What Is Crypto Gaming And Top Crypto Games to Play

The gaming industry has significantly benefited during the pandemic lockdowns and is witnessing immense growth now. As per an article dated 21 March 2022, this booming market has a valuation of $173 billion and will likely double in value by 2027.

At the same time, crypto gaming garners considerable interest and attention, with 128 blockchain gaming organisations receiving investment in Q1 2022. If you are interested to learn more about crypto gaming, here’s more.

Understanding the basics of crypto gaming

Traditional games are centralised, implying that one cannot use the experience (XP) and items gained while playing a particular game in the other games. 

Crypto gaming introduces blockchain technology, thereby changing this mechanism of traditional centralised games. Therefore, players can use their items and rewards across various crypto gaming projects.

Also, crypto gaming provides players with a way to earn money. This is referred to as a play-to-earn model, and players can do it in several ways. 

For instance, in Axie Infinity, users can purchase characters called Axies, level them up and sell them at a greater price. In addition, players can earn Ethereum-based crypto gaming tokens like AXS and SLP by battling with their Axies.

Working on crypto gaming

In traditional development and gaming, the developers own all the digital assets like skins, weapons, in-game currency XP, cars, characters, etc. These digital assets are a set of records in the database of the game that the developers own.

On the other hand, in a crypto game, the items a player acquires at the time of playing belong to the player. These games are developed on blockchain networks. That is why all computers linked to the network have access to the same information. In addition, they have a decentralising control over the information.

Implementation of blockchain technology can take place in crypto games for two purposes. A blockchain can be used only for the in-game currency or to develop a complete game. In the first case, it is possible to access digital assets using NFTs. And in the second case, a block is developed in the blockchain for every interaction within the game. 

Top crypto games

• Axie Infinity

Developed by a Vietnamese organisation called Sky Mavis, Axie Infinity was the first NFT game based on Ethereum to touch sales of US$1 billion on 8 August 2021. This game has over one million active users. It is among the most popular NFT games at this moment and one of the highest-revenue games on the entire blockchains.

Essentially, Axie Infinity is a Pokémon-inspired game where users can create a team of creatures called Axies and use them to fight enemies in the Adventure mode or battle players in the Arena mode.

Axie Infinity is a play-to-earn game. But it still attracts NFT collectors because Axies can sell for a substantial amount. 

• Splinterlands

Splinterlands is another game which is reminiscent of Yugi-oh, Magic and Pokémon. It involves a card fighter experience with a player-driven economy. All packs and cards come with real value and can be freely traded. Players can buy new cards in the marketplace or via the official in-game shop. 

Splinterlands frequently has updates and expansions, racking up many players along with it. During recent updates, players got access to rare cards, making it more appealing for them.

• Alien Worlds

Alien Worlds features among the best P2E games for players willing to explore a new metaverse. In this game, users access the entire universe in front of them. Then they can explore distant planets, colonise planets, and form a functioning economy and government.

This game can be both competitive and collaborative. Users can join other players to develop their NFT drops or find and explore new NFTs. Also, players can join together to organise a political body for the planet or create mini-games. 

Moreover, users can claim other explorers’ currency or territory by battling with them. For players only willing to explore, Alien Worlds provides Mission NFTs that send them on a quest across the galaxy. Further, it is possible to trade Mission NFTs for the in-game crypto, Trillium.

• Decentraland

Decentraland is a 3D virtual reality cryptocurrency game backed by the Ethereum blockchain. Players can develop unique content and avatars based on their preferences and explore lands.

Also, players can use the in-game token, MANA, to buy and sell items and enjoy social activities. 

To fulfil life beyond reality with superb graphics, Decentraland has gameplay on VR experiences. Also, players have the freedom to trade along with NFT Marketplace. 

Risks of crypto gaming

• Access barriers

Crypto gaming has access barriers which impact some games more than others. For instance, with Axie Infinity, players must have three Axies before playing the game. The cost of the lowest-priced Axies is around $100, implying users must spend a minimum of $300 before they can start earning.

Such a high investment can put off an average player, as most traditional games don’t come at a price of more than $100.

• Risk of losing NFTs and tokens

This can occur if a user gets into a scam or tries to send NFTs to a wallet that does not support the NFT type. In July, the founder of the crypto game Hedgie reported said that he was scammed out of over $1 million in non-fungible tokens. Similarly, the blockchain behind Axie Infinity, Ronin, fell victim to a hack that drained over $600m from its funds.

This poses an even bigger risk for crypto games in comparison to cryptos. This is because operators usually do not have to comply with some standards like anti-money laundering, which can increase the risk of fraud.

• Risk of volatility

Similar to malicious attacks, players can also lose their money through volatility. Crypto game tokens are susceptible to price fluctuations similar to non-gaming cryptos. However, some games have restrictions regarding how often one can withdraw tokens. This implies that if a crypto gaming coin like AXS plunges, players may not have time in hand to cut their losses.

Bottom line

All types of crypto games have a considerable impact on the entire cryptocurrency space, offering players many opportunities. As blockchain games keep evolving, we will likely witness higher-quality games in the coming days. From the outset, this industry certainly has immense potential for developers and consumers.