NFTs are shaking up the cryptocurrency community once again. Since disrupting the art world in 2021, the adoption of non-fungible tokens is spreading like wildfire through various industries, and gaming is no exception.
Imagine a world where any in-game activity can bring real value - well, you don’t have to dream - we live in this world right now.
A large number of crypto games have already exploited the P2E model. Moreover, it laid a solid foundation for other game concepts like learn-to-earn or a new trend, move-to-earn to develop and thrive.
This article will explore five of the best play-to-earn crypto games you should stay excited about in 2022. So let's dive right into it!
Back to Basics in P2E: Meaning and Mechanics
P2E concept made a familiar video game and the youngest modern technology of today meet.
As the name suggests, play to earn is a gaming sector that allows players to monetize their time and efforts.
Before the P2E concept emerged, players game for the sake of playing, having fun, and having something to do in their spare time. .
Although the play to earn concept has been in the crypto space for more than a year, it is already clear it will stick with us for a long-long time. That means it is not too late to learn about the P2E and NFT games everyone's been talking about.
What Is P2E?
Play-to-earn games are just like traditional video games but upgraded to allow players to generate rewards for their skill, effort, and time. The P2E model gives players the ownership of in-game items they can buy, sell, or trade, which incentivizes people to play and progress within the game's metaverse.
The business model of traditional video games that we are all used to playing compensates the game developer/studio. Players spend money buying in-game items or upgrading characters, and there is no return. The items and characters are not usable outside the game, so no value is added.
However, there are exceptions to the rule. For example, take Counter Strike, there are a lot of marketplaces specifically created for buying/selling/trading skins, keys, or armory, and some of the game items listed there can cost thousands of dollars. But it is instead a side effect.
In turn, creators of the crypto P2E games deliberately develop open markets for their in-game tokens on real global crypto exchanges. Moreover, game items and skins serve as NFTs in P2E, making them unique, non-fungible, and of course, valuable artifacts, thereby enabling them to be traded on NFT marketplaces. Eventually, the blockchain itself prevents fraud activity and ensures transparency.
Everything mentioned above significantly increases the value and liquidity of in-game tokens initially. However, incase of the game's success and popularity, the worth of these will exponentially increase.
Players earn rewards in 2 ways:
- Cryptocurrency - the game's native tokens, fungible ERC20, BEP20, etc.
- NFTs - in-game items that players can buy, sell, or trade at the crypto marketplaces.
Crypto and NFT assets are available globally on thousands of marketplaces, so players can easily convert any earnings to Bitcoin or Ethereum.
Some P2E games are free to play, while others require an initial investment. As always, if you are hoping to profit from any activity, expect to bring some money in.
Review of Top 5 Play2Earn Games to Keep an Eye on 2022
Here we present to you a list of the best play to earn games in 2022:
- Splinterlands - a P2E OG turn based card game.
- NFT Champions - an MMORPG with design veterans from Halo, WoW, and Fortnite.
- Polygon Chess Crypto - an exciting way to monetize intelligence.
- Spider Tanks - the 1st play to earn esport PVP.
- Sidus Heroes - a P2E MMORPG with an insane futuristic metaverse.
Without any further ado, let’s check out the reviews!
Splinterlands
Splinterlands is one of the oldest crypto P2E games on this list and in the crypto space.
Splinterland was first known as "Steem Monster," launched in 2018. Since then, a lot has changed, and as of now, Splinterlands' user base counts more than 560k active wallets.
In short, Splinterlands is a collectible trading card game involving cryptocurrency and NFT as an award mechanism. Splinterlands is built on the Hive blockchain but is fully compatible with other networks such as Ethereum, Tron, and WAX.
The game begins with a limited number of cards. Then, as you win more rounds and earn more in a shorter period, the number of cards you operate increases. You can obtain even more NFT cards on Splinterlands' Marketplace, where cards are usually bought, sold, or rented between players.
The battles are automated and, eventually, fast-paced. Players build a powerful deck every time before the match begins hoping to defeat the opponent. But how are the players rewarded?
Spliterlands has 2 native tokens: Dark Energy Crystals (DEC) and Splinterland Shards (SPS). DEC is an erc20 token that players can acquire through any in-game activity. On the other hand, SPS is a governance token fueling the ecosystem. Having won combat, players receive some DEC tokens. In addition, they can also be rewarded with Dark Energy Crystals by 'burning' their trading cards or engaging in other activities.
In fact, the game is free to play, but P2E features are not available unless you purchase a $10 starter pack. You can access Splinterlands on both desktop and mobile devices. To do so, head over to https://m.splinterlands.io/ on your mobile web browser. Another option is to get the game via the App Store. (Apple App Store for iOS and Google Play Store for Android)
To sum up, Splinterlands is a top choice for traditional card trading game lovers. Thanks greatly to a solid user base along with a 4% increase in its SPS token valuation, the game remains one of the best choices when it comes to P2E crypto games.
NFT Champions
NFT Champions is a P2E crypto strategy game where players own NFT creatures and earn CHAMP tokens for completing tasks.
When NFT creatures get paired with other monsters, they are called champions which means they can enter different battles as a team. The fights can either be 1v1 or 3v3. Each champion has unique attributes such as block rate, base attack strength, skill attack strength, accuracy, speed, mana points, health, regeneration, resistance, and success rate of counters.
NFT creatures can be trained in the gym, evolved, and fused in the DNALab. The game isn’t free to play - it requires at least one NFT Champion, which can either be bought on the Marketplace or gifted by another player. The initial price of the creatures will start at $100 worth of MATIC.
Once players complete tasks and challenges, they can start earning in-game rewards. The native token circulating inside the game is called CHAMP. Together with MATIC, CHAMP is used to buy game items and serves as a reward token.
The game is available to play on PC and mobile devices.
To conclude, NFT Champions is quite a young project with lots of potential and ambitions. The mechanics are simple; nothing sophisticated is going on. According to the project's team update, there is still a lot to be released and developed, so we should stay in the loop of the project's announcements.
Polygon Chess Crypto
The Chess Polygon, as the name implies, is a blockchain-based chess app to be launched for Android or iOS mobile devices.
It combines the ancient board game and the latest blockchain technology allowing people to monetize their intellectual abilities.
The Chess Polygon project encourages both amateur and professional chess players to take advantage of their experience and knowledge to monetize their victories.
The native token STEIN powers the project. STEIN was named for Wilhelm Steinitz, a master at chess and the first official world champion. Players receive STEIN tokens and NFTs for defeating their opponents and other personal achievements.
The players are not limited to mere matches - they have plenty of game modes to choose from:
- Mining mode. Here, players earn rewards in STEIN and NFT tokens for defeating opponents selected by the system randomly. .
- Challenge mode. Players can choose opponents and play against their friends or any other worldwide opponents. .
- Investor mode. The Investor (Manager) can create a team and receive a pre-agreed part of the reward for the victories of each team member playing in the Mining mode without having to play chess themselves.
- Observer mode. You can observe other players' games in this mode in real time.
- Practice mode. Here players get access to various practical tasks on a chessboard where they can gain more experience.
- Tournament mode. Monthly tournaments with a prize pool in STEIN and NFT tokens for the top places.
Wrapping up, Chess Polygon is a very intriguing gaming project. Since the game is just in the first stages of its roadmap, it is an excellent opportunity to get in early. The private and public token sales of STEIN are already on the horizon, so if you find crypto chess exciting and promising, we suggest you do some additional research and become or not become an early investor.
Spider Tank
Spider Tanks is a dynamic PVP (player vs. player) blockchain game where you fight other players with upgradable and sellable NFT tanks.
The tanks are the most crucial aspects of the game. Each one consists of the Weapon and a Tank Body. In addition, each player owns a garage where all the tradable Tank Bodies and Weapons are stored.
In addition, the gameplay has a diverse choice of maps players can buy and explore. The most famous include safe haven, dragon cave, arctic base, death canyon, and many more arenas at the marketplace.
Spider tanks has 3 different game modes:
Team Deathmatch mode Within this mode, 2 teams of 3 players compete to the death. At the end of the time, the team that killed more opponents wins.
Capture the flag mode The main goal of a team playing this mode is to keep the flag. If your team loses the flag, you will no longer earn the points needed to win.
Capture the chicken mode Such an unusual pairing. In this mode, the map has chickens everywhere. The team aims to save as many animals as possible and return them to their homes.
As for the reward system, the team that conquered its opponents will receive GALA tokens or NFTs that can be used in future fights or sold to other players. Spider Tanks’ economy is fully based on GALA, the native token of the game.
The game is still in its development stage. The team behind the project is making everything possible to mitigate Spider Tanks’ main issue - the repetitiveness.
To round off, Spider Tanks is worth a shot only if you enjoy MOBAs, tank battles, or want to try something different. At first glance, playing this game seems flat and lacking in depth, but we can't know for sure what the team is adding to the gameplay now. The project's release date is in 2022, so there is not much time left for us to wait.
Sidus Heroes
Sidus Heroes, a currently trending NFT project at OpenSea, is probably the newest blockchain game on the list. At the time of writing, the collection of characters featured in the Sidus Heroes metaverse consists of 5.6k items with a floor price of 0.35 ETH.
Sidus Heroes is a next generation MMORPG game about space exploration, adventures, and battles. In the world of Sidus Heroes, technological advancement reaches the top level - all living beings and robots become inseparable.
The futuristic metaverse is inhabited by 12 races representing popular blockchain networks we perfectly know: Bitcoione, Etheredus, Polkacyon etc.
Sidus NFT game has incorporated dual tokens - SIDUS, the gaming token, and SENATE, the governance token. Players can buy in-game items and receive rewards when using SIDUS. For example, players can buy and sell various parcels of land and get a voting authority to decide on numerous changes when using SENATE. In addition, winners of tournaments and fights earn SIDUS tokens.
Those willing to play can access the game in one click - no application required, just the browser and game’s URL.
Overall, Sidus Heroes is a super high quality project on the P2E market. One of the best things about it is accessibility - everyone with a stable internet connection can easily play and actually enjoy the game. In addition, the players have limitless opportunities to earn and train valuable skills such as strategic planning, financial literacy, and entrepreneurship.
Play to Earn Games for Android and iOS
Most NFT games are compatible with desktop computers and mobile devices.
Smartphones’ global penetration rate is significantly higher when compared to desktops. According to Statista, the current percentage of smartphone users in the world today is 83.72%, which means 6.648 billion people of the world’s population own a smartphone.
Playtoearn.net is a perfect spot to check what devices the game is compatible with. There you can see a list of the top 50 blockchain games Android users can access and a list of games for iOS devices.
Many free-to-play games have successfully reached mobile players through their mobile applications. This trend will likely continue shortly as more people choose to use mobile devices over PCs, especially for entertainment purposes.
Conclusion
P2E has genuinely revolutionized the way gaming works once and forever. Moreover, the adoption of blockchain and finance shaped one of a kind industry - GameFi.
Play to earn games are absolutely luring, but they are dangerous to invest into without a crystal clear understanding. In the world of cryptocurrency, the responsibility of all investment decisions is only on your shoulders. You don’t trust anyone’s advice on choosing a partner or buying a house, the same should be with cryptocurrency. Always do your own due diligence and evaluate the risks wisely.
Pay close attention to the quality and depth of the game you want to invest in, how many people are playing it, and how they feel about it - all of this determines the price of platforms’ native tokens. The better the game, the more potential a token has to increase in value over time.
Once you decide which game token is worth buying, there is a fantastic decentralized exchange to trade it. bitoftrade is an anonymous DEX that offers almost all crypto tokens to trade. Own tokens for playing games and manage your funds securely with non custodial wallet.
