TechCrunch Newsletters - Week in Review - Grand Theft Crypto

Saturday, March 26, 2022

Hello readers, and welcome back!

Last week, I rambled a bit about Meta’s challenges in the metaverse world. Today, I’m looking at how video games won’t look the same, for better or worse, after crypto takes over.

the big thing

Grand Theft Auto V was released in September of 2013, and in the nine years since we’ve seen two full console cycles and endless shifts in how games are sold and monetized. GTA VI does not exist yet though it is actively in development, but gamers have still been getting a stream of updates over the years through the Grand Theft Auto Online network.

This week, Rockstar debuted GTA+, a paid monthly subscription that basically gives users a stipend of GTA bucks and access to exclusive items. Subscription gaming has been embraced by plenty of other big games, Battle Passes are the monetization path du jour that top games are chasing. Now, this isn’t a gaming newsletter so why should you care?

What makes Grand Theft Auto V unique among its peers is just how mind-boggling the success of this title has been. It’s raked in billions of dollars over the past decade and is one of the most financially successful creative works ever made. Beyond the financial success, it’s also one of the most influential gaming titles ever. And while stealing cars, going on rampages and fleeing cops doesn’t seem like the most ground-breaking gameplay, the way that the title pushed forward the idea of in-game scale trumped every title before it.

If you think I’m taking this towards another metaverse hot take, you are correct. My question is at what point does a game become so real that it isn’t fun anymore? Gamers are probably about to find out.

Compared to other subscription titles, GTA truly feels like an alternate reality. The entire premise of the game is based around a satirical America where violence is dialed to 11 and users are encouraged to bask in it. Over the past nine years, that satire has found ways to juice the capitalism it skewers with GTA Online giving users more to buy with their in-game wealth than weapons and ammunition.

Moving past building out an ambitious gaming world eventually meant moving past higher fidelity graphics into building a higher fidelity in-game economy. For now this simply means in-game funny money that’s distributed by Rockstar but has real world value in that you can lose something you spent real money on, but I have few doubts that the logical end of what Rockstar is doing is a network of crypto token and NFT assets.

More sophisticated in-game economies are super interesting, but I think it’s undeniable that they also remove so much of the escapism that video games offer today. The fact is that crypto is going to fundamentally change MMOs one day and gamers can fight these shifts but there’s a certain inevitability to publishers chasing the money. But when the in-game currencies and items have real-world value, will stealing them be an actual crime?

Image Credits: Rockstar Games

The Future of Fitness Coaching Is Here

Introducing Chain Reaction (officially)

Few topics in tech are more confusing or intimidating than crypto.

The industry has attracted trillions in investment, but it can still be tough to even buy tokens or NFTs, let alone understand what these things actually do. As a result, crypto has courted a fairly controversial reputation among consumers, who are struggling to reconcile the views of optimists promising a new world order with the present-day reality of influencers pushing doggy coin scams and suspect NFT deals.

There’s a lot to be wary of in the world of web3, but there’s also plenty of promise — both of which we want to help our readers understand.

TechCrunch is launching a new podcast called Chain Reaction, which will dive into the world of crypto, web3 and NFTs.

Each week, TechCrunch Senior Editor Lucas Matney and Crypto Reporter Anita Ramaswamy will break down a handful of trending crypto topics (and why they matter) before sitting down for an interview with an industry expert, be they an investor, founder, personality or skeptic. Our goal is to learn alongside readers about a budding industry with potentially huge implications for the future of everything — from finance to art to the internet itself.

Alongside the podcast, we’ll also be sending out a weekly Chain Reaction newsletter digging into the week’s web3 happenings with more granular detail, highlighting notable funding rounds, acquisitions, heists, personnel moves and spicy tweets. You can sign up for the newsletter here.

Our first episode and newsletter will go live next month. Listen to the trailer below to get a taste of what’s in store, follow Chain Reaction on Twitter and subscribe now on your favorite podcast app.

[Listen on Spotify] [Listen on Apple Podcasts]

Introducing Chain Reaction (officially) image

other things

Here are a few stories this week I think you should take a closer look at:

Snap buys mind-controlled headband startup
While Apple and Facebook have been the most notable players in AR/VR research over the past several years, Snap is still committed to making a splash and investing in hardware tech it believes will be important to a head-worn computing future. They announced this week that they have purchased the neural interface startup NextMind for an undisclosed sum.

People are still downloading an awful lot of apps
There have been plenty of conversations over the years about the fate of the humble native app and whether they are destined to be replaced by more bite-sized experiences offered by App Clips, voice assistants or web apps. It seems that the global market for apps is still finding room to grow, with a report this week detailing that consumers downloaded 37 billion apps in the first quarter of 2022 across the Google Play Store and iOS.

Oura sells its millionth ring
I’ve always been very intrigued by Oura. For a while, it was only a product I ever saw VCs in Silicon Valley wearing, but it has seemed to slowly find its niche over time, a rare feat for a consumer hardware startup. This week, Oura hit a milestone shipping its 1 millionth ring, and while that may pale in comparison to volumes that the Apple Watch moves in, it’s still a noteworthy success in a space where life is awfully tough for startups.

Image Credits: Brian Heater

added things

Some of my favorite reads from our TechCrunch+ subscription service this week:

It’s time to abolish pro-rata
“In today’s market, it’s not uncommon to hear the sentiment that VCs have to work to sell their money. We’re now in the era of “value-add venture capital,” where investors need to show founders that they will do more for them than merely cut a check. It’s a change of power, and the sales pitch these VCs give to founders is that they’ll be true partners who will be with them every step of the way. But all too often, founders discover the hard way that these value-add services have a short expiration date…”

Be an entrepreneur who leads with transparency
“As an angel investor who funds promising startups, on occasion — and thankfully it’s rare — I’ve run into less-than-honest behavior. The point where “faking it” translates into stating untruths to investors, customers and oneself is the point at which ego and reality collide — and ego in some cases ends up as the winner….“

The product-led growth playbook
“As an investor and a recent product manager, I have encountered many companies that failed and some that succeeded at their product-led growth (PLG) efforts. The PLG journey is never easy, but it can be a powerful path to enduring success. I have distilled my experience into a short but essential list of prerequisites that I believe will significantly increase the chances of success at your startup…”