Until recently, video games were primarily a form of entertainment. But now, a new generation of games using blockchain technology means players can be rewarded for the time they spend playing.
Moreover, these games represent a new investment opportunity in the world of cryptocurrencies, as they have the potential to attract millions of new users.
In this article, we will see everything you need to know about NFT games and Play to Earn.
What are NFT or Play to Earn games?
Play to win games, also known as NFT games, are those games that allow players to earn rewards with real value.
In traditional games, any items, outfits, weapons, or rewards earned in-game remained in-game. Thanks to blockchain technology and NFTs, a very big shift is happening.
NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are unique tokens that can be used to prove ownership of digital content such as images or music. In blockchain games, they allow the user to own in-game items such as virtual clothes or plots of land.
And all these items obtained or purchased, being NFTs of the player himself, can be removed from the game and transferred. Moreover, this is done transparently and securely using blockchain technology.
What makes NFT games revolutionary?
Until now, making money playing video games was reserved for esports professionals or content creators. It was also possible for users of games like Diablo 2 who received items to resell them for in-game currency or with some difficulty in secondary markets.
But beyond these exceptions, the money only flowed one way. Publishers released a game on a platform like Steam or the Epic Games Store and offered character and weapon customization items for sale, which were kept inside the platform. This business model topped $61 billion in 2021, according to Statistics website.
In Play to Win games, all items earned and purchased are NFT so that they can be transferred outside the infrastructure of the company that creates the game. NFTs allow players to own the unique items they buy or receive, and you can also sell them freely outside the platform.
With NFT games, any gamer can monetize their time by selling in-game items (NFTs) or earning in-game cryptocurrencies.
To sum up the idea, nfts are in-game items that can be traded and sold for traditional money or other cryptocurrencies on a buy and sell platform. Also, since NFTs are limited and require resources (usually time) to obtain, they have value on their own.
Simply put, players are rewarded for all the time and resources they put into the game.
What do you need to play?
Initially, its operation is similar to the vast majority of games. You have to go to its website and you can download its PC version, play directly from your web browser or it will tell you if its mobile version is also available.
What you will need if you want to be part of any of these games is to create a cryptocurrency wallet. This will be where you store your NFTs and digital currencies, allowing you to perform all kinds of transactions.
The wallet you need depends on the blockchain the game was built on. For example, Metamask is an Ethereum-based cryptocurrency wallet and will therefore work in any game built on Ethereum.
One of the important things you should pay attention to before playing is whether it is necessary to invest a certain amount of money to start (for example, buying a character) or if you can do it for free (it has the Free to Play option). )
Beyond that, each game has its own quirks that you should research before playing.
How does the NFT game economy work? Are they durable?
Each game has its own business model and it is this that determines how rewards are distributed, whether in the form of the game’s own cryptocurrencies or NFTs.
This information can be found in the game sheet, which is a manifesto detailing everything about the game: concept, operation, symbol, etc…
And now you might be wondering where the money (in the form of rewards) given to players comes from?
Typically, when a company wants to create a new game, they create a token and offer it to investors, just as a traditional company would normally do. Of the total number of tokens, a portion goes to the so-called «reward pool» or similar term.
The «reward pool» consisting of tokens that will be distributed in the future according to the game logic that has been defined.
This fund logically empties as rewards are given to players, but also has mechanisms to replenish it.
Some options to increase the rewards available are character sales, investments made by new players, or part of the commissions paid by users when they use your marketplace.
Therefore, there must be a balance between money flowing in and out of the game for the game to be sustainable over time.
How to make money with NFT games
As we saw in the previous section, each blockchain game has its own mechanics and how it works. But generally, there are following ways to make money from these games.
Play and sell the rewards obtained
Each game offers players rewards in different forms, the usual ones being in NFT, the cryptocurrency used in the game, or a mix of both. It is rare for a game to offer rewards in crypto modes other than its own.
For example, in the case of the game Axie Infinity, players are rewarded for winning battles with the SLP token, which is listed on various exchanges and can be exchanged for FIAT money.
Investments in NFTs
Many games launch or release NFTs before the game is released. Many of them, as in the case NFT Space from the game Big Timeare required to be able to play once the game is released.
Therefore, we can invest in these NFTs with the idea that they will appreciate in the future as demand increases if the game is successful.
Invest in game chips
Tokens are released for sale in the early stages of development. Initially, private sales are carried out, for certain types of investors, then public sales through launchaps.
Most users can invest in tokens during the public sale, and once done, buy them directly once they are listed on the various exchanges.
Once the tokens are purchased, we often have the opportunity to bet on the returns in the hope that they will revalue over time.
Invest in guilds
Player guilds or «guilds» are communities that invest in tokenized NFT gaming assets with the goal of increasing their value.
Organization is done through DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations) and some examples are Merit Circle (MC) or Yield Guild Games (YGG) tokens
Basically, they finance players of certain games in exchange for a portion of the rewards earned. As the adoption of certain games increases and their digital assets appreciate, this appreciation is reflected in the price of guild tokens.
We can imagine it as a kind of investment fund on the digital assets of NFT games.
Some of the best blockchain games today
Finally, we’ll be looking at some of the best games to win today and another big title coming out in the next few months.
Infinite Axis
Axie Infinity is a game directed by Trung Nguyen and developed by Vietnamese startup Sky Mavis. It’s a turn-based combat game that averages over 2.8 million players per day. The mechanics are simple, you fight animals called Axies which are NFTs and you get in-game currency called Small Love Potions (SLP) upon victory.
thetan sand
Thetan Arena is a strategic fighting game that has thousands of daily users and is available for PC and IOS and Android mobile devices. It allows you to play in a simple way because to start you do not need a wallet and you just need to install the game and complete a simple registration.
Good weather
Finally, we have Big Time, a cooperative action-RPG where players take on the role of time-traveling heroes and fight their way through history. It’s being developed by Los Angeles-based company Big Time Studios, which was founded by Armi Meilich, the former CEO of metaverse Decentraland.
Its release will take place in 2022 and it is expected that a triple-A game will reach the general public.
FINAL COMMENTS
In my opinion, NFT games are here to stay because they allow players to be rewarded for all the time and money invested, which is a substantial departure from the traditional video game model.
However, it is very important that the games meet two basic conditions for them to be successful:
- They need to be fun, quality, and well-developed in order to attract a large number of players.
- Its economy needs to be sustainable, as it’s not about attracting players for the best reason to get rewards if they can’t be sustained over time, which could cause token values to collapse .