3 order book system. The system will automatically match trades based on on-chain orders, completing a 'multi-path synthesis' transaction.
From the player's perspective, they simply made a request of 'I want to exchange this,' without spending money directly. But the backend system helped them facilitate an on-chain transaction, and there was a transaction fee in between, allowing us to achieve monetization.
For example, we might have earned revenue from a transaction by an Argentinian player — something that is nearly impossible to achieve in traditional Web2 games.
If Mythical can really leave a mark on gaming history in the future, I hope to be remembered for this mechanism: achieving global player transaction liquidity and monetization capability without disrupting the gaming experience.
We have the opportunity to use Web3 technology to solve a long-standing problem for Web2 games — how to monetize the globally 'silent but real' player base.
Kevin: Do you call it the 'Global Trading System'?
John Linden: Our term for players is 'Quick Trade,' which is an on-chain trading mechanism we patented in the U.S. It is a market system developed by Mythical, consisting of two core parts:
Market: Responsible for managing the order book and recording all listings and bids.
Underlying blockchain: Responsible for matching these orders and supporting complex multi-path transactions.
The design intent of 'Quick Trade' is to allow players to trade in-game in the simplest way. They don't necessarily need to pay cash directly; they can just exchange items; if the items are not enough, they can also use some cash to make up the difference. This flexibility provides players with a high degree of autonomy.
For us, the greatest value of this mechanism is — it can monetize 'non-paying users.'
Did you know? Even for a very successful free game, the percentage of users willing to pay is usually only 5%. That means, out of 100 users, 95 have never spent money.
So what to do? 'Quick Trade' gave us the opportunity to include these 95% of users who were previously unable to monetize into the revenue system.
For example: in the first year after the NFL game launched, we only provided trading functions on the web version, without any other integrations. As a result, this part of the Web3 secondary market trading revenue accounted for 20%.
In the second year, we made two key changes:
Embedding the Marketplace into the game, allowing trading to happen seamlessly within the game;
Introducing the Quick Trade mechanism to support players in completing transactions within the clients of mainstream platforms like Apple, Google, Epic, etc.
The results are astonishing: Web3-related revenue surged from 20% to 65%!
In other words, in a typical Web2 game, more than half of the revenue is starting to come from the Web3 module. This completely overturns our understanding that 'Web3 can only be an auxiliary tool.'
Next, we will also launch a new concept — assigning an AI sports agent to each player.
This AI can automatically plan trading paths based on the player's goals, avoiding the need for them to browse the market or manage items themselves. You just need to tell it, 'I want a card of Travis Kelsey,' and it will tell you how to exchange your existing assets for that card.
This mechanism does not require users to understand trading matching or Web3 technology; they just need to express their needs, and the system automatically matches paths and completes on-chain transactions. We believe this will further increase the share of Web3 revenue, possibly even exceeding 65%.
Our FIFA game has been online for just 7 days, and it has not yet integrated Quick Trade or an embedded market, but Web3 revenue has already accounted for 20% of the total — almost identical to the situation in the first year of the NFL.
This indicates that the model is stable and replicable. As we gradually introduce better user trading experiences and strategic tools, the revenue share will continue to rise. So:
Step one: Allow users to trade, bringing in 20% revenue;
Step two: Embed market and quick trade mechanisms, revenue over 50%;
Step three: Provide AI trading assistants, users set goals, and the system designs paths to further expand coverage and participation.
We are also actively expanding into markets that traditional game companies have neglected. These countries have a large player base, but because:
Local users find it difficult to pay through in-app purchases;
The advertising system cannot effectively monetize locally;
So they have long been 'marginalized' by mainstream manufacturers.
Our approach solved this problem: through Quick Trade and the on-chain market mechanism, users in these regions can also participate in transactions and even gain actual profits.
For example, in some countries, $20 might already be a substantial value. We let them realize value circulation through resource transactions in games; this business model will open the door to new global markets for us.
Kevin: Can you give a few examples? Or which countries have proactively sought to cooperate with you?
John Linden: Although we have not officially announced the names of these countries, I can reveal a bit: the African continent is one of the regions we are currently very focused on, with a large population and great potential. In fact, it was Africa that inspired our initial collaboration with FIFA.
I used to go to Kenya once a year. Although I haven't been able to go for some reasons in the past two years, for me, it is a place that allows me to relax, disconnect from the hustle and bustle, and reconnect with nature and people. I really enjoy that state.
During those travels, I noticed a particularly interesting phenomenon: in the local culture, payment systems are almost completely digitalized, and everyone commonly uses M-Pesa, which is a very popular mobile payment tool. Moreover, you can see children everywhere on the streets with one hand holding a phone and one foot kicking a soccer ball.
This combination deeply moved me and brought significant inspiration. We are currently focusing on user groups like them.
In fact, several organizations from this region have proactively contacted us. Although I can't reveal the specific countries yet, one country's telecom company and government agency have already reached out to us. In these countries, telecom and payment systems are highly integrated, providing a solid foundation for cooperation.
They told us, 'Our country has two national loves: playing soccer and watching soccer. Almost everyone has a mobile phone, and we are really hoping to do something big with you.'
These countries have often been overlooked in the global gaming industry.
If you only look at spending power and in-game payment data, you might think they are 'not important.' But the fact is, their game participation is extremely high; they just currently lack a game mechanism that can truly serve them.
We are in deep discussions with this country. They fully understand our model: allowing users to earn through trading and enabling them to trade directly with players from countries like the UK and the US.
This means a lot to them. For example, locally, $20 might buy a week's worth of supplies, while in New York, it might only be enough for a fast food meal.
Imagine the social impact and model changes that this brings — it's not just about monetizing games, but redefining the value transfer between global participants.
Creation, splicing, sales, profit sharing — perhaps the 'digital supply chain' of Web3 games is coming.
Kevin: You mentioned a concept called 'Digital Supply Chain' — can you explain it?
John Linden: Of course! I really like this concept.
We often hear about the 'Creator Economy,' its core idea is: allowing everyone to freely create content and build their own business models around these creations.
When this creative activity occurs in a gaming environment engaged by half the world's population, the scale goes beyond just 'creator economy' but could reach a trillion-dollar-level global value network.
Currently, the annual output value of the global gaming industry is about $200 to $300 billion, but I believe that in the future, the 'supply chain' around digital assets has the potential to grow into an industry exceeding $1 trillion.
The charm of the 'digital supply chain' lies in:
Everyone can freely decide what to create;
Set prices independently;
Others can further process and sell based on your creations;
Ownership is clear, and profits are automatically distributed, transparent and traceable on-chain;
Everyone can find their place and value in this system.
Let me give you an example — imagine we are making a racing game:
I focus on creating a very stable frame, regardless of appearance, only caring about performance;
I set the price at $0.99;
You see that this frame is nice, so you add appearance, paint, and engine on it, pricing it at $1.99, $4.99, or even $20;
No matter how much you ultimately sell it for, the system will automatically pay me the $0.99 I am owed.
This model ensures that every contributor can receive rewards according to the rules, encouraging a cycle mechanism of 'layered creation + profit sharing.'
More importantly, this model is most suitable for games based on physics engines — only when the physical system is realistic enough can 'doing better' translate into a measurable and tradable value.
I believe there is no technology better suited to carry this value supply chain than Web3.
Eventually, you might see a 'creation chain' of a digital item that is 12 layers deep, where each layer's creator can automatically receive their share of the income on-chain. This is a complete activation of the creation ecosystem.
Kevin: Sounds like applying the 'Money Lego' model from DeFi to the gaming world, right?
John Linden: It does look a bit like that!
You build a 'basic component,' and then others continue to build and stack on top of it. This model has both creative freedom and incentive distribution mechanisms; we believe it will greatly promote the development of the next generation of game economies. It is no longer a closed-loop economy dominated by centralized companies but a truly user-driven creation and value network.
Polkadot is the only platform that can meet all our needs.
Kevin: You are the co-founder and CEO of Mythical Games. If you were to explain what your company does to your mom, how would you say it?
John Linden: I would say Mythical Games is a technology company, and our goal is to build a tradable economic system within games. In simple terms, it is to enable players to own and trade their digital assets in the game world.
Kevin: You got involved with CryptoKitties on Ethereum back in 2017, but now you choose to build on Polkadot — why?
John Linden: Yes, we did get involved in blockchain quite early. At that time, Ethereum was the most mainstream choice. I remember it cost $600 to buy a CryptoKitty, and every operation, like listing for sale or transferring, would incur an additional gas fee of $60 each time.
This cost is completely unacceptable to gamers. You can't make a $10 item cost $60 to transfer, right? This made us realize that Ethereum is not suitable for gaming scenarios.
So we began to explore lower-cost, more environmentally friendly proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchains. Initially, we chose EOS, which indeed had many advantages: environmentally friendly, low fees, fast transactions. But later we found that its community was gradually weakening, and we lost confidence in it.
After that, we turned to using our own EVM sidechain to build Mythos Chain. At that time, we completely controlled this chain, and the operating experience was great.
But a new problem arises: while we have gained control, the network's security is not sufficient. Because most nodes are operated by us, from a decentralization perspective, this is not ideal.
We are in a dilemma:
On one hand, we want to have complete control over the rules, allowing entertainment and gaming companies to participate in governance and design a token model with a deflationary mechanism (for example, burning a portion of Myth tokens with each transaction);
On the other hand, we hope this chain is truly secure and decentralized.
We conducted research everywhere and ultimately found that Polkadot is the only platform that can meet all our needs.
Ultimately, we established such a structure: Mythos Chain is an independent L1 chain, secured by the Polkadot relay chain. We maintain control over the chain while gaining the network-level security of Polkadot.
Therefore, our reasons for choosing Polkadot include:
Flexible fee structure, friendly to game economy
DAOs can be governed and can modify on-chain rules according to community needs
High-level security assurance, supported by Polkadot infrastructure
I am lucky to have had the opportunity to have deep conversations with Gavin many times, and I admire his vision for the future. Compared to those still pondering how to make more money from DeFi projects, Gavin focuses more on the big direction of 'how decentralization can shape the future world.'
This line of thinking is highly consistent with ours.
FIFA Rivals has covered over 100 countries in just one week since its launch, but our goal is 100 million users.
Kevin: You just released a game in collaboration with FIFA (FIFA Rivals). Do you think it counts as a 'successful' project?
John Linden: This is a very good question. From multiple dimensions, we are already quite satisfied.
The game has only been online for 7 days, and several of our core indicators are performing very well:
User rating: Currently rated 4.8 stars on Android, which is our highest-rated work to date. The previous NFL game was around 4.6 stars.
Activity data:
Average playtime per session increased from 7 minutes to over 10 minutes;
Daily play frequency increased from 1.7 times to 2.2 times.
This indicates that players are becoming more engaged and are opening the game more frequently. These indicators are very positive, and we certainly hope that the data continues to grow steadily.
Additionally, the team's response to bugs and user feedback is also very quick. We need to adapt to thousands of different devices, and while some minor issues are inevitable, we've handled them well so far.
So from the initial launch perspective, this is a very successful product.
But our goals are even higher — we hope this game can reach over 100 million users. Currently, we have launched in over 100 countries, and this was achieved in just the first week, which is really cool.
I mentioned those countries before, and they even said something that impressed me: 'If you really cooperate with us, this game will become our country's 'national game,' and everyone will play it.' To me, that is a form of success. It may seem like a 'vanity' success from one perspective, but I really like this idea. Even if it is not number one in the U.S., being number one in many countries is still something to be proud of.
Last week, we topped the charts in many app stores, which is also cool, and it's an interesting data point. So in many ways, we have already shown a trajectory of success. Of course, we also hope to maintain the vitality of this game in the long term.
We signed a long-term contract with FIFA, and we want to ensure this project is sustainable and that players can truly enjoy it.
How to build a sustainable Web3 game economy?
Kevin: So what is the ultimate goal of Mythical Games?
John Linden: I am often asked a question: What is your 'exit plan'? But frankly, we do not have a specific exit plan right now.
Of course, we are also considering various possibilities. For instance, from a strategic value perspective, we are already attractive to traditional large gaming companies. Many traditional gaming giants are undergoing strategic transformations, and our products can meet their new demands in the Web3 era.
We might even become a publicly traded company in the future, but right now our main focus is on seizing this huge opportunity in front of us.
Now, our focus is to continue building a healthy and sustainable game economic model while also preparing to launch Mythical's next product. This new product will integrate all the game content currently built on our platform and further strengthen social interaction features.
A few years ago, we acquired a company called Polystream, which developed a brand new cloud gaming technology. Looking back now, every step we took at that time is gradually converging into a bigger picture.
I believe there are currently three major 'disruptive concepts' emerging, which are highly related and all built on the foundation of Web3. The combination of these three could fundamentally change the operational model of Web2 games and even the entire gaming industry.
In the future, we may no longer differentiate between 'Web2 games' and 'Web3 games' — they will just be 'games.'
We currently have multiple key technologies that synergize with each other, and once these technologies are integrated, they could lead to an industry-level leap.
So the 'success' we genuinely want to achieve is fundamentally driving a structural change in the gaming industry through the implementation of these three major directions.
Kevin: You just mentioned that 'sustainability' is a very important concept. This is crucial in the gaming field and the entire business world. For example, Web3 games like Axie Infinity collapsed early due to a lack of sustainability. So how are you building a sustainable Web3 game economy?
John Linden: You asked a very good question; this is indeed one of the most challenging parts of Web3 games. The hardest part is trying to support the entire game economy with a single game token. This approach can lead to a series of complex issues.
You can take a look at classic games like (Call of Duty) or (World of Warcraft) — they have been running for over a decade, but essentially they are still just games. If you force it to issue a token, from a macro perspective, it is very difficult to maintain the value of that token in the long term. Because supply and demand will eventually change.
Many Web3 projects fail to seriously consider where 'utility' comes from and do not build mechanisms that can continuously create value. They merely construct a supply-demand model and try to ensure that the narrative of 'demand exceeding supply' holds, which may appear healthy on the surface but is fundamentally unsustainable.
Our approach at Mythical is to set up a deflationary mechanism from the token model. For instance, our Mythos chain and Myth token are designed to continuously burn by default.
I believe one of the measures of 'sustainability' is whether a token can maintain a deflationary structure in the long term. For instance, even if you need to issue 3% more each year, as long as you burn 6% each year, the overall structure is still deflationary, which can maintain the health of the system.
Instead of 'tokens,' we are actually more focused on the 'assets' themselves.
Because in games, asset scarcity naturally has value — for instance, limited quantities and time-limited sales can stimulate users' desire to purchase. Just like there are still people spending high prices on eBay for accounts with rare skins in (Fortnite).
This scarcity and the cultural, emotional connections between players are the healthier economic drivers.
So we focus more on the combination of assets and functionality, rather than creating a token financial model based on supply and demand dynamics. The latter is too easy to go out of control and too difficult to sustain.
Popularizing Web3 through fun games.
Kevin: If you want today's audience to remember one thing you said, what would it be?
John Linden: What I want to say is that we are very committed to this industry.
Many people ask us, 'Are you a Web2 company or a Web3 company?'
In fact, we are more Web3 than people imagine.
But our main focus is on how to create real value for Web2 scenarios using Web3 technology.
Sometimes people say to me, 'Your players don't even know they're using Web3.' — Yes, they really don't know, but what does it matter?
Just like when you pay with a credit card, you don't care which payment network is being used behind the scenes. You only care if it can complete the transaction quickly and securely.
What we want to achieve is this 'seamless' Web3 experience: allowing a billion users to unknowingly use Web3 technology, with the underlying blockchain logic handled by us, but this ecosystem can still derive economic value from it.
We hope to popularize Web3 among more people through truly interesting and fun games, rather than scaring users away with wallets, mnemonics, chain names, and gas fees right from the start.
This is exactly what we want to do — popularize Web3 through fun games.
Original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXLz_ArJ6n8
