Steam’s Clicker Game Sensation Opens Debate About NFTs And Crypto Gaming

A clicker game on Steam recently became the talk of the town after flipping some of the most popular games on the platform. ‘Banana’ became a sensation for its NFT-like rewards, which can be sold for over $1,000 on Steam’s marketplace. However, the clicking phenomenon has sparked a debate among crypto community members about the state of crypto and web3 gaming.

Banana is an indie game on Steam that consists of clicking the image of a banana to obtain rewards. Although not the first of its kind, its players are rewarded with digital bananas every few hours. Rewards can go from common bananas worth pennies to rare bananas, which can be sold for up to $1,300.

The free-to-play game hit the news after it surpassed some of the most popular titles on the platform. Banana flipped Elder Ring and Baldur’s Gate 3 in the most-played games list. The clicker game only came second to Counter-Strike 2.

As of this writing, the game remains the fourth most played game on Steam, with over 344,000 current players and a 578,000 peak in the last 24 hours. Moreover, it reached an all-time peak of 917,000 players earlier this month.

However, the simplicity of the game raised some alarms among gamers. Many believed the clicker game contained malware that turns devices into crypto miners. While others wondered if the game was a scam of sorts.

One of Banana’s developers, Hery, denied the accusations. Hery told news media outlet Polygon that it “is pretty much a stupid game” with bananas, not a scam.

Many users also speculated if the game was related to NFTs and cryptocurrencies, as it had an NFT-like feeling but without the blockchain technology. A Banana team member clarified that “Banana wants nothing to do with crypto.”

They explained that the game had no intention of integrating crypto as it doesn’t “mix well” with Steam. Additionally, they emphasized that it started as “a goofy game to collect some bananas on your Steam profile.”

Although Banana doesn’t plan on integrating with the crypto industry, the game sparked several conversations among the community. Several members took the opportunity to discuss its implications for web3 gaming.

A user highlighted the game’s popularity despite its simple mechanics, proposing the industry doesn’t need ‘AAA games’ to break out. Several community members agreed and suggested there’s a misconception about the type of games needed in web3.

Although complex and super action games are believed to be the only option, “dudes just wanna have fun and make points,” said an X user. Seemingly, the sentiment among many was that the industry is “making it more complicated than it is.”

Some users believe that Banana and similar games could help with web3 gaming. The meme quality of the game was pointed out as a potential catalyst for broader adoption.

Similarly, this week, Avalanche Gaming discussed Banana’s implications on its Gamified Show. According to Paul Bettner, game developer and co-founder of Playful Studios, Banana could be a getaway to the larger world of crypto gaming.

To Bettner, “the behavior that we all love and participate in web3 as degens and web3 and crypto native users is, in fact, universal.” While watching the phenomenon of Steam’s clicker sensation evolve, the game developer noticed that users were “a bunch of degens that don’t know they’re degens yet.”

Ultimately, he considers that “people are learning how to degen.” If most of these users knew “what a wallet or a blockchain was, they would realize they could do that at 1000x the scale on a blockchain.”