Play to Earn (P2E) games took us by surprise in 2021. The success of Axie Infinity showed the entire gaming industry just what the true potential of this new gaming model was.
But even though the hype was turned up in 2021 that doesn’t mean that all the games that hit the 2021 P2E scene were created in 2021. Making a good game takes a long time. And if we are talking about AAA games – aka the best of the best that have big gaming studios behind them – we could even be looking at several years, maybe even close to a decade.
P2E is not just a craze for some though, it provides income to many, and people that reside in less developed countries may sometimes even rely on P2E for their entire salary. When the money you can earn per hour playing games is higher than the country’s minimum wage, you can see why people of some countries might prefer to play these P2E games.
So what will the next big P2E game be?
You have to look out for good game fundamentals to get close to answering that question.
Before looking at three potential big players in the future P2E gaming industry, let’s first explore what makes up good gaming fundamentals.
Good Game Fundamentals
Let’s break down what to look for when evaluating a P2E game’s potential.
First Impression
This is key.
Players want to be able to jump straight into a game and start playing. They don’t want tedious setup processes and they certainly don’t want to have to start creating loads of accounts and signing pages upon pages of T&Cs before exploring the game.
It’s all about first impressions. Show the player what they have to look forward to. Keep in mind that a good first impression might not always mean a playable game though. This could merely be a well designed video demo or even an engaging website – especially if the game hasn’t yet launched.
Fun
Ok this is probably the most important part.
Is the game fun to play for its target audience? The term target audience is really important here. If the game is an action packed shooting game, does it offer a variety of different weapons and upgrades? Are there multiple character skins to choose from?
And if it is a role playing game, is there a good driving story that grabs you and drags you deeper and deeper into its world of fantasy?
If a game isn’t actually fun to play, it most likely isn’t a game.
Rewards
Another thing to look for is the rewards that the game offers to its players.
In a P2E game this would most likely take the form of the game’s native tokens. But these tokens would then have to also have some utility, like being able to be spent in game to purchase digital assets.
Another potential reward that could be offered to the players is NFTs.
The NFT could be a unique character, card, item or something similar to be used in-game.
Multiplayer
It seems like a given most times, but we need to explore if a game is multiplayer and if it offers interaction between the players.
In a trading card game this may mean competing against real players and not just the A.I. And in a role playing game it might mean being able to go off and explore what other players are doing within the game.
Platform
Having the game available to play on a variety of platforms is a nice benefit but not always crucial. However having it available on mobile devices is probably a game changer, seeing as lots of people like playing games while commuting or traveling.
A Good Team
You need to look for projects with great teams behind them.
Not only this but you want to make sure that the project is highly active and engaging on social media. It’s all about letting their players know that they care about them just as much as they do about the project itself.
——
With these topics in mind, let’s explore three P2E games that have high future potential.
GAMEE
GAMEE is a P2E company and platform. Their P2E model focuses around their GMEE token.
They have an app called Arc8 that is available for download right now.
Within the app itself you can find different types of games to play that would cover a lot of different player types. Players are able to compete against each other and earn GMEE tokens.
Some of the games included currently are:
Pirate Solitaire – A variation of the classic game solitaire. The aim is to be faster than your opponent at finishing the game with the least amount of moves.
Asteroids – A variation of the classic asteroids game where players control a small spaceship that has to shoot to destroy the oncoming asteroids before they crash into and destroy the ship. The aim is to stay alive for longer than your opponents.
Pixel Dungeon – Get a cube through a maze of obstacles by swiping. The aim is to get further through the maze than your opponents.
The App holds tournaments each day with high pools of GMEE tokens to be won by the top scoring players.
Lastly, as far as the game itself goes, GAMEE recently introduced G-Bots. These are in-game playable and upgradeable NFT robots that players can own. Owning one grants you access to specific games within the Arc8 app that require a G-Bot.
Setting up the game is fairly easy but it does involve buying some GMEE tokens on an exchange and transferring them to your in-game wallet. This is nothing that anyone already involved with crypto would not be able to do, but it might prove a little hard for those with no prior crypto experience.
The team are not anonymous as with some other blockchain projects.
They are active on social media and also engage with their audience and update them on the current status of the project continuously. You can see the team here.
The GAMEE Twitter account is very active with them tweeting multiple times a day.
The utility of the GMEE token is also high. It can be used in many ways including to purchase in-game items, stake, enter specific skill-based tournaments and also – in the future – DAO Governance voting.
The future of GAMEE seems very bright.
My Neighbor Alice
My Neighbour Alice is a multiplayer farm building game that is launching in 2022. Players are able to build their own world as well as venture in to other players’ worlds and meet them.
Players will be able to buy virtual land within the game as well as collect and build in-game assets, like houses, animals and plants.
All these in-game assets will be in the form of NFTs.
It aims to provide a playing experience even for those who are not familiar with blockchain tech at all. At the same time those who want to monetise their experience will be able to do so.
This is great as it will offer an entry point for those unfamiliar with the world of crypto. And they are many.
The monetisation aspect of the game is focused around the native ALICE token. Players will be able to earn the ALICE token in-game by participating in competitions and other activities.
The tokens can then be used to purchase the in-game assets.
There will also be an in-game staking system, incentivising players to hold on to their tokens.
The ALICE token will also provide holders with Governance votes that can be used to decide on things such as the future path the game will take and which aspects of game development its revenue should be spent on.
Players will also be able to earn more ALICE by renting out their NFTs to other players. As the game isn’t yet available to play, we can’t really speak of its ease to set up.
The team are really good with updating their followers on social media and even have a news feed you can check out here.
The game has an open launch date of 2022.
Some of its current investors include Neo Global Capital, Ankr and The Sandbox. It isn’t at all hard to visualize people sitting on their tablets playing this game for hours on end.
Chain Guardians
Chain Guardians is a P2E game where players have to build a strong fighting team – known as a Kizuna – and battle off the evil Tifans in order to defend the Cryptoverse Planets. It offers a fun story with characters that really seem to have soul.
The game aims to combine traditional gaming concepts with blockchain technology.
Players can collect cards which act as characters and live on the blockchain in the form of NFTs. And all the NFTs feature high quality anime art that does look really impressive.
(You can browse the current NFTs for sale on OpenSea here.)
After purchasing one, players can then use the NFTs in the Chain Guardians Mining and RPG games.
The game’s reward system is built around the native CGG token.
The RPG game is a turn-based game where you fight through hordes of enemies until you have cleared the threat and saved the Cryptoverse Planet. By doing so you earn CGG tokens.
On the other hand, the so-called Mining Game is essentially an NFT mining and staking pool. Players are able to stake their NFTs within the pool in order to earn in-game credits which they can then convert to CGG tokens.
The game is accessible via a web browser so there is no need for any setup. And you can log in via your crypto wallet (e.g. MetaMask).
As seen on their website, the full CGG token utility is as follows:
DeFi Utility
- Stake to earn APR
- Unlock fractionalized NFT farming
- Provide liquidity to earn POWER LPT
Gaming Utility
- Earn income from in-game accomplishments
- Customize & enhance gaming experiences
- Cover marketplace transaction & minting fees
Other Utility
- Power ChainBoost – the world’s first Play 2 Participate launchpad
- Govern the Cryptoverse – a ChainGuardians Metaverse
- Purchase NFTs and physical merchandise
The team behind the project can be seen here.
Chain Guardians is a project that has been out in the open for some time now but hasn’t yet seen anything like the explosive growth that Axie Infinity saw. With the diverse utility of the CGG token as well as the great work that has been put in to the art as well as the game itself, might 2022 be its time to shine?
Definitely an interesting project to keep our eyes on.
Conclusion
The Play to Earn model within the gaming industry is one that most likely isn’t going anywhere any time soon. And we have only just scratched the surface of what this model can do. It’s probably only a short time before the major gaming studios start utilizing this model in some of their AAA games as well.
All in all, people like playing games. And if they can get paid to do so, well then why should they play a game that doesn’t reward them in that way?
Let’s face it. P2E is here to disrupt the entire gaming industry.
Ecosystem
Research
News Network
About