Ripple announced $100 million for game developers

Ripple's developer initiative XSpring and blockchain platform Forte have announced a 100 million dollar fund to support game developers. It's the first major move of Ripple into the gaming space. The fund will be overseen by San Francisco-based Forte.

The major benefit of incorporating XRP and its blockchain services into a video game, would be to create a digital economy for all kinds of gamers. XRP is currently best known as a solution for banks and financial institutes to transfer money cheap and fast across borders.

The fund is not meant for every developers and game. According to the press release it's primarily targeted at game developers that operate games with over 50 thousand daily active users. The money will be transferred in XRP, and not in US dollars. However, those who receive XRP are free to convert the tokens into dollars using Ripple's own tech.

Forte’s technology will be used, which leverages Ripple’s Interledger Protocol. XRP will be the base pair settlement for money transfers, while a smart contract service called Codius will take care of cross-chain transactions.

Currently Ripple's XRP token is the third biggest cryptocurrency. It's valued $0.31 and currently has a 12.9 billion dollar market cap. Ripple's move into gaming is somewhat a surprise. Other projects have made gaming their center focus from the start. Ethereum is one of the most recognizable gaming blockchains, thanks to its early implementation of smart contracts. Other networks like Tron, NEO and EOS have been embracing games for a long time now.

In recent weeks blockchain games have been hitting the news quite a lot. Enjin Coin has been in the spotlight the most. ENJ tripled its value when it was announced that the project will be implemented into the Samsung Galaxy S10 smartphone. Game engine Unity is looking into the possibilities to embrace blockchain and crypto, while GameCredits is launching its own crypto-powered web shop this month.