The blockchain gaming industry is in a nascent stage and still undergoing the evolutionary process. We all are well aware of what this industry promises and how it took off initially.
The promise of earning real money via playing your favorite game using blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies. Although the idea saw a massive success initially especially the play to earn game Axie Infinity, its ecosystem was and still is under severe criticism and harsh questioning.
The crashing of Terra/Luna, and the shutting down of Three Arrows Capital, Celsius, and other top companies started a severe crypto winter.
Moreover, play to earn games dwindling fan support, rug pulls, successful hacking attempts, tokens collapsing and more added to the uncertainty and questions about the longevity of the P2E gaming model ecosystem.
Several major developers also weren’t supporting the idea of play to earn right from the start as it takes away the basic purpose of gaming, which is fun. Play to earn gaming model has at its core the motivation for gamers to earn.
So, the basic purpose of gaming is lost somewhere between tokenomics, financial rewards, and earning real money.
NFT gaming also has challenges attached to it. Take for example the NFT game F1 Delta Time. It came onto the blockchain gaming stage as one of the most promising NFT games but it didn’t turn out as one. The game ran into licensing problems with the companies it went into an agreement with earlier. The NFT cars in the game lost its utility within minutes and gamers lost hundreds and thousands of dollars. The game abruptly shut down in April this year.
There is strong speculation that developers are making a transition from P2E games to a newer business model, a model that makes more sense. The developers are shifting towards play to own (P2O) or free to own (F2O) model rather than play to earn.
The idea is simple yet elegant. Back in the (g)olden days’ video games went open sourcing with the gaming community experimenting and building in-game assets, maps, characters, environment, etc.
For example, Counter-Strike, the astronomically popular FPS, had several mods and maps that were made by the players themselves. Some of the maps went viral and were used all around the world. However, the creator didn’t get any monetary benefit from it. The same goes with DOTA 2 which began as a mod of Warcraft 3.
This mod gave birth to a whole new gaming genre of real-time strategy gameplay. This is where blockchain technology will provide a solution for gamers and creators alike.
This is where the blockchain game Shrapnel comes in. Shrapnel is a game with a captivating storyline, exciting gameplay, true ownership of in-game rewards and assets, and most importantly decentralized. The game developers of the game welcome input from the community.
So, the year 2023 will potentially kick-start this transition from p2e games to play and own, free to own games. At W3 Play, we are ready for this shift, as our current domains are focusing on play to earn, our domain portfolio is the largest in the games space. Whether it will be Play2Own, PlayToOwn, P2O (play to own) or F2O (free to own), we are sure we can fasciliate gamers with a large overview of quality games and features that can enable our gamer community to dive in deep. And why not, if it is fun?
That is what Joseph Derflinger is saying. Play and own games guarantee fun, entertaining gameplay, value for grinding, and NFT ownership. The intent is entirely different when compared to play to earn. Gamers will come in to enjoy and have fun whilst owning their stuff. Read what Joseph has to say about Play And Own
