Play-To-Earn Crypto Games Business Model In Detail: The gaming sector has expanded tremendously over time, and new business models are consistently being presented there, just as in any other industry. The most recent development in business models for the gaming industry is play-to-earn games. P2e game development, or play-to-earn games primarily involve compensating players for taking part in a game.
It is important to note that play-to-earn gaming is not a notion that is unique to the web3 world; rather, it became well-known as a result of blockchain and cryptocurrency technologies. For game developers, gamers, and investors, blockchain technology, NFTs, and tokens have opened up a completely new world.
Play-to-earn cryptocurrency games are currently the fastest-growing segment of the web3 market. The dominance of play-to-earn gaming is expanding, claims DappRadar, even in the midst of the crypto winter, in which the value of cryptocurrencies has crashed and numerous important crypto enterprises have failed.
If you’re a game developer wanting to release your own peer-to-peer (P2P) cryptocurrency game, a cryptocurrency investor curious about the economics of P2P gaming, or a curious individual who enjoys taking a glance at novel business models, this article is for you.
Here Are Various Gaming Business Models Available:
Pay-to-Play
Gamers must purchase the game using the pay-to-play business model in order to download and play it. The newest business model in pay-to-play is membership bundles, which charge a set monthly subscription fee in exchange for access to a selection of games. Examples include Xbox Game Pass, Apple Arcade, EA Origin Access, PS Now, UPlay+, and others.
Depending on how much involvement and interest their game garners in relation to others, the game developers get compensated as a proportion of the overall membership payments.
Free-to-Play
As the name suggests, free-to-play games don’t demand payment from players before being downloaded or played. The games are free to download and play, but if users want to access particular features or in-game goods, they will need to pay. Game developers can also make money by placing advertisements within the games.
Approximately 80% of the revenue in the gaming industry is produced by free-to-play games, and this business model has gained popularity among players.
The free-to-play gaming model is currently used by almost all mobile games and an increasing number of PC and console games as well. A free-to-play business model is the foundation for well-known mobile and PC games like Fortnite, Apex Legends, PubG, Valorant, and others.
Play-to-Earn
The most recent business model to enter the gaming industry is play-to-earn games, which pay players with real money (such as fiat, tradeable tokens, or a cryptocurrency) for playing or taking part in in-game activities.
While there are a number of p2e games in the traditional gaming industry, the play-to-earn cryptocurrency market is exploding with titles like Axie Infinity, Decentraland, Sandbox, Gods Unchained, etc.
Play-and-Earn
With play-and-earn games, also known as play-to-earn games, players’ main focus is on playing and enjoying the game, with rewards coming from spending time and effort while grinding in-game. Play-and-earn games’ main goal is for players to have fun while making money thanks to sound in-game economics and blockchain technology.
Important Gaming Metrics
1. Maintenance
It represents the amount of time a player spends playing the game after downloading and registering.
2. Participation
It refers to the typical daily session count and amount of time spent actually playing the game.
3. Conversion rate
Total proportion of players that bought in-game items.
4. Regularly used users (DAU)
The typical number of players who regularly engage in the game.
5. Daily revenue per active user on average
The amount of money a game made from players in a single day, divided by the overall number of players.
6. Player lifetime value
Average amount of money a player of that game makes in his lifetime.
How does the Crypto Gaming Play-to-Earn concept operate?
The play-to-earn crypto gaming industry was created as a result of the marriage of blockchain technology and the play-to-earn business model. Crypto games now create their own in-game economies, assets, governance tokens, and virtual worlds based on one or more blockchain networks, such as Ethereum, WAX, Solana, etc.
The block study discusses the main business model game creators can use to build a blockchain-based game in its “Digital Assets 2022 Outlook Report.”
The majority of p2e crypto games provide native tokens or cryptocurrencies in the form of NFTs for in-game purchases. Players can exchange these tokens and NFTs on the game’s internal market or on third-party NFT exchanges and markets.
For instance, Axie Infinity is a well-liked play-to-earn game where players gather creatures referred to as “Axis.” These axes can interact with other axes to breed or engage in combat with other players’ axes. The native coin of the peer-to-peer cryptocurrency game, Smooth Love Potion (SLP), enables users to feed their NFTs, enhance their abilities, and trade them on exchanges.
The advantages of Play-to-Earn Crypto Games for Game Developers
NFTs and tokens can aid game creators in producing completely original gameplay. Instead of equity investors and venture capital firms, gaming studios can launch a project and issue their NFTs and tokens to attract initial investments from gamers interested in playing their games.
Additionally, the ability to design open world economies gives programmers the chance to work together and offer gamers one-of-a-kind experiences, which may enhance player retention and engagement. Additionally, developers will have the choice to make a commission on all future secondary sales of the in-game assets they create, opening up a completely new source of income for them.
Play-to-Earn Crypto Games advantages for Players
Even while the pay-to-play and free-to-play business models were more widely used and produced sizable sums of money for game studios and developers, they didn’t offer many options for players to make money while enjoying the games.
The closed-end gaming ecosystems of the past required players to pay for the game or in-game items, then invest a lot of time in grinding to unlock more difficult levels and accumulate in-game items. However, players cannot transfer, access, or sell these assets once they have finished playing the game or if the game crashes for some other reason. As a result, all of their labor and grinding are for naught.
Gamers and game producers benefit from play-to-earn games, particularly those that incorporate cryptocurrency. A player who participates in a p2e cryptocurrency game can use the in-game items they acquire, like as avatars, weapons, tokens, virtual land. And other NFTs, or they can sell them for cash on exchanges and marketplaces.
In addition, unlike traditional games, users own all in-game items completely. They can move these items between the virtual worlds of different games or sell them for real money.
Types of Play-to-Earn cryptocurrency Games
Metaverse Games
In metaverse game development, users can play, create, own. And make money from their virtual experiences while interacting with other players. Decentraland, Alien Worlds, Sandbox, and more well-known P2P metaverse games are available.
Trading Cards
NFT trading cards are limited edition digital collectibles that function exactly like real trading cards. Depending on their scarcity, usefulness, and ownership, they have varying values. Trading card-based games are a perfect fit for NFTs since they are marketable assets that may be in short supply. Gods Unchained, Sorare, Splinterlands, and more well-known p2e metaverse games are available.
Role-Playing Video Games (RPG)
The characters in role-playing games can be controlled and have special abilities, weapons, and features. To progress in the game and get more power and better weaponry, players must perform tasks and gain experience. Blockchain-based RPG games use non-fungible tokens to produce in-game assets, in contrast to conventional games.
Action-based RPGs, Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs), and other subgenres of RPG games exist. Axie Infinity, Blankos Block Party, and other well-known play-to-earn RPGs
Future of the Play-to-Earn Cryptocurrency Gaming Sector!
Gaming guilds are one of the unique and inventive ways of playing and learning together that have already been made possible by the possibility of earning money through gaming.
Due to the fact that some well-known blockchain games require some investment, crypto game developers or the gaming community are establishing gaming guilds with DAO structures to support new players from registration to lending the necessary in-game resources so they can enjoy and profit from the game.
Due to issues like blockchain being a slow backend for storing assets and sharing their game’s economy and assets with other games. Many gaming studios and developers are still hesitant to implement a play-to-earn business model. Blockchain technology is challenging to integrate into already-existing games.
A number of game developers, including Ubisoft, have already begun incorporating blockchain-based assets into their titles. Play-to-earn games have a promising future, but they must go beyond the level of pleasure. And engagement provided by current gaming models in order to become a long-term viable business model.
Play-to-earn games will find their place in the gaming ecosystem. And eventually overtake free-to-play and subscription-based games as the main business model.