Crypto markets are taking a dive, but NFT fans are still ready to believe. NFT games are just a sub-niche, but just like it was with NFT art, some of the projects got absurd amounts of money poured into them.
In this article, we'll cover everything you need to know about NFT games and then we’ll how some people make money on them in 2022.
The obvious disclaimer: The fact that a crypto projects lures in copious amounts of retail or even corporate money does not say anything about its quality: Look at EOS. Hype exists, expectations get exaggerated, always do your own research.
What is Play to Earn in Crypto?
Play-to-earn is a concept that allows players earn money directly through the game. Thanks to crypto, players get rewarded in the game token, which takes out any middlemen that would traditionally have to be present to pay gamers out.
What Are NFT Games?
So, you probably stumbled upon the concept of NFTs. NFTs are an abbreviation for "non-fungible tokens", which essentially means they are unique, non-reproducible digital collectibles that are based on blockchain. They can have only one owner and can be traded in the same way physical works of art are traded.
Ever since blockchain technology started taking over the world, many talented developers have experimented with it, creating various cryptocurrencies, decentralised apps, NFTs and more. Some even had a brilliant idea: connecting cryptos and NFTs to the gaming industry. And the results were revolutionary.
Finally, gamers had a chance to play games and earn assets that have real value. All games that have this type of approach are usually referred to as P2E (play-to-earn) games, and they typically revolve around the concept of NFTs.
Cutting out the middleman
It turns out that such a concept was perfect for the gaming industries, as game creators saw NFTs as an opportunity to create unique representations of characters, items, consumables and more. All of a sudden, in-game items received real-world value, and each game that revolves around this idea can be considered an NFT game.
Is NFT Gaming the New Gold Mine?
To those who are willing to put in the time, it's a gold mine. It does require a lot of digging to get to the gold. Let us elaborate.
When you use cryptocurrency as a type of investment, your goal is to wait for its price to go up, and then sell it to make a profit – correct?
However, in NFT gaming, you're the one that can increase the price of your in-game asset. This is because your asset is non-fungible.
Imagine having a unique character and levelling them up by improving their skills. If someone wants to have a cool and strong character, they can buy it from you using real in-game cryptocurrency that you can later exchange for fiat money, or alternatively trade for other cryptocurrencies (or spend on other things in the game).
You'll basically have to work to improve the price of your asset, but it's not work per se – it's gaming, which is much more fun than work.
Is there market for NFT game assets?
As long as the game retains some audience, your characters will always have value. You will be able to sell them to a player, as long as there are players.
If you know the game well, it’s also not difficult to see what attributes you need to build to increase your character’s value.
That’s why there is absolutely no wonder that NFT games are gaining in popularity much faster than NFT art:
- In NFT art, traders need to hope their jpeg will enchant somebody.
- They can’t change the artwork they purchased.
- They can’t really know what attributes to look for in an artwork to make a killing either.
Art is vague like that, but game characters aren’t.
Types of NFT Games
Please bear in mind that NFT gaming is a fairly new concept, so additional genres might appear in the future.
For now, there are three types of NFT games that are popular among players, so let's check them out.
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Play-To-Earn NFT Games
P2E NFT games are the most common type. You get to play the game and create a real-world value for your in-game assets.
Once they reach a certain value, you can sell them and make a profit.
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Games for Players
This game type allows players to collect in-game items with value. These usually are weapons, vehicles or characters that are part of the gaming process. These items can be traded in the form of NFTs.
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Free-to-Play Games
With these games, you do not have to make any initial investment to play. You can start playing for free and get rewarded with in-game assets in the process. The earnings in this type of game usually depend on randomised outcomes.
What Are the Best NFT Games to Play in 2022?
Let's look at the NFT games that are currently considered the best (and the most popular).
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Axie Infinity
Developed by Sky Mavis from Vietnam, Axie Infinity is widely regarded as one of the best NFT games at the moment. It's based on Ethereum and uses two in-game cryptocurrencies to create an ecosystem.
Axie Infinity is technically a trading game, as players can collect, raise and breed virtual monsters called Axies. Each Axie is an NFT – it's unique and has a certain value. Of course, some Axies are more popular than others, and successful players can make a living breeding and trading Axies.
The other aspect of this game is battling, as players basically raise Axies to fight against other players.
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Splinterlands
Splinterlands is very similar to Axie Infinity, but there is no raising or breeding. Instead, it's a trading-card game, with each card being a unique NFT. In other words, you can trade, collect and battle other players using your cards, and can earn money using the in-game cryptocurrency.
This game is still fairly new, but it connects the concept of trading cards and NFTs – which seems to be a match made in heaven, given that there are already cultures around the world revolving around buying and selling trading cards.
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Decentraland
When you first load Decentraland, you'll enter a 3D virtual-reality (VR) world.
What makes Decentraland unique is that almost the entire world is player-made. There are thousands of parcels of land in the game, with each parcel being one NFT, meaning it's owned by a player.
You can think of it as a form of virtual real estate (or should it be called "virtual real estate"?).
The only difference is that you can use your creativity to build anything on your digital plot of land, which has resulted in some beautiful pieces of digital art and architecture.
Decentraland is the closest we come to the concept of the metaverse, but there's still a lot to incorporate to bring the metaverse to life.
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The Sandbox
The Sandbox is pretty similar to Decentraland. It's an open-world blockchain-based title developed in 2012 by Pixowl, which was later acquired by Animoca Brands. This game allows users to monetise everything they create while playing and sell it for real money.
The Sandbox has already attracted plenty of investments and is one of the most successful blockchain games so far. It's so popular that some businesspeople, including Adrian Cheng, plan to build entire in-game worlds.
Bottom Line
To sum up, NFT gaming is just around the corner, and there are already hundreds of thousands of people around the globe exploring NFT games, including the four mentioned in this guide.
The industry is still very young, but it's already competitive.
One thing is certain: the more people become part of the NFT-gaming community, the more money and time will be invested in these games and their NFTs. It means that now's not a bad time to consider incorporating this into your sources of income.