At the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, many people suddenly found themselves without an income. Losing work is never a pleasant experience for anyone. But for people living “paycheck to paycheck” in the developing world, the situation was life-threatening. In dire need of a new way to earn an income, many people turned to an unexpected solution: video games. This article will explain how to earn cryptocurrency by playing games like Decentraland and Axie Infinity.
Indeed, blockchain-based games like Mavis’ Axie Infinity enables players to earn a virtual currency called “Smooth Love Potion.” Players can convert this virtual currency into cryptocurrency, which can then be converted into real money. A short documentary by Yield Guild Games bankrolled, and Emfarsis Consulting tells the tale of a group of people in the rural Philippines who used Axie Infinity to turn their free time into money for food, clothing, and other essentials.
Today, the world of blockchain-based video games–the so-called “Leisure Economy”–is continuing to expand, with developers regularly releasing new “play-to-earn” games. Here are some of the most popular blockchain-based video games–and how to start earning cryptocurrency through them.
1. Axie Infinity: How to Earn Cryptocurrency playing games
The premise of Axie Infinity is somewhat similar to Pokemon. Players collect digital pets known as “Axies,” They can raise, battle, and trade them within the game’s ecosystem. The game actually has two kinds of cryptocurrency. In addition to the aforementioned Smooth Love Potion (SLP) that players can exchange for real money, there are also Axie Infinity Shards (AXS), the governance token for the Axie universe.
However, to start playing, you need to purchase three Axies from the Axie Marketplace. A non-fungible token (NFT) represents each Axies, and they aren’t cheap–at $300-$400 a pop. It can cost around $1,200 to start playing. However, a few scholarship programs have been established to make the game more accessible, including Yield Guild Games (YGG) and the Lambda Clan.
Once you’ve begun your Axie Infinity journey, there are several different ways to earn within the game: farming Smooth Love Potions and selling them to the market, breeding and selling Axies, starting a scholarship, or investing in Lunacia Land.
How much can you earn playing Axie Infinity? As of October 2021, playing Axie for several hours a day won’t make you into a millionaire. However, it can give you a little extra pocket money–or even enough to pay some of your bills. According to FX Street, players usually earn between $8 and $40 per day and can earn an average of $270 each time they sell an Axie on the marketplace.
2. Cryptoblades: How to Earn Cryptocurrency Playing Games
Riveted Games’ Cryptoblades is an NFT-based roleplaying game that runs on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC). Players use the platform to create and “mint” their own players as tokens to trade in the game’s marketplace. Players earn a cryptocurrency called SKILL in exchange for fighting monsters and creating and selling weapons and characters.
To start playing CryptoBlades, you must create a wallet for the BSC platform. You also need to purchase a few SKILL tokens (as of October 2021, they were selling for roughly $13.50 each.)
How much can you earn by playing Cryptoblades? While there aren’t many clear statistics on how much money you can make playing Cryptoblades, one source details the story of a player who earned just over 2 SKILL by playing five rounds.
3. Zed Run
Virtually Human Studio’s Zed Run is an NFT-based horse racing game with virtual horses that take on a life of their own. Players can either purchase horses or “breed” them through an algorithm that determines their color, strength, and speed based on their bloodlines. Players can then set their horses to race on digital tracks with the potential to earn prizes worth thousands of dollars.
Like other blockchain-based NFT games, you will need some startup capital to begin playing Zed Run. Each player has to purchase a horse, which can cost anywhere from a couple of hundred to a couple of thousand dollars in Ether (ETH). And due to the game’s popularity, NFT horses are frequently sold out from the in-game marketplace. However, one can often find NFT horses in secondary marketplaces, such as OpenSea or Discord groups.
How much can you earn playing Zed Run? This game has the potential for serious players to make serious cash. In addition to winnings from races, players can sell their NFT horses–one man made $252,000 from selling his stable; another collected $125,000 from the sale of just one stallion.
4. Cometh
Cometh is a decentralized finance (DeFi)-powered game with yield-generating NFT spaceships. Players can explore the galaxy and earn MUST, Cometh’s native digital asset. As of October 21, the game was transitioning into an upgraded version called Cometh Beyond that will primarily provide players with passive income streams. Players can earn MUST by positioning spaceships in the game’s virtual galaxy and can earn interest on MUST by staking it in the game.
Players need to purchase an NFT spaceship in order to start playing the game. The minimal price is roughly $200 for each spaceship. However, players can also rent spaceships less expensive to get started in the Cometh universe.
How much can you earn playing Cometh? According to PlayToEarn. Online, players can earn fairly high APYs on their staked MUST and NFTs.
These are just a few of the most popular play-to-earn games currently available. There are many more on the market, and there will be many more in the future. The play-to-earn gaming space is still relatively new, so there will be many exciting developments to come. Watch this space.
