Play-to-Earn: Monetizing Gaming in Cryptocurrency

Play-to-earn games are one of the biggest new ways to make money playing a game.

What are Play2Earn Games?

Play-to-earn refers to the concept of a game in which a platform gives its players the chance to earn in-game assets in any form that can be transferred to the real world in the form of a valuable resource.

With the development of technology, which is becoming increasingly accessible to the general public, video game business models have moved to a whole new level. Where once games could only be played on arcade machines in special arcades, they have now become affordable. Players competed for the highest score with a bag full of quarters. But things changed radically when the technological revolution brought games to our smartphones, home computers and game consoles, including the PS5, Xbox and so on.

Today, the world is seeing the emergence of a new gaming model known as play2earn, particularly in the blockchain universe. This effectively gives players the ability to generate income by participating in games. By participating in the in-game ecosystem, players create value for other gamers and developers and earn assets for their contributions. The size of these digital assets can range from coins to accessories that have been tokenized on the blockchain. In this way, the play-to-earn business model fits perfectly with blockchain-based games.

An example of a play2earn game is Axie Infinity. Axies are cute animals that players acquire, breed, and fight them for rewards. Each axie is a non-playable token (NFT), which is a one-of-a-kind digital collectible. There is an entire economic system within the game (a world called Lunacia).

Lunacia users can acquire land and breed Axis using in-game tokens, Smooth Love Potion (SLP) and Axie Infinity Shard (AXS). Tokens are also useful in real life.

Thanks to games like Axie Infinity (AXS), people around the world (especially in countries affected by the pandemic) are already making good money. It is estimated that people in the Philippines earn between $1,500 and $2,000 a month just by playing Axie Infinity as a hobby. In addition, many people in Vietnam have quit their full-time jobs because they make solid money from these games.

Other NFT games include Lost Relics, Splinterlands, CryptoBlades, DogemonGo and Sorare.

The NFT market has already surpassed $2.5 billion, and that number will grow exponentially as new NFT games flood the market. The rapid growth of NFT is leading to a new generation of revenue streams in the blockchain world.