The blockchain gaming sector took a significant leap forward on February 19, 2017, as GameCredits Inc. announced the development of MobileGo, a revolutionary peer-to-peer smart contract token designed to power the world’s first blockchain-based mobile game store. The announcement came just one month after the company revealed plans for its groundbreaking gaming marketplace, scheduled to launch in spring 2017.
TL;DR
- GameCredits announces MobileGo, a smart contract token built on Ethereum and Waves blockchains
- The token will power the first blockchain-based mobile game store
- GameCredits payment gateway already live in two successful games with thousands of gamers
- MobileGo crowdsale will fund marketing and smart contract development
- Bitcoin trades at $1,047.87 as blockchain innovation extends beyond currency
A New Era for Gaming Payments
GameCredits Inc., an international blockchain payment company founded in 2016 in Serbia with a team of over 100 people across five countries, has been steadily building infrastructure to bring cryptocurrency payments to the gaming industry. The company’s GameCredits (GAME) digital currency, originally launched in 2014, has already proven its utility as a payment mechanism for online purchases of goods and gaming services.
The newly announced MobileGo token represents an evolution of this vision. Built as a peer-to-peer smart contract token leveraging both the Ethereum blockchain and the Waves platform, MobileGo is designed to enable decentralized gaming tournaments, peer-to-peer matchmaking, and a developer-friendly payment ecosystem that eliminates traditional intermediaries.
Smart Contracts Meet Mobile Gaming
The MobileGo token’s dual-blockchain architecture was a notable technical choice for early 2017. By utilizing both Ethereum’s robust smart contract capabilities and the Waves blockchain’s user-friendly token creation tools, GameCredits positioned MobileGo to benefit from the strengths of both platforms. The crowdsale proceeds would fund marketing and branding efforts for the Gamecredits Mobile Store, as well as the continued development of smart contract technology within the platform.
This approach reflected the broader trend in early 2017 of projects exploring the intersection of blockchain technology and consumer applications. While Bitcoin dominated the cryptocurrency landscape with a market capitalization of approximately $16.95 billion at the time, projects like GameCredits were demonstrating that blockchain’s potential extended far beyond digital currency.
The Blockchain Gaming Landscape in Early 2017
The announcement came at a pivotal moment for the broader cryptocurrency market. Bitcoin was trading at $1,047.87 on February 19, 2017, according to CoinMarketCap data, with a 24-hour trading volume of approximately $77.4 million. Ethereum, the platform upon which MobileGo would be partially built, was priced at $12.76 with a market cap of $1.14 billion.
The total cryptocurrency market capitalization stood at roughly $19.5 billion, a fraction of what it would become during the bull run later that year. Tether (USDT), now the dominant stablecoin in crypto markets, was ranked just 14th by market cap with a modest $24.95 million valuation on this date — a stark contrast to the tens of billions it would represent in subsequent years.
Building the Infrastructure
GameCredits had already made tangible progress before the MobileGo announcement. The company’s payment gateway had been successfully integrated into two games, enabling thousands of gamers to make purchases using the GAME cryptocurrency. This real-world adoption distinguished GameCredits from many blockchain projects of the era that remained purely conceptual.
The vision behind MobileGo was ambitious: create a comprehensive ecosystem where gamers could compete in decentralized tournaments, developers could receive direct payments without platform fees eating into their revenue, and the entire system could operate trustlessly through smart contracts. While the concept of blockchain gaming would take years to mature into the mainstream phenomenon it is today, projects like GameCredits laid important early groundwork.
Why This Matters
The MobileGo announcement on February 19, 2017, represented one of the earliest serious attempts to bridge blockchain technology with the massive mobile gaming industry. While the project would eventually face challenges common to many early crypto ventures, the fundamental insight — that blockchain could transform in-game economies, tournament structures, and developer compensation — proved prescient. Today, blockchain gaming and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) represent a multi-billion dollar sector, and the seeds of that revolution were being planted by pioneers like GameCredits in the early months of 2017.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational and historical purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Cryptocurrency investments carry significant risk. Always conduct your own research before making investment decisions.
MobileGo on Ethereum AND Waves wasnt ahead of its time, it was hedging bets because neither chain had real users in 2017. calling it cross-chain is generous
I remember this one. MobileGo was supposed to change gaming forever. Wonder how that worked out.
mobilego ICO raised like $53M. token went from $3.50 to basically zero. the answer to your question is: it didnt work out
ico_forensics MobileGo didnt just fail because of the market. the team burned through the ICO funds on marketing partnerships that never converted. classic 2017 playbook
ico_forensics MobileGo raised $53M and burned it on marketing partnerships with gaming influencers who never delivered. the Serbia team was real but the execution was pure 2017 spray and pray
$53M raised and burned on gaming influencer partnerships that converted at zero percent. MobileGo is the textbook case for why ICO funding without accountability is just founder exit liquidity.
belgrade_bear 53M on gaming influencers who converted at zero. the Serbia team had real engineers but the marketing budget was pure 2017 ICO theater
belgrade_bear burning 53M on gaming influencers who converted at zero percent. every 2017 ICO had the same line item. marketing spend with zero accountability
belgrade_bear burning $53M on gaming influencer partnerships that converted at zero percent is peak 2017. at least the tech worked on paper
$53M raised and the token went to zero. 2017 ICOs were basically venture funding with extra steps and zero investor protections
$53M raised and the token literally went to zero. 2017 was just crowd funding for founders exit liquidity
btc at $1,047 when this dropped. those were the days man
pagong_44 BTC at $1047 feels like a different universe. mobilego ICO was the kind of thing where you showed up with ETH and just hoped for the best
MobileGo on Ethereum AND Waves was ahead of its time. cross-chain before people even had a word for it
Ethereum + Waves dual chain. Very 2017 ICO era approach. So many projects tried this dual-token model and almost none survived.
Raj K. dual chain on ethereum and waves is peak 2017 engineering. throw every buzzword at the wall and see what sticks
Dual token models from 2017 almost all failed. MobileGo had the right idea but timing was off
GameCredits had 100 people across 5 countries. 2017 was wild. teams that big building gaming tokens and most of them vanished within 2 years
GameCredits was building mobile crypto payments in 2017. the idea was right, the infrastructure just wasnt there yet
GameCredits building mobile crypto payments in Serbia in 2017 was genuinely ahead of its time. The infrastructure for mobile wallet UX didnt exist until WalletConnect made it usable years later.
Vesna J. calling Ethereum plus Waves cross-chain is generous. it was hedging because neither chain had users in 2017
Serbia-based team of 100 building mobile crypto payments in 2017. the ambition was there but mobile wallet UX was years away from usable
Feliks Z. 100 people across 5 countries building a mobile crypto payment gateway in 2017. the ambition was real but mobile wallet UX was so bad that GameCredits had zero chance of mainstream adoption
Wojtek M. building mobile crypto payments in Serbia in 2017 took real guts. shame the tech was 5 years too early. would probably work today with wallet improvements
retro_token GameCredits was based in Belgrade. the team was real but building crypto payments infrastructure in 2017 was like selling ice in winter. nobody was ready