Arbitrum Considers Multi-Million Dollar Web3 "Catalyze Gaming" Program

The Arbitrum DAO is currently evaluating a proposal titled "Catalyze Gaming Ecosystem Growth on Arbitrum," aiming to significantly bolster Web3 gaming development and adoption on the Arbitrum blockchain platform. The proposal, authored by Daniel Peng, Vela Exchange co-founder, and Karel Vuong, Treasure co-founder, seeks 200 million ARB tokens (valued at roughly $400 million at the time of writing) to fuel the initiative.

The Gaming Catalyst program's (GCP) core objective, as outlined in a post on the official Arbitrum forum, is to cultivate a long-term, sustainable, and thriving gaming ecosystem on the Layer 2 blockchain network.

The proposal envisions the allocated funds being strategically distributed over a two-year period to achieve this goal. The initial thrust is to cultivate a supportive environment empowering developers. The GCP plans to use some of the requested funds to co-invest in promising games and studios alongside approved publishers. These publishers, aligned with Arbitrum's goals, will help streamline the process of game development by offering expertise in outreach, vetting, negotiation, onboarding and support.

"The fund will also be available for all other game builders seeking to create games on Arbitrum. Publishers and developers will be subject to a robust set of checks and balances to ensure alignment with this proposal’s goals and Arbitrum DAO’s values."

This system includes:

• Only whitelisted publishers approved by a DAO-elected Council can participate.
• With five gaming/venture capital experts, this Council will oversee the GCP Venture Team, acting like a board with hiring/firing power and general oversight.
• Quarterly transparency reports will detail the GCP's performance.
• A dedicated venture team within a Foundation subsidiary will handle deal structuring, due diligence, and fund distribution.

Peng notes that 40 million ARB of the funds would be allocated to infrastructure bounties, awarded on a project-by-project basis to incentivize the development of essential tools and infrastructure specifically designed to boost gaming on Arbitrum.

The GCP proposal goes beyond funding allocation, outlining a series of key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure its success. These KPIs include establishing Arbitrum as the de facto leader for on-chain gaming, receiving applications from 200 to 300 gaming developers, attracting at least 20% of all Web3 games to utilize Arbitrum as their primary network, facilitating 25 new Orbit Layer 3 chain launches, and achieving a net increase in migration to Arbitrum compared to other L2 networks.

The timing of the GCP proposal is noteworthy, coinciding with a scheduled ARB token unlock event on March 16, which will see roughly 1.12 billion ARB tokens released into circulation, with a substantial portion designated for the Arbitrum team and advisors.

The GCP proposal has received interest and support from the community, with some members noting that although it could be more refined, speed is of the essence and Arbitrum needs to boost its current Web3 gaming offering. Vuong announced today that the team behind the proposal will host a chat/community discussion on X on March 15 at 1pm ET.