To play games for Bitcoin, you first need Bitcoin-powered games

We created ZEBEDEE to revolutionize gaming by giving developers the tools they need to give in-game currencies, actions and scores actual real-world value. Everything we’ve built are essentially tools to get this job done. But because this is all extremely new technology, which at first glance seems complex and abstract, we’ve created a showcase for the power of ZEBEDEE by integrating Bitcoin into one of the most popular multiplayer games today, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. We call this solution ZBD Infuse.

ZBD Infuse — Putting Bitcoin into CS:GO (and soon other major titles)

Our team has been making Bitcoin games since 2013. Along the way, we’ve learnt one thing: the problem isn’t finding awesome ways to put Bitcoin in games, it’s how to make games people actually want to play. The gaming space is extremely competitive, and it’s not exactly easy to just go out and create the next CS:GO and get millions of people to play it. Luckily, we don’t have to.

To demonstrate ZEBEDEE in action and showcase what’s possible in Bitcoin gaming, we’ve developed ZBD Infuse. ZBD Infuse (or just Infuse, for short) is a desktop app that brings Bitcoin to existing games people already know and love. We take data from a game via API, do a little magic and voila, we get a game that’s upgraded with real-time Bitcoin transactions. This could be anything from giving your score a value in satoshis, rewarding you for clever plays or penalizing you if you shoot your teammates.

To start off, we’ve put instant Bitcoin transactions into one of the most popular multiplayer games out there: Counter Strike: Global Offensive. Our implementation works like this: When you join a server that has been “infused”, you need to pay an entry fee (this is easily done with our wallet). The fees from all entrants are collected and added to the total prize pool. If you play well, you’ll get a bigger portion of the prize, based on your score. Since Lightning transactions are so fast, you don’t have to wait until the end of the game for all scores to be tallied up: you can quit the match whenever you want and immediately withdraw your earnings up to that point. To play CS:GO for Bitcoin, signup here.

When you tie in-game score with a currency that has value in the real world (and you can withdraw at any time), the stakes suddenly get a lot higher. Earning money by playing games is great, but, from our perspective, that’s not even the main point. The point is to have skin in the game. Because winning or losing money in real-time as a direct consequence of how well you’re playing takes the passion and drive of competitive gaming to a whole new level.