The Fortnite Season 5 blockchain announcement you probably missed

There was one secret announcement from the Fortnite Season 5 launch that developer Epic Games isn't talking about. It involves the MagnaChain and you can read all about it here.

[SlappingOysters]

Perfectly suited game for it. Would be Epic if Epic pushed true in-game ownership as a feature.

[PlayableGamez-]

My balls itch

[SlappingOysters]

Rub them up and down a cactus

[porkChop]

I don't understand what a blockchain means in terms of games. What would it do, and how would it work?

[letsa_go]

Epic is going to use everyone's GPU to mine crypto for them to get even more rich! Jk

[SlappingOysters]

It's way cheaper for the developers to run as there is no fees, overseas transaction delays and so fort that we see with normal dollars, plus they don't have to have staff manually working out what smart contracts can do. Plus, the ownership of anything (the game, in-game content, stuff you've customised, character you've levelled-up, etc.) goes to the player. It's not licensed for use, but truly owned. So you can basically trade, sell, transfer or whatever else you want as you see fit.

It's also secure and unhackable, making it perfect for eSports, plus its transaparent, so you can see exactly how scarce an item is (good for CCGs or loot box games).

It's actually pretty fucking cool what can be done.

[ShadowWolf712]

Wasn't Sony looking into this for the stuff purchased from their online stores?

[porkChop]

So does it change anything on the consumer side, or is it mostly just backend stuff?

[frostypants]

In a very watered down nutshell imagine a database that anyone can download, and all of them can help validate changes to prevent corruption. And at the same time, every person's record is encrypted to the point of being completely inaccessible by anyone else (unless you expose your private key to them). So you have a system where no one person controls the database, anyone can help maintain it, you have full control over your own records, but it is also more secure than a traditional database. For a game this could mean true ownership of assets you acquire, beyond the reach of corporate meddling. The real benefits of blockchain though will be in stuff like banking, business contracts, voting, etc.

[letsa_go]

Okay, this is epic