199 | How fully onchain Minecraft changes web3 gaming

Jon Jordan talks to MSquared CEO Rob Whitehead about the company's attempt to build a PlayFab for web3 gaming, which combined with the Somnia blockchain, will supercharge the sector with more onchain data that's more composable. [2:50] Rob Whitehead's current roles at Improbable and MSquared. [3:56] Rob's early career as a teenaged virtual arms dealer in Second Life. [4:59] How Improbable started work on what became MSquared during Covid lockdown. [8:15] How MSquared is different to existing multiplayer technologies for gaming? [8:40] Current tech can only handle about 100 players because data quadruples per extra player added. [9:08] MSquared uses a smart layer optimizing a cluster of cloud-based computers to boost capacity. [11:55] Why MSquared started working with Yuga Labs for its Otherside metaverse. [15:07] Blockchain enables interoperability but that's not enough and you can't put everything onchain. [17:43] How the Somnia blockchain is designed to be the "fastest EVM blockchain". [19:24] Rob's journey into crypto - 'a deepy humbling experience'. "Things are stupid until they're not". [23:18] Somnia's speed enables a whole new category of experiences to be built. [25:11] Once you unlock a new capability, you then have to learn what to do with it. [26:03] "What's the maximal thing you could ever put on a blockchain?" [28:21] The first version of Chunked peaked at around 1,000 concurrent players onchain. [30:01] "If you can make fully onchain Minecraft on Somnia, what else can you do?" [32:18] DeFi has been a success. We're trying to build those Lego blocks for web3 gaming. [34:24] We're trying to build a PlayFab for web3 gaming. [36:20] We need a decentralized Steam where you can see all your items and progression. [37:08] MSquared's OmniChain Indexer works across ApeChain, Somnia, Polygon, Ethereum etc. [39:39] Chunked v2.0 is also going to be released very soon, plus a potential mainnet version too.