Play-To-Earn Cryptocurrency Games Gain More and Is Set to Expand

By: Dylan_Moran

It’s been a dream of many people to be able to play video games and earn money for a living. This hasn’t been an impossible road to take since the start of the internet and especially when game streaming became popular. However, not really everyone who streams the games that they play could really make a living out of it.

Today, however, we can already say that anybody can already start earning money by playing games and this is thanks to cryptocurrency gaming. To many, crypto gaming may just be about playing casino games on the top BTC casinos online but this isn’t just the case anymore. While playing at crypto casinos can still be a decent way to earn extra money, gaming companies are now looking into NFT-based games with the play-to-earn scheme too.

The Rise of NFT Games

One of the biggest sub-sectors of the cryptocurrency market right now is gaming and according to CoinMarketCap, there are now over 160 gaming-related tokens that account for around 13 billion USD of the crypto market. There has been significant growth in this area of the market in the last couple of months has in mid-June, it only accounted for 3.6 billion USD of the market. By the end of July, it jumped to 7.9 billion USD.

Crypto gaming has been around for a while but it seems like it wasn’t until the game Axie Infinity came out that it garnered more attention from both crypto and non-crypto users. This game is developed by Sky Mavis and was released in 2018. Esports.net lists this game on the top of the list and it’s easy to comprehend why.

It’s a simple game similar to games like Pokémon wherein you get to collect, breed, train, and battle out fantasy monsters. These colorful blob-like monsters are then the NFTs of the game which means that players can sell or trade them too.

The game also has other ways for players to earn money as they can also sell certain items on the market. Aside from selling or trading Axies, players also earn Smooth Love Potions or SLP whenever they win battles against the Axies of other players. These SLPs can then be converted to cash, depending on their market value.

Other popular NFT and crypto games right now aside from Axie Infinity are Splinterlands, Cryptokitties, Evolution Land, and Gods Unchained. Generally, the objective of these games is easy yet fun. These games have also somehow built communities that are also said to be the reason why crypto gaming continues to grow.

What People Are Saying

David Elvion, a member of a Zurich-based gaming company called Dacoco that is developing Alien Words, talked about how there’s really more into just being able to earn money while gaming. Elvion said, Being able to earn while playing a game is a big deal but the result of that is that people interact, trade, gift, tip and communicate much more with each other. Basically, what is happening is a connection on many levels, which is a core human need.”

There are also others who suggest that the recent rise of these games has macroeconomic reasons. Joe Zhou, the founder of Dawn Protocol, spoke about this with Cryptonews.com and said, “From a macro point of view, many crypto games' success, especially Axie, in this cycle had greatly benefited from the cyclical narrative shift when the market cools off and an increasing number of participants were seeking returns outside the DeFi/yield farming. Naturally, they look to allocate their cash into riskier assets.

“Blockchain technologies created new opportunities for users, and in 2017/18 -- when NFT gaming was in its earliest form -- pioneer studios such as Axie Infinity or The Sandbox saw the potential for creating a new type of games or platform where the economy is truly owned by its players, meaning that all the content, the economy and even the governance of the game or virtual world could be in the hands of the players, creators, and users who contribute to these games,” he explained further.

Elvion also points out that play-to-earn games will eventually be a permanent genre in the gaming industry. He said, “Play-to-earn will establish itself as a permanent new genre in the gaming industry and I believe other new genres only possible through NFT technology are yet to emerge.”

He also argued that NFTs will be the essence of crypto-gaming because pretty much any game item, area, or character can be programmed as an NFT. He explained, “NFTs are the ‘things’ being used in games, like tangible items in the real world, that can be used to identify and utilize proof-of-ownership for various functions in the game. I don't see this trend going away but rather expanding to bridge virtual and real items much more in the near future.”

By Dylan M.

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