- Although Play-to-earn games date back to 2017 it wasn’t until May 2021 that these games really started to explode in popularity.
- In NFT Play-to-Earn games, they buy the items and they are completely yours, and you can easily transfer them outside of the games core market allowing for the monetization of items.
- NFT games, blockchain and Play-to-Earn, are gaining more and more relevance around the world and it will do so more and more with the approach through firms such as Facebook.
Generating money while we play, in the past, could awaken all the existing alerts that we were in the presence of a possible scam.
However, thanks to cryptocurrencies, the blockchain and the revolution that Axie Infinity has been, Play-to-Earn games are increasingly part of our daily lives, and they continue to expand at a dizzying rate.
NFT games, specifically Play-to-Earn or Play-to-Win, even go back to the year 2017, however, the little maturity of the market coupled with the fall in BTC prices from $ 20,000 to $ 20,000. $ 2,000, meant that attention to NFT games will not go beyond CryptoKitties.
However, the arrival of 2020 also marked the arrival of COVID-19, and with it the global confinement, the closure of borders, the freezing of international trade and therefore the multiple negative impacts on the entire world economy, where it they lost millions of jobs overnight, and furthermore, the reality changed with social distancing.
All this generated that immediately cryptocurrencies, especially Bitcoin (BTC), began to gain the attention of large capitals, and more and more people like you or us, positioning themselves as one of the strongest stores of value at the moment.
Of course, this gain in the popularity of cryptocurrencies and the negative impacts on the economy of millions of people, generated that Play-to-Earn crypto video games also grew in popularity, and began, as we express in Bitcoin Mexico, to change the concept of what we know as “Work”.
An explosion in popularity
However, it was not until May 2021 that these games began to really explode in popularity, where they exploded from a few thousand users to almost 400k users at the end of May 2021, for now, settle at 1.2 million, according to data from DappRadar, which represents an average growth of 509% this last year.
Source: DappRadar
However, the same data portal has stated that it is virtually impossible to determine what the exact number of players is in all NFT games, “but this figure shows the clear exponential increase in demand for play-to-games. earn”.
Also, as expressed by the DappRadar team:
“This shows that people have started to realize the potential behind combining video games with blockchain technology. Especially with intriguing concepts like the metaverse gaining visibility in the mainstream media ”.
An example of this is that more and more large traditional video game companies, such as EA, have expressed that Play-To-Earn within blockhain technology and NFTs are “The future of our industry“.
Why blockchain?
In short , video games built on blockchain technology allow, in a way never seen before, that players from all over the world can generate monetary value from their hours of play, and skills, within their favorite game.
This is thanks to the fact that this technology allows players to securely carry out transactions between them, without the need to resort to a store created by a centralized entity, of a digital asset with underlying value. For example, a special sword in World of Warcraft, or a unique car in MarioKart, or a limited Fortnite skin, the options are truly limitless.
“The blockchain transforms games that follow a Web 2 approach, into a decentralized Web 3 type. Here, the players range from consumers to the actual owners of the objects. Not only do they decide the future of their game stories, but they can also fully control their game assets beyond a single video game or platform , ”said the DappRadar team.
How?
But, the natural question that this can raise is how can a decentralized market and p2p be generated between players, safe and fast? We are seeing the answer both in the world of sports with digital collectible cards, or in the world of art with auctions of digital properties, in the world of music with the publication of own albums without the need for record labels and so on.
This is thanks to the technology of Non Fungible Tokens (NFT), which are a type of crypto asset whose value is based on a single asset, be it digital or physical. So then, we would be talking about a tokenized version of the value and property of an asset.
Its main function is to serve as incorruptible and unfalsifiable proof of ownership, which is stored within a Blockchain. It also has all the characteristics of a cryptocurrency by itself.
- It can be traded quickly, efficiently and in some cases at almost no cost (except for the Ethereum network).
- It is Fungible, which represents that there cannot be another equal token.
- It is traceable, you can observe the price at which it was sold in the past, as well as the number of owners it has had.
- A centralized platform is not required to trade it, it is simply a transaction within the Blockchain.
- And many other features that have been discovered as the usability of said technology has been found.
“The objective”, the object markets
As we have expressed, the objective that large video game firms, and even NFT video games in the world of cryptocurrencies, can have is the market for objects within games.
These markets exist for the majority of online games today, from FIFA, LOL, Fortnite, Call of Duty Warzone and more. These particular stores for each of the video games have generated more than $ 40 billion dollars or 25% of the total revenue of the entire gaming sector.
In comparison, according to DappRadar, NFT games, which are actually less than a year old as a true phenomenon, have stores of more than $ 14.2 billion dollars or x2.8 times smaller than the traditional sector.
However, there is a crucial difference between the two types of in-game store. In traditional games, say FIFA 22, if you spend $ 50 buying points to acquire packs with Legends players and then the following year FIFA 23 comes out, you will not be able to use your assets in the new game, nor can you really do anything with it.
The same happens in Call Of Duty, which weapon skins are not transferable from game to game, or Fortnite skins cannot be used in League of Legends and others. This is mainly due to the fact that the items in these stores are not really yours, but rather the company that developed the game.
- You only have a license to use them
- If the central servers are shut down or shut down, your assets disappear
- You cannot usually transfer it P2P to another person without using the video game platform.
On the other hand, in the NFT Play-to-Earn games, they buy the objects and they are completely yours, and you can easily transfer it via p2p (outside the central market of the games) which allows the monetization of the objects. In addition, these objects are stored in a blockchain, which, usually, are decentralized, so you will not have to worry about the central servers of a video game turning off.
Also, within the nature of these NFTs there is the basis of interoperability, which is based on the fact that an NFT asset of a video game can be used as an asset in a totally different game.
Although this modality of Metaverses is not yet fully built, projects such as Axie Infinity or Plant Vs. Undead have already announced plans to build them.
How do you win money at NFT Games?
There are multiple NFT games in the updated one that are based on the Play-to-Earn mode, one of the most important being Axie Infinity. The first way to earn money is by obtaining the same token or cryptocurrency of the game.
Let’s take Axie Infinity as an example, with this first method, players win SLP or AXS within the game by making their Axies battle and remaining in the top 100 of the ranking of players worldwide.
The second way is that players can make a profit by trading their NFT assets. In the case of Axie Infinity, the Axies can be bought, either for breeding (creating a new NFT), or to wait for the market to rise to sell it more expensively.
Source: DappRadar
Source: DappRadar.
Who is playing these games?
Even today, NFT play-to-earn games continue to gain popularity, and as seen in the graph month after month the trend has been to continue increasing. But who is playing these games?
The answer is simple , the players who need it the most and that the income of these Play-To-Earn make a real difference in their monthly income. Where are these players located? In developing countries, poor, or with economic, political and social problems.
Let’s take Axie Infinity once again as an example, we can note that in the top 15 countries that play Axie the most, we find countries in economic problems such as the Philippines, Venezuela, Argentina. In addition, Latin American countries with low or middle income such as Colombia and Vietnam or developing countries such as Mexico, Brazil, India, Indonesia.
Annual SLP income vs. Percapita GDP of Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. Source: DappRadar.
This popularity in these countries is due to the fact that an average player can make an average of $ 2,000 a year dedicating 2 or 3 hours a day. What is greater than what a person can earn in a year in Venezuela, Argentina and other countries.
But on the other hand, we also see the case of the United States, China, Japan, France, Spain and England. Why? If income in these countries is high enough that $ 300 (average Axie player profit) per month doesn’t make much of a difference.
The answer can come from the two ways to make money with these NFT games that we mentioned above. Since, players from higher income countries could be buying Axies to earn money by trading with them instead of playing.
In addition, it is worth mentioning that, within Axie Infinity there is the Scholarship modality, where a person with additional Axies (Manager) gives them to another person to play for him (Scholarship), and both share the benefits at a rate to be agreed.
“ Play-to-win games empower people by democratizing ownership and monetizing the time and capital that players invest in games. Changing the socio-economic reality of entire regions is something that is not seen every day. And the impact is more profound when you understand the role blockchain games play , ”said the DappRadar team.
Who is dominating?
We have named or used Axie Infinity as an example in this article, but the reality is that this is not the only video game that exists within this thriving ecosystem. There’s also Splinterlands, which dates back to 2018, just like Axie.
This is an NFT multiplayer trading card game that takes place in a mystical world of monsters built on the Hive blockchain. In this play-to-earn, you will have to successfully complete the daily missions to obtain Dark Energy Crystals (DEC), the game’s SLP.
This game alone, in the month of September, presented more than 250,000 active wallets with an increase of 3,267% compared to the end of June.
Source: Dappradar.
On the other hand, we have both Upland, an NFT real estate metaverse, where each of the properties that are traded in the game refer to real addresses in New York, San Francisco and other locations in the United States.
Or the case of Alien Worlds, which is a battle and space mining game. But, it is not limited here, CryptoBlades, Mobox, Plant vs. Undead, and more within the Binance blockchain, the world’s largest crypto exchange.
Source: DappRadar
Many of these video games that are not only being pioneers within the ecosystem of cryptocurrencies and Play-to-Earn. If not, they also want to be within the world of Metaverses.
Metaverses, even Facebook joins this world
The concept of Metaverse is not something new, the idea was popularized in the 80s with movies and books about the digital world such as Tron, but it was not until the arrival of the book “Snow Crash” by Neal Stephenson that the word really entered. on stage.
Metaverse refers to a virtual world where people can do what they do in real life, but digital. Trade, build, play, and more.
This phenomenon is becoming so real, very contrary to their word, that even Facebook has decided to change its name to “Meta”, and will begin to build a true metaverse, and of course the NFTs, cryptocurrencies and blockchain will be the basis of this new technology.
In addition, fashion brands such as Burberry, Gucci and Dolce & Gabbana, have already focused their attention on the metaverse, and we are still waiting to know what their approach to this world will be.
During the third quarter of this year alone, blockchain metaverses have amassed more than $ 56 million in transaction volume. Mainly powered by SandBox, which has become the metaverse of reference.
In this game you can create a world, like Minecraft, and it has achieved alliances with well-known brands such as Atari, The Walking Dead, Smurfs and even with Snoop Dogg.
” The decentralized metaverse is becoming a collection of virtual reality ecosystems based on Play-to-Earn games, ” says DappRadar.
Big capitals are coming to NFT games and metaverses
This popularity among players and companies has generated a natural response from the world’s capitals and fresh capital from all over the world is already reaching the ecosystem.
- Sorare, one of the top Fantasy Football companies from NFT games, raised $ 680 million from SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2.
- Dapper Labs the crypto firm behind the NBA’s NFT collection has received more than $ 600 million in investment rounds from Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), GV, Version One Ventures, and Coatue.
- Sky Mavis, the firm behind Axie Infinity, received $ 150 million from a16z.
According to experts, the arrival of these venture capitals will lead to an improvement in the quality of Blockchain and metaverses games, in addition,
They will give the players greater security regarding the confidence and future of the project.
What’s new in the world of NFT games?
As we expressed at the beginning of this content, the large traditional video game firms have already set their sights on NFTs, blockchain, cryptocurrencies and the Play-to-Earn mode and some are already advancing in the development of their own games.
Epic Games has loaned their Unreal Engine 5 to Star Atlas for the development of a Play-To-Earn open-world space exploration strategy MMORPG. Your team has expressed the intention to build a true galactic economy that includes wars, politics, diplomacy, and territories to extract natural resources.
Source: Staratlas
Another Play-To-Earn game widely awaited by the community is Illuvium, an open-world RPG that will run on the Immutable X blockchain. Illuvium will allow players to capture and breed creatures called Illuvials.
In addition, another game expected by the community of the two worlds, blockchain and traditional video games, are the games of Gala Games, the startup led by the co-founder of Zynga, Eric Schiermeyer. With this game, players who own the blockchain’s own nodes.
However so far only Town Star has been released , a p2e farming game that rewards players with GALA and TOWN. But, the release of Mirandus, a fantasy RPG that will take place in a massive digital world, is expected.
Conclusopnes: A digital world awaits us
It is inescapable that NFT games, blockchain and Play-to-Earn, are gaining more and more relevance around the world and will do so more and more when firms like Facebook, (excuse me, Meta) begin to introduce millions of users to a world that would otherwise be unknown to most.
Play-to-earn is changing the lives of millions of people as we speak. But so are the NFTs, which in the future will be overcrowded and each one will have at least one in their wallets.
The future points out that large video games will have to adopt this modality, just as banks and financial institutions have adopted cryptocurrencies. And you, do you already play a P2E NFT game?