The promise of Play to Earn games is very tempting: you get paid to play. With each achievement, battle won or completed mission, the games offer a reward in tokens or cryptocurrencies, which can be added to a virtual wallet.
There are different ways to earn money from games, such as esports awards, but the concept in question is a specific business model that involves the development and distribution of these games. However, there are a few steps before you can turn on the game and start earning.
What are Play to Earn games?
In literal translation, “Play to Earn” means “play to win”. In these games, the user is rewarded for fulfilling different requirements, such as winning battles, participating in events, completing daily missions, selling items, and participating in the story campaign.
Rewards are recorded on the blockchain, granting digital ownership to the user. In this way, each individual can sell these assets as NFTs or in the game’s own market, moved by the community.
In summary, the Play to Earn game works like this: the user creates a cryptocurrency wallet and registers in the game; then you have to make an initial investment to acquire an NFT, usually a character in the game, and use that item to complete missions.
Characters or equipped items themselves are registered on blockchain and sold as NFT. In this way, the player can accumulate unique combinations to sell and accumulate money. The idea is to create a joint economy system to benefit developers and the game community.
The segment, also called GameFi, goes along with the themes of cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens (NFT) and blockchain technologies. After all, developers use these assets as a form of payment to players.
Yes, there are free to play games in the business (i.e. free to play), but the path to earning rewards is usually through item acquisition.
Do you have to pay to play?
This varies by title. Many games require an initial player spend on the respective tokens, with the promise of greater returns while playing — it works much like an investment in any other financial asset.
It is easier to understand with examples: Axie Infinity, in this case, it was the first game to be very successful in the field. Each character in the game is a unique creature, called an Axie, and made available by NFT: players began to customize Axies, create more characters and level up to value the token. Also, the game uses a cryptocurrency called SLP to improve skills.
In 2021, the initial investment could reach US$ 1,200. However, the number of users has decreased a lot and, consequently, the assets of Axie Infinity suffered a huge devaluation: the value of the token, which reached a peak of BRL 873 in November 2021, fell to just over BRL 35 in the same month of the following year, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
To try to get around the situation, developer Sky Mavis released new versions of the game, this time with free Axies. However, the reward system is different from those who paid for NFTs: players in the free to play version can earn items based on ranking in temporary events.
This is often the path used by the Play to Earn games industry to grow the user base. Free accounts can earn coins and other in-game rewards, in special campaigns or during the pre-registration period, but it is necessary to exchange or purchase NFTs to increase revenue.
Some games that allow free account creation are Axie Infinity, War of Gama, Mu Play2Earn (inspirado no MMO Mu) e The Sandbox.
How to receive the money?
Those who have already managed to accumulate the first rewards in these games have two options: receive the money immediately or wait for the items to appreciate in value. The withdrawal is made from your cryptocurrency wallet, through a branch broker.
First, it is necessary to identify which token is used and deposit it in the wallet. With the help of the brokerage firm, the user can convert the amount into a stablecoin, a stable and low-volatility cryptocurrency, and only after this process is it possible to convert the amount into a fiduciary currency (real, dollar, etc.) and receive it. it in the bank account.
The measure is valid for cryptocurrencies and NFTs acquired in games. Some of the most recommended crypto wallets for these titles are Binance and Coinbase, which are compatible with most tokens available on Play to Earn and other cryptocurrencies.
Why do games pay money?
There are two main reasons. The first involves the very concept of Play to Earn to decentralize the games industry: while players play and do not earn money in games outside this model, there is a proposal to create an economic system that benefits and divides the earnings between developers and users.
Players then begin to earn values and can act as if they were investors in the platform.
The second reason is economic speculation itself. These games create tokens that need to be valued to justify the investment. Without an active community in the game and in the respective NFT market, the model has more difficulty sustaining itself — the case of Axie Infinity cited above is a good example of this.
And it is precisely the issue of the devaluation of tokens that leaves many people with one foot behind with this service. Some of the games peaked in value in the year 2021 and are now down, and the constant drops in the cryptocurrency market also affect this segment of the industry.
10 games to earn money
If you are interested in the subject, here is a list of 10 titles that promise to pay money to those who play:
- Axie Infinity: one of the most popular among the Play to Earn genre, involves creating creatures called Axies and using them in battles;
- Gods Unchained: digital card game along the lines of Heartstone, GWENT and other titles of the genre;
- Townstars: game style Happy harvest for the management of cities;
- Mu Play2Earn: adaptation of InMMO that was very successful in Internet cafes in the early 2000s. It allows you to earn items in the game and sell them on the market;
- My DeFi Pet: similar a Axie Infinityit is a game of creating monsters and missions against AI-controlled bosses;
- The Sandbox: game of exploration and creation of virtual worlds that combines the places generated with blockchain;
- RobotEra: in the same mold as The Sandboxallows the creation of universes from controllable robots;
- Decentralized: gained popularity by creating lands in the metaverse and selling NFTs;
- Alien Worlds: science fiction aiming to capture aliens, used as NFTs;
- CryptoKitties: cat breeding game where each feline is an NFT.
It is worth it?
It depends. Can games bring financial return? Yes. But the amount varies depending on the initial investment made in the platform or the continued effort to receive the rewards in free accounts — this is also known as grinding and the concept is not limited to Play to Earn.
This is still a very recent market, with a lot of volatility. The devaluation of game tokens such as Axie Infinity, DeFi Kingdoms e Gods Unchained they are a sign of how the industry goes through oscillations and saturations by the community.
In short, the opportunity to make money playing really exists, but it is important to monitor the games and the market frequently and also be careful not to fall into “trouble” when spending your money on it.
To understand more about these subjects, it is worth knowing what blockchain is and how these contexts are inserted in Web3.
