Top Play-to-Earn Gaming Projects to Watch in 2022
Gaming projects bring together two hugely successful industries: cryptocurrency and video games. Several online games use cryptocurrency as the in-game currency. Players can buy in-game characters and weapons with the game's cryptocurrency. These games frequently employ a play-to-earn concept, in which players can earn cryptocurrency by completing activities.
Therefore, if you are thinking of investing in this space in 2022, here are the top tokens that will help you with the best returns. They hold the maximum growing potential this year.
Axie Infinity (AXS)
Axie Infinity is an NFT-based online video game that is inspired by Pokemon Go. It was the first metaverse project to introduce a play-to-earn gaming model. Axie Infinity runs on the Ethereum blockchain and has two cryptocurrency tokens associated with it i.e., AXS, which is a governance token that can be used by holders of tokens to vote on governance proposals to decide the future of the game. Beyond that, AXS holders can stake their tokens to earn more AXS tokens.
The second cryptocurrency token associated with Axie Infinity is the Smooth Love Potion (SLP). Players here raise, breed, and battle their Axies (digital creatures) and after each victory in-game, they earn a Smooth Love Potion as a reward. These SLP tokens can be sold on exchanges. Axies and digital land in the game are NFTs that can be bought and sold by individuals in the game. As of writing this article, the price of the AXS token is 97.55 US dollars and has a market cap of 6.62 billion dollars.
While the Axie Infinity game was built on the Ethereum blockchain, Sky Mavis, the parent company of Axie Infinity, build the Ronin sidechain to handle a large number of transactions.
In its first month, Ronin’s launched its first decentralized exchange, Katana. The decentralized exchange had huge success after its launch as it gained 409,000 unique users, with more than $1.2bn in liquidity deposited. Axie Infinity is working hard on the problems currently faced by its users so that it continues to remain the market leader in the play-to-earn gaming space.
Yield Guild Games (YGG)
Yield Guild Games is a play-to-earn gaming guild, where players from around the world, coordinate with each other to earn crypto-based rewards. It also invests in NFTs such as virtual land, in-game assets, and members of the guild can also borrow these assets. YGG is made up of different community members, players, and contributors where they help each other to get on board and earn tokens by playing play-to-earn games.
Yield Guild Games has a scholarship model under which community managers who are active guild members recruit and train new players while the guild provides the players the necessary NFTs required to play games. Total revenue generated by players from these play-to-earn games is distributed among community managers, guilds, and players themselves. Players take 70% of the revenue, 20% is taken by managers, and the remaining 10% is taken by the guild.
YGG is the native token of Yield Guild Games. It is a governance token that allows holders of tokens to participate in various DAO activities of the guild. YGG tokens can be staked to receive guild-related benefits and rewards such as token rewards related to YGG DAO’s overall activities, access to exclusive content and benefits within the YGG Discord server, access to exclusive merchandise selections, and voting in DAO-related matters. As of writing this article, the price of the YGG token is 5.45 US dollars and has a market cap of 376 million dollars
Thetan Arena (THG)
Thetan Arena is an e-sport game based on Blockchain technology. Users can gain coins by forming a team and battling with other teams. Thetan Arena's gameplay is designed in a way so that combination of your personal skills and teamwork is used to win battles. Players can play various game modes: MOBA & Battle Royale that comes with monthly updates and attractive rewards. Unlike Axie Infinity, Thetan Arena requires no initial investment to start. Players do not need to pay a starting fee or own anything such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) before beginning.
Thetan Arena has its own token called THG. It is a governance token. Holders of THG tokens can participate in governance functions. As of writing this article, the price of the THG token is 6.95 US dollars and has a market cap of 478 million dollars
Thetan Arena has another token called THC. THC token is the main in-game currency. THC token is used for purchasing NFTs on Thetan Arena.
It has gained over 7 million users since its launch. Proponents consider Thetan Arena the next 'Axie Infinity,' as the game offers players the opportunity to earn tokens (THC) when they perform well in-game. Thetan Arena recently announced that it will be burning around 100 million THC tokens in January 2022. Currently, Thetan Arena is the only project which can flip Axie Infinity and become a market leader in the play-to-earn gaming category.
The Sandbox (SAND)
The Sandbox is a decentralized community-owned virtual world where creators can design their own avatars in the virtual world. Analysts like to compare Sandbox with Roblox due to their similarities in gameplay. However, the key difference with Sandbox is that players have true ownership of their assets in the virtual world. Everybody in The Sandbox earns rewards as everybody contributes to the game ecosystem. It’s a true play-to-earn business model.
The Sandbox has an ERC 20 token built on the Ethereum blockchain. SAND is used as a utility token and also as a governance token. SAND is required to buy, sell NFTs such as LAND and assets from the sandbox’s marketplace. The SAND token is also used for participating in governance functions. As of writing this article, the price of the SAND token is 5.87 US dollars and has a market cap of 5.39 billion dollars.
Recently, Sandbox saw fast growth in monthly active users and crossed $144 million in transaction volume on its platform. It has also raised $93 million from investors led by SoftBank's Vision Fund 2. Funding from Softbank shows traditional investors are also showing interest in metaverse projects in the crypto space.
Decenterland (MANA)
Decenterland is a virtual world where users can purchase land, build it, monetize, and immerse into the applications and content that is built by other users. The Decenterland project is owned by the community in a decentralized manner. It runs on the Ethereum blockchain. There are gambling casinos in Decentraland, which attracts quite an audience on special event nights. By participating in events, players can win rewards.
Decenterland has its own native token called MANA. MANA is used for buying, selling LAND and assets from the MANA marketplace. As of writing this article, the price of the MANA token is 3.33 US dollars and has a market cap of 4.4 billion dollars.
Back in February, Grayscale launched its Decentraland Trust. Investments from Grayscale show that Decentraland has gone mainstream. A large number of transactions are taking place in Decenterland and investments from traditional investors make a bullish case for Decenterland.
DeRace (DERC)
DeRace is a play-to-earn NFT horse racing metaverse where you can participate in horse races, buy and breed NFT horses with unique characteristics, build your own NFT hippodrome (an oval stadium for horse racing ), and can host races on your own hippodrome for gaining actual profit with it.
DeRace has a native ERC-20 token called DERC. DERC token is a utility token and all in-game transactions are done with DERC tokens. Users can stake their DERC tokens and earn amazing rewards such as NFT horses, NFT avatars, DERC tokens. As of writing this article, the price of the DERC token is 3.71 US dollars and has a market cap of 144 million dollars.
DeRace is a combination of 2 significantly rapidly growing markets: video gaming, and horse racing, all merged by blockchain and NFT technologies. These are billion-dollar markets and Derace has created a platform from the integration of these markets, which is player-friendly. There are various activities in the game that allows users to earn.
UFO Gaming (UFO)
UFO Gaming is a fully decentralized gaming platform fully owned by the community bridging traditional games onto the blockchain and giving players the ability to earn while playing the game.
UFO is the primary utility token of the UFO gaming ecosystem. UFO token is used for buying LAND assets in the UFO gaming ecosystem. Holders of UFO tokens are also used for participating in governance functions to shape the future of the UFO ecosystem. UFO tokens can be used for staking purposes also, to earn rewards. As of writing this article, the price of the UFO token is 0.000024 US dollars and has a market cap of 620 million dollars.
UFO gaming enables the play-to-earn model by using the game itself, coupled with NFTs and a three-token system ($UFO, $UAP, and Plasma Points), allowing them to create an internal economic loop that ensures an infinite financial flow as long as interest remains.
UFO is creating an expanding Cross-Chain Metaverse that will be made up of many games. Each game will have its own planet, with its own in-game NFTs and its own DAO that is represented by finite sets of land. When NFTs will be used by players in-game, they will pay a certain amount for usage of NFT. This revenue will go directly to the owner of that particular NFT. If the userbase of the UFO gaming ecosystem increases, then more and more people will rush to buy NFTs and these NFTs can only be bought by UFO token. Thus, demand for UFO tokens will increase resulting in a price surge of UFO tokens.
Splinterlands (SPS)
Splinterlands is a digital, collectible card game based on blockchain technology and inspired by games like Magic the Gathering and Hearthstone, where players build a collection of cards with different attributes and battle other players in skills-based matches. Players can buy, sell, and trade their digital assets on the marketplace just as they would with physical trading cards games such as Magic the Gathering, Pokémon, and Yu-Gi-Oh! Unlike physical trading games, Splinterlands makes it very easy for players to trade their assets.
SPS is the native token of Splinterlands. SPS is a governance token. Owners of SPS tokens have the option to decide the future of the game and ecosystem. The Owners of SPS tokens may also propose their own changes, such as changing the tournament schedule, modifying the battle settings, or a change to the DEC inflation pools. As of writing this article, the price of the DERC token is 0.22 US dollars and has a market cap of 76 million dollars.
Splinterlands is the market leader in a collectible card game running on the blockchain network. The physical card game segment generated 884 million dollars in revenue in 2021. Splinterland has a big market in which it operates and with the benefits provided by blockchain technology, NFTs, it can be the player’s first choice. In the coming years, if Splinterlands can capture a large market share, the demand for SPS tokens might increase.
GALA Games (GALA)
GALA Games aims to take the gaming industry in a direction so that players have control over their games. Gala Games is not a single game, but rather it offers a wide variety of games and it makes sure that the user experience of players while playing the game is smooth. Town Star is the only game that is currently playable. It is a town simulation that can be played in a browser. Players manage the town and they actually own the town.
GALA tokens run on BSC and Ethereum blockchain networks. The security of the GALA network is secured by 50,000 nodes called Founder’s nodes. They also validate in-game transactions. As of writing this article, the price of the GALA token is 0.456 US dollars and has a market cap of 3.4 billion dollars. The GALA token can be used for governance functions.
Since its launch, the project has amassed 1.3 million monthly active users and sold 26,000 NFTs. The surge in the number of users shows that users are liking the experience of the ecosystem. If more and more users will be coming to the platform, the GALA tokens will get more attention. This will act as a catalyst for its price.
WAX (WAXP)
The Worldwide Asset eXchange (WAX) is the world's most proven and eco-friendly blockchain for NFTs, video games, and collectibles. It provides a great platform for creators, developers, artists who want to launch a successful NFT collection, games, and DApps to exchanges, digital marketplaces, and more. Users don’t need to pay any fees when transacting on its network.
WAXP token is a utility token and also a governance token. WAXP token can be a stake to earn rewards. Users that stake tokens also earn the right to vote for block producers and earn voting rewards. WAXP can also be used for buying, selling NFTs. Many emerging play-to-earn games are also participating in the WAX NFT ecosystem. As of writing this article, the price of the WAXP token is 0.50 US dollars and has a market cap of 944 million dollars.
The NFT space is still in its early stage and more investments and innovations will develop the market further in the coming years. WAXP token demand may increase in the future because the WAX ecosystem is the first choice of play-to-earn games.
Conclusion
After Axie Infinity’s success, hundreds of play-to-earn games launched in 2021. Play-to-earn games enabled players to earn income by competing and winning against each other. Various guilds have also been launched, which helps players to participate and earn money in play-to-earn games. Projects which will create player-friendly games along with a sustainable economy around these games will be the market leaders in this segment. Still, many projects do not provide the best user experience as compared to traditional games. In 2022, it is expected that these projects will provide a rich and smooth user experience to their players.