Play-to-earn NFT games are where players can monetize their gaming time. This model is the latest addition to the NFT market in the metaverse. With the advent of blockchain-based applications such as cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens, games based on these chains now add up, which are perfect candidates for such rewarding games. It will become a big deal in the future if those constant gaming geeks utilize such games where their playing time would earn them money. Many people in the Philippines and Indonesia are already earning through playing such games and feeding their families.
This blog gives an overview of how these games work and examples of the concept being used currently.
How Does This Model Actually Work?
- Play-to-earn games rely on blockchain technology, where every transaction occurring inside the game environment is recorded on the digital ledger. Hence, you can prove the ownership of the assets you earn.
- You can earn in-game assets as NFTs while playing those games. Such rewards can be in the form of in-game weapons, boosters, skins, costumes, and more.
- Many of these games will reward your playing time by offering you one of the digital assets above.
- In addition to this, you can also sell the in-game assets you own through various NFT marketplaces, as the game’s developers will ensure deliberate scarcity to ensure that the in-game economy is stable.
Benefits of Play-to-earn Blockchain Games
- NFT games do not suffer from loss of game data, all game data is stored in the digital ledger. The blockchain adds up the recent game data with the older one with each save.
- Also, as players can trade their in-game assets in various NFT marketplaces, the money spent on any tokens would gain you profits, thus earning you a lot more even after you have finished the game.
- Such games also are becoming the main source of income for many people in many developing nations, and many will join soon.
Some Popular Play-to-earn Games
As of now, there are not a lot of games that allow its players to earn while gaming. Some games such as Axie Infinity, Sorare, and Decentraland come under such games, and these are growing in popularity by the day. Let us see a little more about these games below:
- Axie Infinity is one of the earliest blockchain games that allow players to earn money while playing. Here, players play with a team of 3 Axies (in-game monsters) to battle with other Axie teams to earn in-game assets. Also, players can farm a cryptocurrency called SLP (essential while breeding the Axies) and sell it to other players who need it in the in-game marketplace. They can also sell Axies, or people can even rent out Axies with a predecided agreement. There are many more exciting ways to earn while playing Axie Infinity, which you will understand as you play the game.
- Decentraland is a metaverse-based game where players can create their own avatar and dress up. They can also attend events in others’ rooms, or you can walk around the virtual world to buy your own plot. Recently, Decentraland has a record of selling a virtual property of land for $1.3 million. The game is looking to develop more, and so, the future version of Decentraland can earn you through various ways.
- Sorare is a fantasy football game built on the Ethereum blockchain, where gamers can have a team of five players in the form of trading cards, and based on their performance in real-world matches, you can win rarer cards and cryptocurrency. The game hosts 6,000 licensed player cards spread across 230 football clubs. You can also sell and trade your player cards on the Sorare marketplace for cryptocurrency.
Other games that attract a lot of gamers include League of Kingdoms, Gods Unchained, Zed Run, Illuvium, and Town Star, with most of them being battle-themed games.
New Play-to-earn Games To Be Launched in 2022
In addition to the already existing play-to-earn blockchain games, more games are coming up this year, in which some of them are given below:
- Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), a community that thrives with 10,000 ape-based digital art NFTs, would be developing a play-to-earn in collaboration with the gaming software development agency Animoca Brands.
- The Forgotten Rune Wizard Cult, an NFT collection of 10,000 wizard images, has partnered with a game development firm Bisonic to develop a play-to-earn game, which is likely to include NFTs in the form of virtual lands.
- Loopify, a popular NFT collector, is developing a game called Treeverse. The game is multiplayer-based, with artwork inspired by titles such as The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild.
Some Things Should Not Be Missed
Like any other game that offers limited functionality in their free versions, some of these play-to-earn games have such limitations (Games like Sorare and Decentraland). At the same time, other blockchain-based games need the players to invest some money to purchase some initial character assets before they can even start playing the game. Although such games and the incomes earned by people are some good stories to hear, one must consider that those people played those games for a living. Making such money is possible only when you spend sufficient time putting in some serious efforts. There are also chances for rug pull scams to occur wherein a prospective player should invest money to develop that game, only for the developers to disappear in thin air with all the money.
If you can only understand that the world of NFTs is still evolving and anything might change soon, you should delve into this new world of gaming. You can go and start playing such a game now and start earning if you are aware of everything around the game.
