Play to earn video games: Where is the big opportunity for investors?
For some time now, Play to Earn Video Games have been earning a place among the main investment options related to crypto-assets. The idea of playing for real profit first appeared during the 2000s, with PC titles like “Diablo II” (2000) or “Runescape” (2001).
However, at that time this type of game was facing serious problems related to security, digital properties, and legitimacy, which prevented the growth of that industry.
Years later, with the arrival of blockchain technology, smart contracts, and, above all, NFT assets, everything changed drastically. All these technologies have contributed to the proliferation of NFT games, opening new doors for the most enthusiastic investors.
Next, we will talk about some aspects of this type of game. We will show you everything you need to know if you think of investing in them.
What are play to earn video games?
Before explaining what a Play to Earn Video Game consists of, you need to understand “non-fungible tokens” (NFTs). A non-fungible token is a unique asset, in digital form, that cannot be exchanged for anything else.
These game assets are created, verified, and transferred using blockchain technology. This guarantees the unique property rights of the owner. These assets may contain artwork, music, or resources from a certain game, such as unique avatars, items, goods, etc.
Play to Earn Games are a combination of traditional video games with blockchain technology, which take advantage of NFTs to create their internal economy.
Thanks to it, users can obtain real economic benefits from trading their NFT assets in exchange for different cryptocurrencies.
Some Play to Earn Video Games allow access to new players for free. Rewards come by the time invested in the game with native tokens or NFT assets. Others, require players to invest in their NFTs to access the game.
In both cases, the essence of this type of video game is the same: they offer rewards to their users. Either directly in the form of tokens or through NFT assets that can be exchanged for tokens.
How to get benefits from play to earn video games?
How a person can obtain income from Play to Earn Video Games depends on the economic model of each game. In general, there are three ways to earn money with these types of games, which are:
Play to win
It is the most common way to monetize while playing video games. Each game offers its users incentives to play and progress. Generally, requires the player to repeat specific actions, complete tasks, or even win battles over time.
These incentives can be cryptocurrencies or game tokens that can be exchanged on DeFi platforms such as Games For A Living. Also NFT assets that can be traded on the game’s internal market in exchange for those tokens.
Rent to win
One way to generate income without the need to spend time and effort on a certain game is to rent the NFT assets to other players. In this way, people only have to invest their capital in the acquisition of NFTs, without having to play to obtain economic benefits.
One of the main games that offer investors to use this business model is AXIE INFINITY. Its “grant” system allows investors to acquire the NFT assets necessary to play (creatures named AXIES). Then, they deliver them to players who do not have the resources to buy them. In exchange for a large percentage of the profits they produce.
Under this type of business, both parties benefit: the players receive a “salary” set at a certain percentage of what they produce. And the investor receives passive earnings on their investment.
Invest in the project
It is a way to profit from a Play to Earn Video Game without having to play it or own any NFT of it. Every time a new game is released, the project goes through a launch process. This us where they raise funds for its development in the form of pre-sales of their token.
It is in these launches that investors have a great opportunity to receive astronomical returns on their investment since they usually buy the token cheaply before it is released publicly.
Then, with the final launch of the game and the sale of the token to the general public, the great demand that is generated drives a violent increase in the price of the token. A well-known case in the crypto community is what happened with AXIE INFINITY, whose governance token AXS increased by a staggering 12,047% in just three months.
Do play to earn video games have real potential?
Currently, almost 3 billion people around the world play video games, making the gaming industry worth more than $336 billion. According to a report published by BITKRAFT Ventures, NFT games barely reach a value of $10 billion, which represents about 3% of the industry.
With the massive adoption of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, Play to Earn video games are becoming more and more popular. Even large traditional video games are already including NFT assets on their platforms.
We must not forget that, like any investment, investing in NFT games carries risks that we must assume if we decide to participate in a project. The growth potential that those video games have is enormous, especially with the trend of developers towards the metaverse.
We are at a great crucial moment to see the flourishing of an industry that is under construction and that will offer us great investment opportunities. We just have to remember to do our research before participating in any project since, in the end, we are risking our money to receive profit for it.
