Cogito, a blockchain gaming studio, today announced the official launch of the decentralized autonomous game (DAG), Horseman GO. An end-to-end virtual horse racing game, players will be responsible for constructing their own ranches in order to breed, cultivate, and train horses for racing.
Deployed on the EOS public blockchain, Horseman GO is differentiated by its governance mechanisms which are underwritten in code, rather than in the hands of game publishers. The first of its kind, Horseman GO is the first blockchain game to be fully self-operational, self-managing, and self-developing – with players dictating how the Horseman GO ecosystem will continue to evolve over time.
Designed to challenge the existing inadequacies of modern-day online games which are centralized by design, Horseman GO addresses the imbalance between game developers, network operators, and players observed in the industry today. With in-game assets such as horses and other core resources put on the blockchain, players are able to safely purchase, trade, and ensure the provenance of these assets which now have real-world value as part of a digital in-game economy.
“From the irrefutable success of CryptoKitties in 2017, we’ve seen that the blockchain gaming ecosystem has yet to significantly innovate since then, with today’s games bogged by laggard network speeds and the inability to retain players. With the potential for blockchain to allow for greater transparency and safety for players who look to monetize in-game assets, we wanted to create a game that took this idea of ownership a step further.”
– Cogito Founder, Kevin Yu
The self-governing function of Horseman GO is enabled by the in-game Jockey Club, a decentralized autonomous organization within the game that collectively manages a central wallet where in-game earnings are used to cover the basic expenditure of the Horseman GO community.
Collected through registration fees in races, auctions, and sponsored races, the majority of the funds will eventually be returned to players through bonus pools, activity rewards, and a dedicated development fund for beginners to the game. Denominated in EOS, all transactions taking place within the Horseman GO game will be fully transparent and viewable by players on the EOS blockchain.
Yu continued…
“As the first game of its kind, Horseman GO proposes an innovative model of gameplay, distinguished by a self-functioning economy determined for players by the players themselves. Designed wholly with the spirit of decentralization in mind, we hope to foster an ecosystem that encourages players to be fully invested in the creation of the Horseman GO ecosystem, empowered by the emphasis on community inclusion and accountability for its growth.”
With over 20 years of extensive experience in the gaming and Internet industries, Yu is also the Co-Founder and former Editor-in-Chief of Netgamer, China’s first online gaming magazine. As a first-generation game developer in China, Yu’s established track record spans across PC and mobile gaming, in areas of publishing, operation, marketing, and business development for notable first-tier titles in the country including Lineage, for which he generated revenue of RMB ¥300 million (USD $43.29 million). Yu is also the former President of aigame100, one of China’s leading game development studios.
EOS Selected
Noted for its high-performance, stability, and robustness, EOS was selected by the Cogito team as the first public blockchain for Horseman GO. EOS smart contract functionality best serves the game’s autonomous mechanism through the use of Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS), which allows for lower latency and greater throughput. EOS has emerged as a preferred platform of decentralized applications including blockchain games, allowing Horseman GO to tap into a global user base.
In late October 2019, Horseman GO launched its first closed beta where players were able to participate in 3 races and win up to 60 EOS. Eventually, participants were able to compete in higher-level races and bid for high-value in-game resources in the closed beta 2.0 with more features gradually being added to enrich the gameplay experience. Over time, as the Horseman GO ecosystem matures, the DAG will be deployed on selected public blockchains across the wider industry ecosystem. Within the coming year, the Cogito team will be working on engaging wallet providers to explore the creation of a revenue distribution ecosystem along with other custom features within the gameplay to ensure user retention.
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