GameFi is one of the booming trends of 2021 on the crypto market. People became fond of blockchain-based online crypto games that encompass a combination of decentralized finance and non-fungible tokens. This year, GameFi has introduced a new model that is gaining momentum. This concept is called “play-to-earn”, or p2e, and it totally overtakes the old one — play-to-win.
The main difference between these two concepts is that the new one does not imply the game for the sake of upgrade and greatness over other players. Instead, the play-to-earn concept is more about achieving a certain result in the game and making money on it. By the way, some gamers have switched to GameFi as their full-time job. Impressive, huh? So, without further ado, let’s figure out the crypto game trends.
What Is the Play-to-Earn Games Business Model?
As we have already mentioned, the play-to-earn (p2e) concept came to replace the play-to-win one. Now, users come to play the games based on the blockchain with a pinch of DeFi and NTF tokens.
As a rule, all objects in the games are represented in the form of these NFT tokens. You can learn more about them in a corresponding article. When players find, win, or accumulate these items during the game, they can exchange them with other players on the digital markets for various NFTs or sell them for cryptocurrency.
Why has the play-to-earn concept become a thing?
It’s absolutely low-risky. Players save their score on the blockchain, so there is no risk of failure. All the items are scarce and intangible. Believe it or not, we all love to possess unique things even in digital form. The items can be sold, removed, or destroyed.Some games allow the player to stake the internal cryptocurrency right into the game and earn interest to purchase other in-game items or just withdraw it.
How to start playing?
To participate in play-to-earn type of games you need to accomplish these simple steps:
Create a cryptocurrency wallet if you do not have one yet. You need it to store NFTs, in-game tokens or to launch the game (with Metamask, for example). Pay attention to the blockchain that the in-game tokens of your choice are based on. Depending on this factor, you should choose an appropriate wallet: it might be Ethereum, Tron, Polygon, Binance, etc. Create an in-game account. This is the easiest step: choose the game you’d like to play and set up an account. Purchase a so-called starter pack. It’s optional, though. All of the crypto games are totally free to play and download. However, most of them require you to buy some items or deposit some tokens to start the game. For example, to play Axie Infinity, you need to purchase some WETH or just AXS tokens, which are currently available on Changelly.
The Best Crypto Games
The gaming tokens trend has become one of the most notable events of the summer 2021 in the whole crypto industry. Some of the in-game assets gained an extreme growth in percentage. The leader was the AXS token from the Axie Infinity blockchain game, which in three months grew by more than 1500%, breaking into the top 50 assets in terms of capitalization and hitting the pages of world financial publications.
Down below, we will review the Axie Infinity in our list of the best play-to-earn crypto games, alongside with many trendy GameFi projects.
The Sandbox
The Sandbox is Minecraft with an Ethereum blockchain-based marketplace. The user can create their own worlds, fill them with creative Voxel objects, and even create new games. Every world and game, created on the platform, will belong to the content creator. Fun fact to mention: Snoop Dogg is building his mansion inside The Sandbox. This guy is really fond of technologies and NFTs.
The Sandbox uses multiple tokens in the system, providing a closed economy between all types of users: players, content creators, content curators, and landowners. These are three main tokens:
SAND is the ERC-20 token that is used internally by the Sandbox as the basis for all the transactions and interactions.LAND is a digital real estate or a piece of land in the Sandbox metaverse. Users purchase a piece of land, aiming to fill it with content, games, assets, and interactive experiences. Each LAND is an irreplaceable, indivisible ERC-721 token based on the Ethereum blockchain.ASSET is a token created by players who have built or linked custom content. Assets use the ERC-1155 format and are traded on the marketplace. The main purpose of ASSET is to serve as creative elements in Game Maker, a game design software.
Splinterlands
Splinterlands is a digital, collectible crypto card game based on the Hive blockchain. It was inspired by the Magic the Gathering and Hearthstone games, where players make a collection of cards with different attributes and battle other players in skills-based matches.
By participating in battles, players can improve their skills and earn some in-game tokens. There are three types of them in the game — Credits, DEC, and SPS:
Credits is the donation currency, used to buy goods in the store. You can buy them with cryptocurrency, but cannot withdraw.DEC is the most important token in the game, earned by winning the battles. It is used in the same way as Credits, but it can be withdrawn from the game. SPS is a governance token, issued to all holders of any asset in the Splinterlands ecosystem.
Alien Worlds
Alien Worlds is a decentralized NFT and financial services platform that allows users to interact, compete, and collaborate with each other. Players can purchase NFTs, complete quests, participate in battles and competitions. They also can own land, rent it out, and make money on it.
TLM, or Trilium, is a multifunctional platform token that allows players to earn by staking, managing planets in the game, buying NFTs, participating in in-game events, and much more. For each NFT, the blockchain contains a name, attributes, functional features, and ownership. NFTs appear as collectible cards.
TLM is released on the ETH, WAX, and BSC blockchains, so users can store Trilium on any chain, based on their preference.
MOBOX: NFT Farmer
MOBOX uses a unique infrastructure and combines DeFi, gaming, and NFT. At the same time, users have access to liquidity pools for NFT farming. This makes it possible to build the best strategies for generating income and unique NFTs that are used in various games and networks. The platform is based on Binance Smart Chain.
In NFT Farmer, chests with unique NFTs attract more rewards. One key is needed to open the chest and get tokens. After that, the NFT can be automatically put on the platform, which opens the Mbox tokens. Each NFT has a mining power that depends on its uniqueness and allows the owner to receive more rewards.
Upland
Upland is a metaverse powered by the EOS blockchain. The branched domain system, in which the game operates, allows players to buy and sell digital property (as NFT) as if it was a physical object.
The player can find a treasure and receive NFT or coins as a reward. For activity in the search for new territories, the player is credited with UPX currency.
Now, not all the territories have been digitized in the game, but only a few cities, including San Francisco. You can walk around the city as in Google Maps. The game card itself is subdivided into two colors: blue (sold) and green (areas for sale).
CryptoBlades
CryptoBlades is an NFT crafting game based on the Binance Smart Chain where players can defeat enemies with powerful weapons and earn SKILL tokens. This native currency is used to create characters, make weapons of various powers, the level of which rises as the game progresses. The more powerful your weapon, the more SKILL you earn.
Axie Infinity
In recent months, the game has shown phenomenal growth in both the number of users and the volume of sales on the marketplace. Axie Infinity is a turn-based blockchain card game in which players fight monsters and other players with the help of mythical creatures called Axie. This is a real digital universe, with its own economy, game strategies, and earnings of SLP and AXS tokens.See also
Each Axie is an ERC-721 NFT token and has characteristics that determine its role on the battlefield:
HP determines the maximum health of Axie.SPEED determines the speed of the Axie and its turn.SKILL is used to calculate bonus damage from combo attacks.MORALE determines the probability of a critical hit and other characteristics.
By playing and winning in Axie Infinity, you earn SLP tokens. Their only purpose is to pay for Axie’s breeding in the game. The earned SLP cryptocurrency can be withdrawn 14 days after the first game.
Another one, AXS, is a governance ERC-20 token. Also, AXS holders can stake their tokens, for which they will receive newly minted tokens as a reward.
My DeFi Pet
My DeFi Pet is a virtual pet game that combines DeFi, collectibles, and your personality. The game is powered by Binance Smart Chain and KardiaChain.
The DPET token is the main in-game currency of My DeFi Pet, which is a non-refundable functional utility token used to exchange between the game players. Tokens are used to lay new eggs, breed, and develop monsters. Also, DPET tokens can be used to enter special events.
Players can also vote on new features and game settings to receive special rewards through the management system. By locking the DPET tokens, players gain voting rights, which allows them to have a higher chance of receiving the reward.
Play-to-Earn Games for Android & iOS
Each game is available for its own platform, and some of them are multi-platform. Please, check the available device before depositing any cryptocurrency in a game of your choice.
GamePlatformSplinterheadsPCAxie InfinityiOS, Android, PCThe SandboxPCAlien WorldsPCNFT FarmeriOS, AndroidUplandWeb, iOS, AndroidCryptoBladesWebMy DeFi PetWeb, iOS, Android
FAQ
Can I earn money by playing online games?
Absolutely! All the above mentioned games meet the play-to-earn concept. By completing daily tasks, battles, or other activities provided by the game, you can earn internal cryptocurrency, which you can withdraw and exchange for BTC or any fiat currency.
Do any games pay real money?
The DeFi games based on blockchain usually have an internal currency that can be converted into the well-known coins like Ethereum or Bitcoin. You can always withdraw such cryptocurrencies to your bank account or a card. It’s not actually about paying but earning money throughout the gameplay.
What is the best game to earn Bitcoin?
There is no game where you can earn actual Bitcoin. However, you can earn some internal crypto tokens and then exchange them to any currency you like, including Bitcoin. By the way, keep in mind that Changelly offers one of the most competitive fees in a simple and user-friendly interface.
