NFTs are digital collectables that exist on online ledgers known as blockchains, and are better known for recently taking the art world by storm.Īs well as Axies, other in-game items like real estate, flowers, barrels, and lamps are all tradeable as NFTs too. It has some 350,000 daily active users, about 40% of whom are in the Philippines, with Venezuela and the US the next two biggest markets.Īxies themselves can be traded in real life in the likes of the Axie Marketplace as NFTs (non-fungible tokens). The leader in this new space is Axie Infinity, a Pokémo-style game created by the Vietnamese developer Sky Mavis. So how do these games work and where are they heading? To infinity … But play-to-earn games take this to a whole new level.
There have also been games like World of Warcraft where a grey market for exchanging in-game items and characters grew up around them. Or in the life-simulation franchise The Sims, players buy everything from pizzas to houses with Simoleons.īut in these older games, the in-game currency had no value in the real world. In the 1980s blockbuster Elite, for example, players traveled from planet to planet, trying to increase their credits by buying and selling things like weapons and commodities. What they have in common with many previous classics is that they include complex economic ecosystems. So-called play-to-earn games like Axie Infinity and The Sandbox have been exploding in popularity recently. Whether it’s Space Invaders or Sonic or Red Dead Redemption, you hit the start button and do your thing until the game is over – and then you probably wipe the sweat off your hands and do it again.īut a new class of games is emerging where playing is an investment opportunity – and even potentially a way to earn a living. The ultimate point of playing video games has always been to have fun. Drew Cattanach, Lecturer in Computer Games Development, University of Westminster.
0 kommentar(er)
