The majority of people today are playing video games across the world. The whole ecosystem in the present professional gaming sector has constantly evolved over the recent years, creating lucrative opportunities for players. Some players earn lucrative opportunities by playing games as salaried participants of some top esports teams, sealing lucrative sponsorship offers, and sharing tournament prizes. Many players earn money by streaming their experience of online gameplay live on popular social media platforms like YouTube Gaming or Twitch gaming.
The video gaming sector has become a multi-billion domain, with the major revenue-earning magnets being the gaming hardware and software components. As per some trusted sources, the gaming industry has also outstripped film, TV, entertainment sources, and music to become the top media category worldwide.
Although the video gaming industry is becoming hugely popular, the economic activities offered around this sector are mostly centralized, and profits typically go to the game makers.
Makers of video games control the content and policies of the game and even make decisions like upgrades and monetization.
With the advent of the play-to-earn gaming model, gamers can enter a different Web 3 space where things are different. This is a unique gaming business model, as participants can earn NFTS and cryptocurrencies or receive gifts from other participants during gameplay. Play-to-earn game morale is undoubtedly a big element introduced in the gaming sector. To tap into the full potentialities and capabilities of play-to-earn games, you need to know what is play-to-earn and what areas it covers along with its future scope and functionalities.
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Evolution of play to earn games
Gaming Consoles
The development of gaming consoles has led to a key milestone in evolving the gaming industry. Some gaming consoles like Atari have created a great stir in this gaming space. As Atari didn’t have Internet capabilities, it proved a major drawback, leading to evolving advanced and better gaming consoles like the Sega Dreamcast. This gaming console had an inbuilt modem that supported the Internet and online gameplay. This has been a great breakthrough in the gaming industry, and players got the opportunity to compete against each other globally. People still require games and consoles that allow them to participate in gaming competitions. As console gaming had major drawbacks or setbacks, this led to constant evolution and the invention of mobile gaming.
Mobile gaming
The invention of mobile gaming was seen as a major decline in the popularity of PC gaming and consoles. The emergence of mobile phones or smartphones eliminated the requirement for gamers to sit long in front of their consoles or PCs to play their favorite online video games. Mobile gaming allows people to play wherever and whenever they want. The boon of mobile gaming technology reformed the entire gaming industry by providing diverse gaming opportunities, creative revenue structures, and new gaming experiences to the players. Even though mobile gaming and consoles have brought significant change in the gaming sector, they are played only for entertainment, and players would not earn any financial benefits from playing games. This further lets the gaming community implement a better user-centric method with innovative and creative gaming models like play-to-earn, where players can play games for entertainment and financial rewards.
Play-to-earn games
The name play-to-earn suggests players can make money and get monetary benefits through gameplay. The best advantage of the play-to-earn gaming model is the financial reward and entertainment for gamers. Participation of players in this type of gameplay is encouraged by rewarding them with cryptocurrency or tokens, and this brings real financial profits to the players. They become more interested in playing and earning rewards.
What do you mean by play to earn games?
The centralized gaming model allows gamers to receive rewards after completing a task, defeating other players, and progressing to the next level of the game, which refers to play-to-earn games. Such rewards are given to gamers through NFTS and crypto tokens such as skins, virtual real estate, and weapons. Play-to-earn games, being decentralized in -nature, allows gamers to trade and transfer assets beyond the game by exchanging them for Fiat currency. They need not rely on the rules or permission of any third party or publisher.
Several play-to-earn gaming models still have the essence of conventional video games, and players widely accept these games. For example, Axie Infinity is a famous play-to-earn game built on blockchain technology consisting of the breed and bottle gaming model Pokémon introduced in the early 1990s. Similarly, another gaming model is known as NBA Top Shot is based on the collect and trade model, similar to the models that have existed for decades.
The play to earn games depends on decentralized finance. The main aim of this gaming model is to make regular gamers the only governing force of action behind all their decisions that pertains to the online gaming industry. The play to earn non-fungible tokens or NFT games is increasingly becoming popular and is building a player-owned economy so that players can collect, produce, land, trade their game collectibles, and receive monetary benefits.
The key component of the player-owned economy is considered governance tokens, which is why the reason why play to earn gaming model utilizes in-game assets. With the help of governance tokens, the token holder gets the power to participate in the game’s development and make essential decisions such as allocating funds. The power of governance of the gamers is proportional to the number of tokens they own. The play-to-earn gaming model is transparent and encourages fair play and trading among gamers. With the help of this gaming, model players not only enjoy and gets entertainment from the play but also earn revenue which was absent in conventional gaming models as the publishers of the game earned all the profits. The sole purpose of the play-to-earn gaming business model is to develop player owned environment so that they can enjoy complete freedom to play as well as earn money for themselves
How does play to earn game model works?
The main guiding principle behind this play-to-earn gaming business model is quite simple which is gamers can earn cryptocurrencies, NFTS, or native crypto tokens as gifts or rewards which they earned by participating in activities like competing with other participants, task completion, progressing to the next level of gameplay and winning a contest. These monetary benefits can also be encashed in an NFT marketplace or by exchanging; therefore, players can earn money in real by participating in these gameplays and completing all the tasks. Even though starting the gameplay in this gaming model is an easy task, players have several title options. They first must decide on the gaming experience and the game they want to play for guaranteed success.
What distinguishes play-to-earn games from other gaming models available worldwide?
As per trusted reports, play-to-earn games have witnessed an increasing growth rate of 2000% in the initial quarter of 2022. Play to earn gaming model is unique since it provides players the opportunity to earn financial rewards and earn money in real life by playing play-to-earn games, and this model helps to make them stand out from the rest in the gaming industry. It has been projected that play to earn NFT games will continue to increase in the future, and as per reports, by the year 2028, these games will increase to approximately USD 3618.4. The adoption rate of play-to-earn games will witness constant growth in the upcoming days. As major gamers within the gaming space, we’ll explore the potentialities and untapped opportunities in play to earn a gaming business model.
There are plenty of options for play-to-earn games that reward people with cryptocurrencies or NFTS and also help them own unique virtual assets and even trade or sell them in an NFT marketplace or outside to gain money.
With the incorporation of non-fungible tokens within video games, both developers and players are in a win-win situation. Developers have benefited by creating higher demand for the game and increasing player engagement rates. Similarly, players have found new opportunities for earning money in real terms. With the advent of play to earn gaming business model, the popularity of blockchain technology also rose in prominence. Popular centralized platforms like Facebook and Google do not reward users with important digital assets they can use within or outside the platform. However, this is different from play-to-earn gaming scenes. This business model rewards participants that have real-world value. Blockchain technology has widened the play horizons to earn games and transformed the gaming space. This technology has enabled gamers to play interactive games within the virtual reality of metaphors and earn money through gameplay. Blockchain technology gives a quick escape from a centralized world that provides a source of income but not the freedom of control and authority. You should hire comprehensive blockchain development services from a good company to build custom centralized gaming projects for your business.
Are play-to-earn games secure and safe to play? What helps in making a play to earn games safe?
Play to earn gaming model includes money; therefore, it will be quite natural for gamers to be apprehensive about reliability and security features in this gaming business model. Before getting started, you need to know whether playing these games will be secure. You must know and be guaranteed the security of play to earn games. Suppose you are worried about whether these games are safe or not. In that case, you should know that they are completely safe to play since NFTS and currencies which gamers earn by applying their gaming efforts and skills don’t reside in the ecosystem of the game as they are stored on blockchain technology and therefore, it is impossible to copy, modify, delete the data stored on the blockchain. This makes a play-to-earn game completely secure, as no information can tamper with crypto tokens and NFTS, which you own as a reward for playing play-to-earn games. This makes them safe and secure from damage or theft.
Can you use play to earn game as a source of your livelihood?
The heart of the crypto economy belongs to the smart contract, which is not any third-party intermediary, so it is possible to move resources within the decentralized gaming space. With the help of smart contracts, complex contractual relationships can be formed easily without involving any human coordinator. This is why smart contracts have invented the concept of off-play or labor to earn, ensuring you can earn income without discrimination. Following are the three main labels to earn models.
Participate to earn or learn to earn
Participate to learn or earn are platforms that reward people for their participation. This platform is a win-win situation for both the platform and its users. This is because users can earn rewards simply by reading articles, watching videos, and participating in the quizzes of the platform. On the other hand, the platform earns money by engaging new users. Such platforms can grow rapidly through word of mouth.
Create-to-earn
The key component of creating to earn business model is NFTS. All the creators, starting from filmmakers, musicians, and participants, earn big money by minting NFTS and selling them to own a profit.
Play-to-earn
The advanced and popular labor-to-earn model is known as play-to-earn, which provides both monetary benefits and a source of entertainment and fun. With the help of this model, players can earn income opportunities. People worldwide are interested in play to earn games since they come with big earning potential. The play-to-earn model is emerging as an essential contributor to the present economy. According to sources, gamers can expect to earn a few $100 every month by spending a couple of hours every day playing to earn games. These games are a good option for users who have to perform nine to five jobs, and they can also earn extra money by spending time in play to earn games that are a source of fun.
Artem Ilchenko is a seasoned crypto enthusiast with a journey dating back to 2016. With a wealth of experience in blockchain technology, DeFi (Decentralized Finance), NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens), and the broader cryptocurrency ecosystem, Artem is a passionate advocate for the decentralized future. His deep understanding of the intricacies of blockchain and its innovative applications has positioned him as a valuable resource in the ever-evolving world of digital assets. Artem’s commitment to exploring and promoting the potential of blockchain technology has made him a noteworthy figure in the crypto community.