Blockchain-based games built on play-to-earn model schemes like Axie Infinity and Pegaxy have become a hit with non-fungible tokens (NFT) gamers and collectors. However, Axie founder Jeff Zirlin claimed that the play-to-earn model is “unsustainable.”
Play-to-earn is a movement that seeks to commercialize the act of playing video games by allowing users to earn real money from their playtime and obtain a “return on investment” from their game experience. In broad strokes, this approach seeks to “reward” gamers for their efforts by supplying products with perceived market worth, frequently NFTs derived from gameplay.
Central gaming servers are replaced by a blockchain in this modern play-to-earn movement, with rewards in bitcoin and NFTs. These new games revolve entirely around the sale of items to players. Every aspect has been commercialized, and every object may be purchased for money. This is the primary purpose for playing, not the game itself. Play-to-earn games encourage the creation of in-game business models and economies that allow gamers to earn money.
Axie Infinity is the most well-known example of a best play-to-earn game. Axie Infinity, built on the Ethereum blockchain, has become one of the most popular blockchain-based games. The game is an excellent combination of traditional video game elements, gameplay, and the standard blockchain game format. Axie Infinity’s adventure mode, tournaments, and PvP fights hallmark the traditional game business.
Earning real-world currency while having fun is one of the critical reasons play-to-earn games, such as Axie Infinity, have grown popular. This play-to-earn game is built on “Axies,” which are Ethereum-minted NFTs that players may gather, breed, raise, combat against, and trade with other online users. There are numerous Axies to pick from, and the options for customization are limitless. When a player defeats another user and earns love potions, they can sell them for AXS tokens.
Axie Infinity has about eight million registered players, with over a million of them playing every day. To demonstrate how profitable this game has become, Axie Infinity has fueled a crypto-based digital economy across Southeast Asia, notably the Philippines and Vietnam.
Pegaxy, on the other hand, is another blockchain-based game. Pegaxy is a horse-based racing game that has grown in popularity since its introduction last October, with hundreds of thousands of participants and millions of dollars streaming into its network each week.
In the game, participants compete against one another by racing NFTs of horses that have unique digital signatures on the blockchain, which can sell for up to $100,000.
Pegaxy has adopted Axie’s play-to-earn structure, allowing users to exchange in-game victories for real money. This feature has enabled Axie Infinity to become a full-time job for hundreds of thousands of people in the Philippines and worldwide in the past year.
The discussion’s impacts will be especially crucial in new Web3 hotspots like the Philippines and Indonesia, where crypto game earnings might be used to supplement real-world incomes.
While Axie Infinity’s plans are being scaled back, upstart Pegaxy is betting big on Axie Infinity’s initial vision, believing that it can establish a blockchain game that can become a viable career path for hundreds of millions of people in developing nations, despite all odds.