Best cryptocurrencies from the Play2Earn category
Bogdan LashchenkoIntroduction
After 2021 saw a boom in the world of digital assets and in particular NFT-collections and Ethereum-sector, Play2Earn games also gained a lot of popularity. Projects like Axie Infinity, Crypto Blades, Splinterlands, Guild of Guardians and others come to mind immediately.
Today we will talk more about these games and explain why their tokens can be a useful find for cryptocurrency investors and can bring profit in the future.
It's also worth noting that many such NFT projects are not known for their longevity. Many developers can intentionally make a system that will help players earn money by spending a lot of time in the game, and the developers themselves, who came up with the game. The economy doesn't work well in all NFT projects.
For this reason we will only pay attention to those projects that, firstly, already have a good and time-tested reputation and, secondly, they have an impressive level of capitalization.
Let's also note the fact that even though the cryptocurrency market is now starting to come out of its downtrend and January was "green", the crypto sector can still make a loss. Those games, which we will talk about, can mostly profit when the digital asset sector finally turns around and goes into a bullish phase.
Axie Infinity
An NFT project that almost no list that touches on the topic of cryptocurrency gaming can do without. Axie Infinity is a game built using non-interchangeable tokens based on the Ethereum blockchain, which in turn also helped ETH get to $4,000 in 2021. The game became famous all over the world thanks to the implementation of a good economic component, although the idea of the project itself cannot be called extraordinary. In fact, the idea of the game consists of four words: "invest, grow, fight, gather.
All users have to do the routine in order to be able to truly earn in this project. To begin, they must invest their money to purchase what is known as a starter kit with pets, after which they must engage in combat with other players, collect rewards, grow new pets and use them in battles or sell them on the market. For selling their bred pets, players will receive currency, which can be "reinvested" in their gameplay, as well as exchanged on cryptocurrency exchanges for cashing out and profit taking.
The developers have quite a large profit with Axie Infinity, as they charge a commission of 4.25% from users on each transaction made on the marketplace. In this way, the developers of the most famous NFT game earn round sums of evergreen on a daily basis.
Axie Infinity was particularly hot in September 2021. That time the game became so popular, that some entrepreneurs, mostly from Asian region, were hiring special "workers", who would play Axie Infinity for them and get the profit from the project. To implement this idea, the "employers" would buy a starter kit, which was supposed to be enough to properly develop and make their way to success, and then the "performers" would play the NFT project and make a profit, giving most of it to the entrepreneurs.
Axie Infinity came out in November 2020 and was valued at $0.14 per token. The incredible push for the title came in August-November 2021. The game then made its way to its record high of $157 in a fairly short period of time, which could enrich early investors. If those invested in the game early on when no one believed in it, their deposits could have multiplied by a factor of 1,120+. After the market went into a depressed phase and we saw a bearish trend throughout 2022, AXS token was affected as well. By the end of 2022, Axie Infinity had fallen to $6, but in January, the token was able to add more than 100% to its price and has already managed to correct itself. At the time of writing, 1 AXS is valued at $10.2.
And now let's talk about the most interesting concerning this coin. Why invest in Axie Infinity? First of all, it's worth to invest in AXS at least because the project is well established and made it clear that the developers are very serious. The company Sky Mavis, responsible for the creation of this NFT-project, continues to acquire new partnerships. For example, a couple of months ago they announced signing a partnership agreement with one of the most famous eSports clubs in the world, Cloud9. Under this partnership, the parties committed to promoting each other's products and holding a tournament on Axie Infinity among ordinary users and eSportsmen. And Sky Mavis has plenty of such partnership agreements.
The second reason to invest in AXS is that it is the biggest NFT title out of Play2Earn in terms of market cap. Additionally, Axie Infinity is the only game in its genre to break the $1,000,000,000 mark. At the time of writing, the capitalization of the project exceeds $1,100,000,000.
The third reason lies in the current state of the crypto market. We are currently in a more bearish trend and when it finally reverses and goes up, Axie Infinity will follow the rest of the market to new heights. This will very likely create a chain reaction as traders become interested in cryptocurrencies again, NFT games and that will eventually attract a lot of money to AXS. Keep in mind that Axie Infinity is currently only available on mobile devices as an app that can be downloaded from a special website and not from specialised shops. If the developers will make a full-fledged smartphone version, then even more people will see the game, and that can also bring new money into the game, which will have a positive effect on the price.
Overall, Axie Infinity is probably the most sustainable project in the Play2Earn area. A bitcoin of sorts in the field of NFT gaming, and therefore there is no way to ignore this project if you are going to invest your money in the field of cryptocurrency gaming. AXS token closes the top 50 of all cryptocurrencies in the world with the highest level of capitalization, which is also an important indicator.
As a final note, if you are not only a holder and investor, but also a trader who does not neglect derivative financial instruments, then there is great news for you - many exchanges support futures transactions with Axie Infinity. This means that if you speculate now with a bit of leverage and not take unnecessary risk, you can make good money on this asset in the future.
League of Kingdoms
League of Kingdoms is a typical mobile MMO strategy game that is built on the principles of "explore, expand, exploit, exterminate". At least that's what the developers themselves say. The latter, by the way, is NPLUS Entertainment, which released Play2Earn game in early 2020.
The project runs on the Ethereum blockchain, which is not surprising at all. In it, users will not only have to build their kingdom and make useful political connections, but they will also have to fight and, most importantly, trade digital assets on the market.
These same digital assets can be used to improve their position in the game, which in the future will lead to the development of the kingdom and generate even more profit. This can boldly be called a reinvestment process. On the other hand, players are free to exchange goods for these digital assets in order to withdraw them into a wallet in the future and sell them on cryptocurrency exchanges, cashing in fiat.
In addition to other players in the game, there will also be non-player characters, monsters that players will kill to gain experience and other rewards. Members will be able to form alliances with one another and have mutually beneficial relationships. They will also be able to wage war on each other, which also opens up privileges.
According to the developers, the game has a rather clever economic component that will put the players' brains to work in order for them to be able to earn money. The game was inspired by other popular similar projects, which is reflected in the good graphics that will please the eyes of the users. Based on how popular League of Kingdoms has become, the developers were right about the well thought-out economy, although it is not particularly lamented in the circles of casual mobile gamers who are not used to Web3 technology and NFT games.
Speaking of popularity, it's worth noting that the Android version has been downloaded over 500,000 times on Google Play. The game received a score of 3 out of 5 based on 12,800+ reviews. It is worth noting that mobile gamers may not be prepared for the specifics of Web3 games, and therefore some of these reviews may only be due to such features. The popularity of the title on the App Store is many times lower. It's worth mentioning that companies such as Hashed, Sky Vision Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, BlockTower Capital, Sequoia Capital and even Binance Labs took part in investing in Play2Earn game.
The creators of the game tried to create such a project that it would appeal to various gamers, whether they are fans of economic strategies or games about large-scale battles. However, in order to really maximize the development effect and the corresponding earning of NFT tokens, users will have to use all the planes in which League of Kingdoms runs.
It's also worth adding that the developers of the mobile NFT game have also taken care of those players who have never encountered this genre before. They've kindly provided all the tutorials they can to guide newcomers on their way from a completely clueless user to a strategy-savvy player.
League of Kingdoms is not a simple NFT game, but a project similar to meta universes in some of its principles. For example, users can buy virtual land not only to cultivate it and build all sorts of structures, but also to sell it later at a higher price. Cryptocurrency enthusiasts familiar with the world of Web3 technology will have no problem buying those lands on the secondary market at marketplaces like OpenSea or PlayDapp. The official League of Kingdoms portal also has this option. Lands are sold in the form of totems, artifacts that contain a land plot.
After we described what League of Kingdoms is all about, it's time to talk about how you can benefit from the tokens of the project. The tokens, by the way, are called LOKA. Although the game technically appeared in 2020, but the token did not appear on the monitoring services until early 2022. At that time in January the value of one token was $1.9, and when the entire world of NFT games and the cryptocurrency market in general faced big problems, the NFT project from NPLUS Entertainment managed to raise a lot of funds and the token reached the mark of $4.25.
However, after that it started to lose a lot of value and eventually slipped to the $0.27 level. You might be thinking "What good is a game that token has fallen by 90%?" and you would be partly right, but again, note that the fall took place last year, when the entire crypto market suffered heavy blows. But the beginning of 2023 was a good time for League of Kingdoms and LOKA token grew from $0.36 to $0.97 in less than a month, but because of mass profit taking it fell back to $0.60. Nevertheless, this is almost double what we could see at the beginning of the year.
When the cryptocurrency market recovers and the top 2 games from the NFT-gaming sphere attract even more attention from investors, then LOKA's value could grow quite well and in a new bull cycle potentially break its previous record, climbing to new heights. Speaking of capitalisation, it is worth noting that League of Kingdoms is ahead of its rivals in this aspect. While it is a far cry from the $1,100,000,000 you see at Axie Infinity with its $50,000,000, it is still a good enough result. LOKA is close enough to make it into the top 400 highest-cap cryptocurrency projects and so far sits at #418 on that list.
The game's token is inexpensive enough to be taken in a normal amount, but if you're looking to add to your cryptocurrency portfolio with NFT games, League of Kingdoms is no more worth investing in this project than in Axie Infinity, despite its potential. Yes, it is a kind of "dark horse" that can bring big profits, but you don't need to take unnecessary risks either.
UFO Gaming
UFO Gaming is an RPG and meta universe where users have to travel across a large galaxy and do different things. They are free to explore the territory, mine various resources and own unique NFT assets, which can be used not only to pump up the character, but also to sell in markets to withdraw funds into fiat money.
The developers, according to them, tried to create an innovative gaming economic system and their passion for video games helped them in this. Thus, UFO Gaming can be safely called a game "from gamers for gamers". What is interesting is that the game runs on different blockchains and exists on different platforms. UFO Gaming functions on Ethereum and Polygon. In terms of gaming platforms, the MMORPG metagame can run on a variety of devices: smartphones running Android and iOS, Windows computers and even Mac devices.
UFO Gaming is notable for the fact that users traveling through the virtual world of the galaxy, will be able to find various artifacts that will have a certain value and can be sold on the secondary market. According to the authors of the title, the metaworld will continue to evolve and bring players new content. The developers periodically receive offers from various groups of people who want to help improve the project.
As for the non-exchangeable tokens that will be sold in the game, this applies not only to artifacts, but also to character parts. It will be possible to sell and buy NFT characters, NFT weapons, NFT ground parts and 6 different NFT body parts on the secondary market. Each of the items, just like in other role-playing games and MMO projects, will have several types of rarity. There are a total of 4 rarity types of NFT items: white, green, blue and purple.
As for the UFO Gaming tokens, you'll have to get used to a lot of numbers, as the total issue is an incredible 25,757,575,757,576 UFO. Because of this, the token was priced at $0.0000006600 per unit at launch. November 2021 did not pass by this game and the value of coins increased by 70 times, after which it came down to almost the same values. At the beginning of 2023, one UFO was valued at $0.0000011, and in the first month the token was able to reach the $0.000002 mark, which is almost 2 times more. This means that some investors could earn 100% of their deposit.
Just like in the case of the second member of our list today, League of Kingdoms, this asset is a good one to invest in, but if you decide to try your luck with NFT gaming, you should invest in this token in parallel with Axie Infinity. We would like to specifically mention that UFO Gaming has very similar characteristics to what League of Kingdoms offers. The latter is ranked 418th on the list of cryptocurrency assets with the highest capitalisation and has a figure of $50,000,000. UFO Gaming, on the other hand, sits at number 420 and has a total capitalisation of $43,800,000.
If the developers continue to develop their project, it will eventually be able to attract more investors and players, which will entail growth. An additional positive reason for contributing your funds to this meta-universe could be the fact that UFO Gaming is in the top 5 NFT games in terms of capitalization and success. It should not be forgotten that the issue has reached its limit and we shouldn't be afraid of tokens' value dropping due to increased supply.
Guild of Guardians
Guild of Guardians is an NFT game under development for mobile devices and the gameplay is similar to Diablo, but with slightly different visuals. Overall, it is a fantasy MMORPG. Players have to assemble their own team of heroes in order to compete with other gamers. The developers of Guild of Guardians game are Stepico Games, and the publisher is NFT-platform Immutable.
Stepico are known for their casual games and strategy games, and their total number of app downloads has exceeded 5,000,000. Their collaboration with Immutable X should be beneficial as this NFT platform is one of the largest blockchain startups in the field. ImmutableX has its own venture capital and team developing both the NFT platform and one of the games, God Unchained.
Users will guide their heroes through dungeons in search of valuable rewards, which can then be used to improve the heroes, enhance the process or sell on the secondary market. Additionally, the valuable resources gained can be used to summon new heroes, which can then also be guided through the dungeons and receive new rewards.
Based on the fact that the Esports section of the website is announced, the developers will try to break into the world of competitive mobile gaming and in the future, as well as Axie Infinity, try to enter into partnerships with eSports clubs. In that case Guild of Guardians can not only run in the area of MMO games and Play2Earn projects, but also to some extent relate to competitive titles, but time will tell whether the developers will be successful or not. The developers also said that they want to create a truly engaging and well-designed game economy that will allow users to maintain interest and compete with each other.
The game will also have a social component that will play a key role in the community. Players will have the opportunity to join guilds, which is where the game's name "Guild of Guardians" comes from. In communities, gamers will be able to make alliances with each other and declare war. This will give an advantage in either case, but the bonuses will vary depending on how players behave in the community.
In general, all NFT tokens that can be found and sold on the secondary market will be divided into 3 categories. All items from the three global categories will in turn be divided into four rarity grades: Common, Rare, Epic and Legendary. The higher the rank of an NFT-object, the better its unique abilities will be.
The first category of NFT items are NFT Heroes. These are the unique characters that users will play as. With their help, they will be able to defeat enemies and other monsters in dungeons. Before each mission, users will have to form their own strategy and a specific team of heroes to complete certain tasks.
The second category of non-replaceable items are pets. These are creatures that users can attach to their characters. Pets can help increase various stats, including increasing resources for crafting, increasing the chance of items falling out, or increasing the chance of receiving rewards from dungeons.
The third category of NFT items includes Energy Booster. The developers assure that their game has a special system that is not similar to mobile games. While all mobile projects have an energy boost, which you need to recharge for real money, according to the creators of Guild of Guardians in their title will work Energy Booster system. These Energy Boosters will need to provide a constant energy boost for players to pass through dungeons. However, their statements should be taken with a large dose of skepticism, because the developers intentionally make the energy system, so that users can not constantly go to dungeons and they had to use these Energy Boosters, which in turn can also be purchased for money. It turns out that their system is pretty much the same as other similar mobile games, but it's called something completely different.
The Guild of Guardians tokens came out just over a year ago. At the start they were priced at $1.35 per unit, after which they went as low as $1.65 and started dropping. During the whole 2022 the coin followed the cryptocurrency market and NFT in particular, and at the end of 2022 the value of token was already at $0.05. Investors who managed to buy Guild of Guardians tokens before the start of the January ascent can rejoice now, because at the time of writing the value has doubled.
This NFT project is definitely worth paying attention to. The project has a capitalization of $31,000,000 and is ranked 522nd among all coins by that measure. Nevertheless, though this project has promise, it is still worth investing in it after you already have Axie Infinity tokens in your cryptocurrency portfolio.
Conclusion
The world of Play2Earn projects is quite interesting and can provide something of interest to both cryptocurrency lovers and those who prefer to spend their time playing games. Crypto investors will be able to find interesting tokens, which in the long run can bring big profits once the game gains an army of fans. Players, in turn, will be able to find good projects where they can spend their time and, at the same time, earn money. Keep in mind that to make tangible money game will require a lot of time, which may eventually become a chore and will not differ from office work.
If you are wondering which tokens from the Play2Earn sphere are the best to buy, then the answer is that Axie Infinity is worth having in your portfolio as a must-have coin. This game has really managed to revolutionise the NFT world and take the Play2Earn sector to the next level. The project is twenty times ahead of its nearest competitor and its capitalisation is over the $1,000,000,000 mark, which for the world of Play2Earn games is colossal.
We remember that the price was as high as $160 and now it is at $10. The project could bring in good profits in the future, but it takes patience. And once you have bought Axie Infinity tokens, you should already think about buying other Play2Earn coins. As for the latter, it's a case of who likes what.
Bogdan Lashchenko – content manager at EgamersWorld.Bogdan has been working at EGamersWorld since 2023. Joining the company, he began fillin the site with information, news and events.