The Case for $GUN

It’s no secret that Delphi has been a staunch supporter of this thesis since its inception. We remain deeply encouraged by the great work ecosystems like @Ronin are doing with token-literate founders experimenting in mid-core games such as @Fableborne. Titles like these with broad appeal and balanced incentive systems are effectively incorporating many of the learnings of the last few years. That said, too many projects are competing for the same small pool of existing onchain users. The real opportunity has always been in showcasing the technology’s advantages by delivering a more compelling experience—one that can convert more of the 3 billion gamers worldwide into participants in truly open game economies.

On October 8th, Gunzilla released Off The Grid with an explosive streamer campaign driving it firmly onto the front page of both Twitch (140K peak concurrent viewers) and Epic Games (#1 F2P game globally). The biggest voices in gaming picked up on the exact value proposition of an onchain economy for the first time. In this video Shroud—one of the top shooter players ever—explains “Instead of spending millions of dollars to make your own Steam marketplace… you can just use the blockchain as a tool. I am genuinely surprised it took so long for someone to do that”.

Leaning into Off The Grid alone could be enough to propel GUNZ to a massive outcome. However, the market continues to reward robust infrastructure, and much of the speculative premium above the flagship game’s appealing revenue potential will depend on GUNZ’s ability to establish itself as a leading ecosystem. Ultimately, successful apps king make their own infrastructure. Despite years of development and billions in investment, the throne is still there for the taking. If Gunzilla continues to dominate the mainstream funnel, it could very well claim it.

Five months into early access, @GUNbyGUNZ has already become the largest onchain gaming ecosystem by DAW. Off The Grid is the first onchain game to successfully crack the blueprint for Xbox and PlayStation distribution, opening up a vast segment of the global gaming market previously untapped. Beyond platform distribution, Gunzilla’s recent acquisition of @GameInformer also presents an interesting media channel that has a special place in the hearts of many gamers.

This makes it an attractive option for other ambitious studios targeting mainstream audiences with onchain game elements, offering a way to mitigate risk by leveraging an established team and infrastructure. How much is the home of AAA onchain games worth? We shall soon find out.

Our team believes that in the coming decades virtual game economies are going to grow into the hundreds of billions of dollars. Unlike traditional closed gaming economies, having all items exist onchain unlocks an unprecedented degree of verifiability, accessibility, and composability. The lower cost, higher transparency nature of onchain marketplaces will drive increased spend as users build comfort in the technology. The Off The Grid launch was the first glimpse at this starting to click with mainstream audiences. Every single day the ecosystem draws in new users, and exposes them to these ideas for the first time. From my perspective, this is the closest we have ever been to fulfilling the vision for onchain virtual economies that I fell in love with.

Put simply, an onchain economy of OTG’s nature unlocks:

While the gaming industry faces its own challenges and dominant titles like Warzone and Fortnite continue to capture attention, we believe the enhancements outlined above significantly elevate the player experience. Over time, we expect major game economies to shift toward this model.

In our view, Off The Grid presents the best opportunity to demonstrate this at an undeniable scale, with the $GUN ecosystem best-positioned to entrench itself as the leading platform for onchain AAA games.