To leverage on the fast developing “play-to-earn” gaming business, PlayDough Technologies has raised $2 million in funding. The platform advertises itself as a “conduit that democratizes access” to the play to earn games economy, which has become a lifeline for millions of people across the globe, particularly in developing countries.
While Western gamers may be unfamiliar with the notion of play to earn games (at least beyond the top rung of competitive e-gaming), such best play to earn games are gaining momentum in a number of developing nations thanks to blockchain technology. The idea is that players are rewarded for their time spent playing with virtual money that can be spent in the game, transferred to other games to earn money, or converted into other currencies. They may also get non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which let players to store rewards and achievements acquired in the game – such as a new weapon or outfit – indefinitely for use or sale elsewhere.
Axie Infinity is the most well-known game in the genre, in which players must construct a squad of three monsters called Axies after axolotls and then use them to complete chores and fight battles. Users earn Ethereum-based coinage while they play, and each Axie is digitized as a non-fungible token (NFT). Axie Infinity has a large player base across Asia, particularly in the Philippines, where it now accounts for a major portion of some people’s income.
The problem of this approach is that it requires players to make an initial investment to begin playing – in the case of Axie Infinity, PlayDough co-founder Mehul Khati notes that getting started with three Axies now costs roughly $3,000. This is where PlayDough comes in: it has made a direct investment in Axie Infinity, acquiring and breeding more Axies. Customers of PlayDough may then use its Axies to play the game, splitting the income created; PlayDough keeps around 30% of the revenue generated.
“We feel our industry is at the crossroads of many important events,” Khati says. “With this at the center of it all, we’ve witnessed the rise of best play to earn games, collectibles, the metaverse, and decentralized money.”
PlayDough works effectively as an investing platform, allowing users to build gaming NFT portfolios, as well as a gig economy facilitator, ensuring that new players can overcome the early costs of generating money from the game.
It’s a fast-paced profession with a lot of unsolved questions. Some have likened the concept to gambling; the value of a virtual currency in a game would inevitably change, exposing players to instability that might be detrimental if they rely on the earnings. There is also concern about a lack of regulation in the business, as there is with other blockchain applications; for example, game providers are not obligated to meet anti-money laundering or know-your-customer requirements.
Nonetheless, Khati is certain that this is a sector that will see significant growth in a number of locales. He claims that “gaming seems to be hastening the spread of cryptocurrency’s borderless concepts.” “While building a community around PlayDough has been rewarding, the ability to see play-to-earn as a yield generation strategy has also motivated the trader in me – we’ve developed valuation models, breeding strategies, and training programs to help our community generate the highest yield possible.”
Customers of the PlayDough platform will ultimately have access to a far larger range of play to earn games, with titles like Sorare and Gods Unchained currently accumulating inventory. Khati believes that “cross chain worlds,” in which currencies and NFTs may be moved across best play to earn games to make money, have a lot of promise.
The firm’s investors are likewise happy. “We think PlayDough is evolving at the confluence of four of the most important developments in the blockchain sector,” says Shamyl Malik, managing director of Westridge Markets, PlayDough’s principal investor.
NFT Gaming is a company that specializes in video games
The NFT gaming sector has grown in tandem with the popularity of crypto play to earn games. The debut of NFT play to earn games, which expanded from best play to earn games to collectible play to earn games based on the Pay to Earn principle, gave crypto gaming a boost in the first quarter of 2021. Trends have always propelled the gaming industry, and the latest trend in NFTs is no exception. While it is no secret that the NFT industry has grown to be a multibillion-dollar industry, play to earn games are without a doubt one of the most popular uses for NFTs. Much of the NFT industry is now focused on gaming, which provides gamers with several opportunities to collect unique in-game products.
Although the terms crypto gaming and non-financial trading (NFT) gaming are frequently used interchangeably, there is a significant difference between the two. While crypto gaming focuses on trading with other players using crypto currencies, NFT gaming employs native tokens to create or accumulate NFTs. Any in-game asset, such as utility, armor, or land, may be converted to NFT and owned, traded, and sold on the blockchain via NFT gaming. Furthermore, the NFT gaming platform gives gamers access to NFT markets, where they may buy and sell one-of-a-kind NFTs. Axie Infinity is a popular NFT-based online video game. With nearly $42 million in sales as of June 2021, it is now the most expensive collection of NFTs.
In addition, GameFi, a new kind of blockchain gaming that combines decentralized finance (DeFi) features with gaming, is gaining traction. One such game is MOBOX, a BSC-based game that mixes NFT collectibles with yield farming and other DeFi services. A flurry of supporting products focused on GameFi (Game Finance) are expected to emerge, adding new aspects to crypto gaming. Users may, for example, utilize their game assets as collateral for loans or just borrow an item to use in-game to produce new assets. There are a variety of creative ways to make money.