Current issues with Play to Earn NFT games

CONCEPT AND REPUTATION

Play to earn NFT games are currently booming in the gaming community. The times are changing, and this unprecedented model of games in which players are able to earn money by playing is not something that can be ignored, causing even large companies such as Square Enix and Ubisoft to talk about them.

However, it is a fact that many have seen an opportunity in this to try and make quick profit from launching low-quality games with no long-term plans to keep them running and attract the community interested in this new gaming model, resulting in a huge disappointment for everybody expecting something way more solid, the loss of money for many players who invested in them, and a very bad reputation for the play to earn NFT gaming industry.

ECONOMY

The current design of the NFT games mentioned above also causes the economy to crumble sooner than later, making it unsustainable in the long run. This is caused by how they are meant to work as pump&dump tokens, being games focused on attracting new members with the promise of easy, generous earnings in a short time with no real support and work behind them to keep the project up and alive for a longer time.

And this model works at the beginning, since for as long as there are more incoming new players than the already active ones, it means the money keeps being pumped in so the latter can dump it for themselves. However, this economy system falls apart once the curve of new players and active players begins to shift the other way around and the incoming money begins to slow down, and the circulating tokens see their value drop. And not only that, but the ROI system often used in the current NFT play to earn projects of few hours or days are also very harmful, as it only adds to that promise of quick, abundant money return while it ends up being one of the main reasons why this model doesn’t work.

This ultimately results in the project’s end, as the players into the game desperately look for a way out, while new players aren’t attracted to such a risky project anymore.

PAY TO JOIN

The last main issue we’ve detected is the requirement to pay to join the game, as it usually requires the player to either purchase tokens, NFTs or the like in order to join at all. And since the game’s economy is decentralized, depending on the moment in the market, this price may be very high, creating a barrier not everyone is able, or willing to overcome, causing many possible players to stay out of the community, which ultimately harms the project because a proper flow of new players is absolutely needed for the game to prosper.