The rise of NFTs has opened the gates of innovation in various fields simultaneously – whether it’s digital art, domain names, the music industry, or even real-world assets. However, it’s the gaming industry that’s being disrupted the most by the concept of NFTs.
In our earlier blogs, we explained what are NFTs and their use-cases. In today’s blog post, we’ll have a look at how NFTs are disrupting the gaming industry and have the potential to transform it for the better. So, let’s begin with what are play2earn NFTs games in the first place?
What are Play2Earn NFT Games?
Let’s take a step back and understand the concept of play2earn games in a simple language. First of all, how do conventional games work?
Well, in a conventional game, you have an in-game character with a backstory, a mission, friends, and foes, and own some assets just like the real world. In some games, there’s also a marketplace where you can buy and sell your assets in that game world. However, it’s worth noting that in conventional games you own your assets only in that gaming world and their value cannot be perceived outside of that world i.e., the real world.
There comes the concept of play2earn NFT games. As we discussed in our earlier blogs, NFTs are basically tokens that represent ownership of any unique asset such as digital art or collectibles. So leveraging the concept of NFTs, these play2earn, for the first time, allow gamers to claim ownership of in-game assets and have a marketplace to sell these assets outside of the gaming world.
With NFTs, these gaming assets are just in the form of tokens, that can be exchanged for other tokens or even into fiat money. That’s why the name – play2earn. Now gamers can play the game and earn real money through that world.
Sounds mind-blowing and interesting, right? Well then, let’s have a look at the top 5 play2earn games.
Axie Infinity
Axie Infinity is one of the most popular NFT-based games partially owned and operated by its players. It’s a digital pet universe game that features fantasy creatures known as Axies and these players can battle, raise, or trade these fantasy creatures for fun and earn.
There are over 140k Axies that exist in this gaming world and users will need to buy or rent at least three of them to get started and play the game. The game features two ERC-20 tokens – AXS and SLP. Whereas all the Axies are represented as NFTs, thus in the form of unique ERC-771 tokens.
Upland
Upland is yet another play2earn game that allows gamers to buy, sell, and trade virtual properties in the gaming world. Thus allowing gamers to become digital landowners and even build properties on top of that land.
These digital properties are mapped to the real world and are represented in the form of NFTs. In-game economy leverages a utility token called UPX that can be used by gamers to buy and sell these virtual properties. Users earn rewards by being active in the game as well as by buying virtual properties for UPX tokens and selling them once the property price appreciates in value.
CryptoBlades
CryptoBlades is a web-based play2earn game in which gamers fight against each other using in-game characters while employing powerful weapons. The game runs on Binance Smart Chain and features an in-game SKILL token that can be used to buy in-game assets and upgrades.
The game will also feature an NFT marketplace to trade in-game assets and allow users to bag profits by selling their assets. As of now, the SKILL tokens have a market cap of over 1.8 million US dollars and are available for trade on crypto exchanges.
Farmers World
As the name suggests, Farmers World is an NFT-based farming game allowing users to buy land, mine gold, breed pets, build structures, fight jungle monsters, and cultivate crops to earn rewards. The game features NFTs in the form of GOLD and WOOD that will help users to create tools, gather FOOD, and maximize their STRENGTH.
SpacePort Universe
SpacePort Universe is yet another play2earn game built in an arcade-style on Binance Smart Chain. The game features a utility token called SPC and allows users to earn a passive income by holding and token and playing the game. Players and holders can also earn NFTs for scoring daily high scores.
To get started users can either choose to buy and hold SPC tokens or even play as a free player to win a high score jackpot. Free players, however, cannot win NFTs. The game has already attracted over 18,000 users so far with top users earning over $1000 per day.