Former Facebook Gaming Head Slams Apple for Crypto Gaming Limits

Owen O'Donoghue, formerly of Facebook's gaming department, has blamed Apple for the industry's slow adoption of cryptocurrency gaming. O'Donoghue spent over a decade in Facebook's gaming division and is now releasing a cryptocurrency-based game. The former Facebook executive, however, is experiencing difficulties for which Apple is primarily to blame. O'Donoghue claims that Apple is slowing the spread of cryptocurrency-based video games distributed through the App Store. He elaborated on how the market's stringent regulations make blockchain-enabled games less accessible to consumers. The former Facebook employees also mentioned Apple's 30% fee on all in-app transactions, saying that this is a barrier to the widespread use of cryptocurrencies in gaming. He said many current games “would not comply with the App Store” and “they are unable to really scale.”

The blockchain fan noticed that the tech firm had revised its practices somewhat. O'Donoghue argued that Apple's influence over iOS users remained substantial in the crypto gaming industry. This is because Apple has made it so iOS users can't play mobile games requiring purchasing or using virtual items like NFTs. This past October, Apple implemented new guidelines that forbid apps from using NFTs that include,

“buttons, external links, or other calls to action that direct customers to purchasing mechanisms other than in-app purchase.”

Reasons Why Apple Is Ruining Crypto-Based Games

O'Donoghue believes that if Apple hadn't restricted its customers, the popularity of crypto gaming would have skyrocketed. Despite the recent drop in the crypto market, many well-known figures in the industry still think that gaming has the potential to bring about widespread adoption of people into the web3 space. Thanks to Apple's restrictions, Crypto gaming has only been made available on Android. Meanwhile, the $153 billion mobile gaming industry is being negatively impacted by segregation.

O'Donoghue is optimistic that Apple will change its mind about crypto gaming despite its current stance. If/when that occurs, his compliant and innovative InfiniGods gaming ecosystem will have a chance to take off. However, the former Facebook employee predicted that the web3 gaming studio and games would continue to struggle if Apple refused to make any changes. Many programmers have put a lot of thought, effort, and money into creating blockchain-based gaming platforms. According to data, by 2022, nearly $4 billion had been invested in web3 gaming studios and games. However, the sector only has about 1 million daily users.