How to Choose the Right Play-to-Earn (P2E) Game

Choosing the right play-to-earn (P2E) game is a long process that takes serious research and analysis. Before investing in play-to-earn (P2E) games, we tried to find answers to some of the questions you may have in mind!

How Do You Choose the Right Play-to-Earn Game for You?

It is no secret that gaming has grown from a simple hobby into a multibillion-dollar industry. According to Accenture, crypto games are worth more than $300 billion, thanks to an influx of new players looking for social interaction.

With the rise of blockchain, the industry paradigm has changed. Instead of money going only to game developers and distributors, players can now earn income from cryptocurrencies or non-fungible tokens (NFTs) by using their computers or smartphones in play-to-earn games. After it was reported that Ubisoft's next Ghost Recon game would have NFT-based additions, this trend reached even the big game publishers.

Before you start P2E play-to-earn NFT-based crypto games, it is very important to know how they work and how you can earn back the time you spend on the games.

What Is the Logic Behind Play to Earn (P2E) Games?

In many games, especially Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) games, players collect digital items to advance their progress. These can include in-game objects such as weapons, properties or wearables. They are usually earned as rewards for completing quests and challenges, or obtained from loot boxes bought with real currency. From skins to in-game currency, items let players customize their characters with new outfits and better gear, but none of them can be sold to other players for cash.

This is where play-to-earn games, or GameFi, come in. Taking advantage of the immutability of blockchain technology, game designers can create in-game items and rewards that prove to be unique and transferable. Rewards can range from earning native digital currencies to collecting NFTs or winning from staking. In turn, coins can be issued to crypto wallets to be converted into fiat currency such as US dollars, while NFTs can be sold to other players through in-house trading platforms or secondary markets.

For example, the popular play-to-earn game Axie Infinity lets players buy, battle and breed only virtual creatures (called "Axies") minted on the Ethereum blockchain. Since each Axie is represented by an NFT, it can be bought and sold peer to peer using cryptocurrency.

How Do You Choose the Right Play-to-Earn (P2E) Game?

Once you understand how play-to-earn games work, you can start looking for the one (or several) that suits you best. With hundreds of play-to-earn games already on the market (and hundreds more in development), the question is how you will find the best one for you.

The key to this is properly understanding the game's system. Before starting a P2E game, you need to understand how rewards are paid out for the game, how you can convert in-game coins into other cryptocurrencies, and what you actually want to get out of the experience, then find a game accordingly, and the game needs to be one that people can accept. If nobody likes or shows much interest in a game you love, its chances of rising are quite low.

Set your goal and make a decision: Do you want coins? NFTs? Or both!

Every play-to-earn game offers players rewards in different ways. Most games give rewards in a combination of NFTs and in-game cryptocurrency that can be traded and sold to other players or outside traders. In some rare cases, players can earn popular currencies for their games.

In Coin Hunt World, players explore their neighborhoods for keys that unlock quizzes. If you answer correctly, you will be rewarded with Bitcoin and Ethereum, Ethereum's native cryptocurrency.

When starting out, it is important to understand how you will earn rewards for the game and how long it will take to earn them. Some require simple tasks to earn NFTs, while others need a larger investment to be rewarded.

How Easy Is It to Cash Out the Coins You Earn?

Although many play-to-earn games are built on popular blockchains (such as Ethereum and Polygon), converting them into another coin may not be an easy process. Selling NFTs can take time, while the values of the coins used in games can change quickly and fluctuate.

Before spending time on a game, do some research to understand how you can use your coins for real-world earnings. Knowing how to convert your digital items can help you decide whether the game fits your goals.

How Much Money Do You Need to Spend to Start a Play-to-Earn Game?

Like other video games, starting a play-to-earn game usually requires buying a starter pack that includes cryptocurrency. Depending on which game you decide to start, your cost of entry can vary.

For the incredibly popular Axie Infinity, you will need to buy at least three Axies to get started. On the Axie Infinity Marketplace, Common Axies sell for anywhere from $35 to $70, while rarer Axies can go for hundreds of dollars.

Other games won't require a purchase to start, but eventually you will need to spend cash to access premium features or play-to-earn features. In the virtual world game Decentraland, you can start with little more than a MetaMask wallet. If you like it enough to claim a username, you will need to buy 100 MANA (about $216 at the time of writing) to "create" it.

Crypto earned from play-to-earn games carries inherent risk and there is no guarantee of return. Knowing that getting a return may take some time (and that you may never turn a profit), only invest as much as you can afford.

How Can I Find Existing and Upcoming Games?

Once you decide to dive into play-to-earn games, your next step is finding the one that fits your interests and price point. With more than 400 active blockchain games online today, finding the best one for you is all about research.

Two key places to watch for new play-to-earn game options are the data-tracking websites DappRadar and CoinMarketCap. DappRadar gives you an idea of the GameFi market by users and volume, while CoinMarketCap gives you an idea of a game's token price trends, helping you decide the right time to get involved with a game.

How profitable are play-to-earn crypto games?

Play-to-earn games combine the fun of video games with the chance to earn real rewards for your time. But as with any financial product, there is no such thing as a "typical" earning, and your returns may vary.

In Axie Infinity, research published in July 2021 by the Cryptoday newsletter on Substack showed that an average player could earn about 1,125 Smooth Love Potion tokens per week. A player at the then all-time high of $0.3462 per token could earn an estimated $389.48 per week. Since then, the token's price has dropped significantly, leading the British investment firm Three Body Capital Management to revise average earnings to about $100 per week in November 2021.

Real games are only one way to earn returns in the metaverse. A 2021 report by the investment firm Grayscale shows that all-time secondary market NFT sales in Decentraland rose about 2.5 times between September 2020 and 2021, exceeding $100 million. The positive growth led the firm to launch a single-asset trust for the MANA coin in early 2021. (Grayscale is owned by Digital Currency Group, CoinDesk's parent company.)

While play-to-earn crypto games can be profitable, they generally come with both an initial monetary investment and a time cost for learning the game and growing your investment. By doing your due diligence and preparing to stay in your GameFi experience for the long haul, it is possible to have fun and earn valuable crypto rewards for your time.

The most important point here is not to make your investments because a friend egged you on or by acting impulsively. It is very important to research well and make the right decisions!