The crypto mining boom may end, but AMD is still making big bets on the blockchain, joining the BGA, and plans to combine blockchain games with video cards.
In 2017, AMD saw an increase in earnings and share prices driven by demand from cryptocurrency miners. By 2018, crypto-Mining became a collapse, but the company did not abandon the blockchain. In fact, AMD may soon merge blockchain-based gaming with its graphics cards in the new year.
AMD became yesterday the first equipment manufacturer Join the Blockchain Game Alliance ( BGA ), a collaborative collaboration primarily of developers and publishers that includes companies such as gaming giant Ubisoft and Ethereum ConsenSys. In a press release, AMD said it plans to provide its industry partners with a kind of "high-performance computing technology" that could "potentially change the way games are created, published, purchased and played."
The equipment manufacturer also announced a partnership with Robot Cache , a blockchain-based gaming marketplace that launched in June, and Ultra, one of the founders of BGA, which is set to release its platform for game distribution in the next few months. Both will use AMD Ryzen processors and AMD Radeon graphics for "optimal cryptographic computing performance." Robot Cache will use AMD EPYC processors in its internal systems, while Ultra will use the same technology to produce blocks on its network.
The head of AMD's blockchain, Joerg Roskowetz, said that “blockchain gaming platforms will provide gamers with access to exclusive online content and give them new opportunities to truly own it.” These platforms will also provide publishers with “new channels” for distributing games, he said.
AMD Crypto Mining Past
But even before the games with blockchains, AMD showed great interest in cryptocurrency.
In July 2017, Wall Street was " stunned and "hypnotized" by the fact that AMD beat its profit forecasts. At one point, AMD's share price has risen 12% over the past 102 months. Demand from cryptocurrency miners for AMD GPUs and processors contributed to the rise as the price of Ethereum jumped 2400% year-on-year and bitcoin jumped 160%.
A year later, when cryptocurrency prices fell and mining activity fell, AMD predicted “ very small blockchain »In its revenue forecast for the third quarter of 2018. That said, AMD continued to exceed profit expectations, helped by its new Ryzen processors targeting the gaming and esports market.
Since the introduction of the Zen CPU microarchitecture, including Ryzen processors in 2017, AMD has demonstrated xnumx percent growth ... For the first time in 12 years, AMD grabbed a 30 percent share of the processor market, ditching some of Intel's dominance.
Gaming and esports are what drive AMD's success, and despite its crypto mining background, AMD is now getting closer to the blockchain market.
AMD's future gaming industry
Ultra co-CEO Nicholas Guillot said Crypto-hunter that its partnership with AMD goes further than an alliance on paper. "AMD will pair Ultra Games with its graphics cards," Gilot said.
This means that AMD customers will install the blockchain-based Ultra platform in order to redeem their game. And existing AMD customers will be able to install Ultra after updating the AMD driver. "Both of these actions will greatly boost Ultra's popularity," Gilot said.
AMD is proud to partner with @ultra_io to enable next-generation experiences made possible by blockchain-powered gaming technologies. https://t.co/Ab3Mk4DLN3 pic.twitter.com/taJPT0Xf9K
- AMD (@AMD) December 13, 2019
AMD and Ultra are also working on joint events and competitions, as well as other technological aspects such as increasing blockchain throughput and wallet security, both of which are “equally important for mainstream adoption,” Gilot said.
AMD's gaming developments on the blockchain seem to be much more deeply integrated than its crypto mining efforts. “Now they are also moving into the security aspect with cryptography,” Giloth said, and AMD is interested in “improving the capabilities of what blockchain has to offer in terms of speed and reliability, as well as protecting users’ private keys.”
This deepening level of blockchain development on the part of AMD may explain its joining the Blockchain Game Alliance, which Gilot called "a clear statement that blockchain is a major shift in the IT space."
“Creating corporations partnering with companies like Ultra shows their faith in blockchain and gaming together,” he said.
It looks like the processor maker has made a big leap into the nascent blockchain industry in what might be called a natural integration with the advancement of gaming technology. And the weight of a major player like AMD entering the field could, according to Guilot, become the main driving force behind the blockchain gaming industry.
“Gamers tend to embrace the latest technologies and concepts,” he said. “Mass adoption should be achievable in 2020 as already many large companies are jumping off the boat,” Gilot said. "Now it's up to the right product."