Metaverse, Earn as you play, and a new game economy

The gaming industry has always been synonymous with fun, and in recent times, the gaming industry has grown massively, and now when games are mentioned, people mention a lot of money. The industry has seen tremendous growth since the introduction of Web 3.0. At the end of 2019, the global gaming market was reported to be worth $152 billion. This growth means that since the introduction of Web 3.0, the growth rate of Web 3.0 games has remained the same, and it has gained more and more adoption. The field is very profitable, which in turn attracts many new developers.

In the past, gaming has been a one-sided relationship where only the developer or game owner gets the financial gain, while the player can only have fun and keep spending. A new economic model has now been introduced, but in the years before that, players have invested a lot of money in the game. In 2020, users in the mobile app industry invested a total of $143 billion. Gaming apps account for a whopping $100 billion of that. That means gaming apps account for as much as 70 percent of every dollar spent on the Google Play Store (for Android devices) and the App Store (for Apple devices). Even with the introduction of new game formats, it is estimated that more than $120 billion will still be invested in mobile games in 2021. This would represent a 20% increase over the 2020 figure.

The new game mode I've mentioned twice is the play-and-earn game mode. It’s not a lie that the global COVID-19 pandemic has sparked interest in play-and-earn games. The same applies to the virtual worlds ("metaverses") that host these games.

What is the metaverse?

The term "metaverse" is formed from the prefixes "meta" (meaning beyond) and "universe". So, the metaverse is the world outside the universe. It can be said to be an unreal world. In the Metaverse, virtual land, virtual characters and even buildings can be bought and sold. This is usually done using cryptocurrencies. In these virtual environments, people can freely interact with friends, attend events, and purchase goods and services—essentially, they can do the exact same things they do in the real world.

The lockdown caused by the global pandemic has driven people to pay more attention to the potential of the online world, and they are discovering that they can still use their devices to conduct business and have fun at the same time, from anywhere in the world. Many metaverses that currently exist are powered by blockchain technology, and in order to transact on these virtual worlds, users will need cryptocurrencies or non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Many of today's earn-to-play games have metaverses with native cryptocurrencies that are used both for transactions and for receiving in-game assets and rewards.

What is an earn-as-you-play game?

The earn-as-play game model embraces the idea of an open economy and financially rewards users who add value by playing games and investing time in the game ecosystem. In the past, people thought games were just a form of entertainment. That perception is changing now with the emergence of new game types. These games are not only fun to play, but also attractive investment opportunities. Talking about investment, recently, large venture capital firms have invested a lot of money in this industry. In the 18 months to 2019, the investment in the global game industry reached as high as US$9.6 billion. In the first half of 2021 alone, 24 blockchain-based game companies received a total of US$476 million in investment.

Play-and-earn games like Axie Infinity and The Sandbox have become popular recently, and one thing they all have in common is their economic system. Take the traditional game "The Sims" as an example. Players can use in-game currency to purchase in-game assets, but these currencies and assets have no real-world value. This is because there is no liquidity infrastructure in the game. Another legacy game, World of Warcraft, also has a marketplace where players can buy in-game assets and trade characters, but it's a very loose marketplace. Blockchain technology combined with the play-and-earn model solves all these problems.

How does the Play and Earn game work?

I'll use Axie Infinity as an example to explain how earn-to-play games work. Axie Infinity is a Pokémon-inspired blockchain game developed by Vietnamese developer Sky Mavis. It currently has more than 1 million daily active users, and what attracts this huge user base are cute creatures called Axies in the game. Users can breed, buy and train these Axies. Axies are also used to perform missions and engage in combat. The object of the game is to earn an in-game token called Smooth Love Potion (SLP). With SLP, players can breed their Axies, which allows them to earn even more.

Another reason players want to earn as much SLP as possible is that SLP is a cryptocurrency that can be bought and sold on cryptocurrency exchanges. The top performers are said to earn up to 1500 SLP per day. At the time of writing, it's about $250 (because of the volatility that keeps changing the exchange rate). The Axie creature itself can be sold on the open market as an NFT. Players can also sell in-game assets like real estate and flowers as NFTs. So, in Axie Infinity's earn-as-you-play economy, players earn time rewards by earning SLPs that can be sold on cryptocurrency exchanges, as well as acquiring Axies and other in-game assets that can be sold on the open market.

Other Play and Earn Games

Besides Axie Infinity, other earn-to-play games and platforms are coming or have already launched and I see potential in them.

Bloktopia, powered by Polygon, is a decentralized metaverse that will provide the crypto community with an unprecedented virtual reality experience. In the decentralized and open source world, the bridge connecting the virtual world and the physical world is the Metaverse. Protocols to manage the digital value of real estate and digital art will emerge, and NFTs on the Polygon network will serve as facilitators for this because of their low prices and fast transactions.

OneTo11 is a fantasy sports mobile app that aims to provide users with a new way to use their sports knowledge for fun and benefits. OneTo11 aims to create a future where sports fans, bettors and gamers can do what they love most on a revolutionary platform. Not only can they interact socially, but they can also compete with each other in a transparent and decentralized manner. It is an earn-as-you-play platform where users can earn money by participating in fantasy sports and other games on its platform.

OneTo11 rewards user loyalty by giving every player the same opportunity to prove themselves and showcase their skills. Players on the OneTo11 platform can earn money even without participating in paid matches. This game is different from other earn-to-play games because users can earn money in three different ways:

Competition bonus: Players create their own fantasy team to participate in the competition, as long as they rank in the top 75%, they can win the bonus.

Network Commission: Players can use the unique code to refer other smartphone users to the OneTo11 platform. Players earn 1.5% of match fees when their referrals participate in paid matches.

Referral income: OneTo11 platform users can earn income from the recommendations of their referees. OneTo11 provides its users with up to 11 levels of recommendations in the network.

Nakamoto Games aims to make tons of earn-to-play games available on the platform to anyone with a crypto wallet. Through this avenue, they can earn a substantial sustainable income. The company will launch a suite of in-house games where players from around the world will compete for weekly prize pools and earn handsome rewards from these games.

Developers can also create and deploy their own games on the platform, and they will continue to control the monetization aspects of their games. This is similar to how apps are launched on the Google Play Store or Apple's App Store.

Immortal Games is a platform created by a group of excellent game developers dedicated to excellent game projects. They developed a trading card game (TCG) and collectible card game engine, and are currently developing American Gothic - a unique take on the classic TCG. In the game, people play against four races based on an American Gothic setting and offers several unique game modes such as "Arena," "Tournament," "Land," and "Multiplayer." Fantasy Defense, a take on the classic tower defense genre with a larger multiplayer field, is another game in development for the platform.

The folks at Immortal Games believe that the gaming industry is going through a revolution in terms of true ownership of in-game assets, and they're heading in that direction.

TryHards is an NFT-based shooter game powered by the Polygon blockchain. In Tryhards, players can stake, fight, craft and upgrade their characters and weapons by simply playing the game. These characters are called Fanatics, and their weapons are all NFT-based. Players must collect as many Fanatics as possible to upgrade their game capabilities, because this is a play-and-earn game, which means there is a monetary incentive for players to stake the platform's native TRY tokens and continue playing.

epilogue

Even though earn-to-play games are just emerging, they seem to be around for a long time. Players can create new digital assets, trade them using the game's infrastructure, and earn virtual in-game currency that can be easily sold and exchanged for other cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies.

In the past, there have been many games that have supported the dynamics of online communities, but by adding the ability to generate economic income, play and earn games are making the community more active. The niche market is still young, so it might be beneficial to focus on these earn-by-play programs, as they will pay off in the long run.

Cointelegraph Chinese is a blockchain news information platform, and the information provided only represents the author's personal opinion, has nothing to do with the position of the Cointelegraph Chinese platform, and does not constitute any investment and financial advice. Readers are requested to establish correct currency concepts and investment concepts, and earnestly raise risk awareness.