For a long time, Play-to-earn games have been the talk of the town. Some believe cryptocurrency games will alter mainstream gaming, while others are doubtful. You don’t have a strong view yet? Do you feel like you don’t fully understand what a play-to-earn game is?
You’re in luck. We’ll be answering the question and breaking down what is play-to-earn games and helping you understand blockchain gaming too. Stick around, you’re sure to pick up a few things that might put some real income in your crypto wallet.
Now What Exactly is Play-to-earn Games?
The name “play-to-earn games” provides a good indication of what these games are. Yes, gamers can make money by playing games these days! The play-to-earn business model is based on blockchain technology. Simply put, participants can play a game and perhaps win thousands of dollars in cryptocurrency in this new game economy.
How exactly does all of this take place?
Well, players in a play-to-earn game can earn potentially valuable in-game items. This might range from skins and cards to a specific sort of game currency. The more players participate, the more games assets they can accumulate and the more valuable they become.
The Play-to-earn Model is Here
These game assets are only valued within the game in question in traditional games. They do, however, have real-world worth in play-to-earn games. Players can transfer these digital assets to the real world at any time and sell them for assets like a game cryptocurrency or real money on their own terms. However, they will have to deal with the usual stuff that comes with in-game purchases, like transaction costs, transaction fees, credit card details, etc.
Also, unlike traditional games, these are decentralized blockchain-based games. This means that the developer’s power center can’t call the shots on everything. In-game assets are divided among participants in play-to-earn games. Players generate value for other players as well as the developer by participating in the game’s digital economy.
Yes, it is like a financial commitment, but everything works for one simple reason. People want two things from these games: amusement and the prospect of winning money. Spending money in a game shop as an initial investment is very appealing.
More Potential Than You Think
Although it is still in its infancy, play-to-earn gaming is quite popular. There many types of games cropping up.
For instance, take the popular game Axie Infinity, a blockchain game developed in 2018 by Vietnamese game developer Sky Mavis, which is now valued at billions of dollars. It’s a real noteworthy example of the play-to-earn model.
Axie Infinity’s design is straightforward: players collect cute animals known as axies and combat them in Pokémon-style battles. To participate in the online game, players must purchase or rent three axies linked to NFTs from the game shop, each with its unique set of stats and combat cards.
When a player wins a combat, they receive a “smooth love potion,” or SLP for short. Axies can also be bred with SLP and another governance token called the Axie Infinity Shard to create new NFTs that can be bought, sold, or used for game cryptocurrency that has real-world value. Passively, gamers can earn SLP by participating in a scholarship scheme in which they lend their axies to other players in exchange for a share of the profits by completing daily tasks or competing in the game’s battle arena.
Bring on The NFTs
There is no way to discuss play-to-earn games without mentioning game NFTs. Let’s bring some light to this virtual item. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are virtual collectible assets. They can take many forms, ranging from pictures to music.
They appear frequently in online gaming as digital items that players would naturally acquire. Characters, goods, skins, and virtual land, for example. All of this seems very familiar, doesn’t it?
Here’s the snag with NFTs. They are one-of-a-kind, irreplaceable assets that cannot be replicated. Think of it like the painting equivalent to the Mona Lisa, just on the blockchain, and in the video game industry.
These assets are not only saved within the game, but also on the blockchain network. Also, each of them has its unique worth. Assume two players have nearly similar NFT characters in the same game. One of them, though, wears a red helmet, while the other wears a blue one. If they traded, one would wind up with a more valued character than the other, possibly by thousands of dollars or even hundreds of thousands.
The Road Ahead
Eventually, the GameFi aim is for gamers to be able to navigate the huge, limitless realm of the metaverse via virtual avatars, fluidly moving among numerous virtual environments. They can be leaving on their virtual horses from a medieval bar one moment and flying a rocketship in outer space the next. They can socialize, earn game crypto, and purchase and trade NFTs in the form of outfits, guns, and other stuff all while doing a wide range of simple tasks and mini – games.
Currently, big names such as Take-Two Interactive and Square Enix have begun to experiment with GameFi, while Ubisoft, a company known for making some of the biggest games in the traditional gaming industry was the first major publisher to include NFTs and crypto assets in a game last year.
Play-to-Win!
As you can see, traditional gaming has changed a lot from when we were kids. Instead of playing a relaxing type of game like Mario on our Nintendo, we now have access to online games that have the potential to actually generate an average income. Who knew that playing a simple adventure game these days can earn lots of money, deal real estate, and trade on crypto exchanges.
Hopefully, this article should have helped you better grasp the battle arena of play-to-earn games. If you want regular updates on crypto games and the play-to-earn economy, then Ian Corzine’s newsletter is the way to go. Do your crypto wallet a favor and sign up now!
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