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The Potential of Blockchain Gaming
The gaming industry has established itself as one of the biggest in our economy. Games continue to get better and provide experiences that draw millions of people yearly. Although today’s games are of incredible quality, there are a few limiting factors.
Games today don’t really reward players for their efforts and time playing. No player really owns the assets acquired in a game and there is no real value in spending time progressing through the journey of a game - apart from the fun and satisfaction attained from engaging with friends or competing amongst rivals.
Blockchain gaming has the potential to change the way gamers are rewarded for their efforts in a game. Players can dive into games they enjoy while earning real value digital assets along their journey. These digital assets will come in the form of NFTs, as well as a cryptocurrency for those that have implemented a native in-game currency.
Blockchain-based games will give players true ownership of the assets acquired from playing, as well as the opportunity to monetise their efforts by trading these assets on open marketplaces and exchanges.
This may seem incredibly exciting for some, but it may be quite some time before we start seeing games that are fun to play while having an in-game economy based on-chain. There are however teams that have already been building in anticipation of this movement and are on their way to releasing a game that embraces the power of NFTs and crypto, while attempting to emulate the satisfaction gained from modern day traditional gaming.
5 of the Best Blockchain Games to Watch in 2022
These games have been in development for several years now and have shown potential for being games of high quality while having an NFT & crypto economy. Please note, none of these games have fully released and are still very much building their product.
1. Play Big Time
Big Time is an open-world role-playing game (RPG) that is based around NFTs. The game is going to be the first release from the game development company, Big Time Studios, which was conceptualised by Decentraland co-founder, Ari Meilich, with the mission of bringing blockchain games to a bigger audience and promoting mass adoption.
Big Time’s team is filled with highly experienced game developers, coming from the likes of Blizzard, Epic Games, EA, and Riot Games - some of the biggest names in the gaming industry.
Players can explore an open world in a group in the quest of defending themselves against monster-like enemies, with the potential of collecting valuable loot dropped from these enemies. Loot will come in the form of NFTs, which can be applied to in-game characters or traded on Big Time’s open marketplace.
Big Time is currently in beta, with early access being available for Silver Pass holders. Personally, I’m often watching streams of the game on Twitch, and it looks incredible. The game is also highly spoken of by some of the most invested names within the blockchain gaming space, such as Hustlepedia from the Crypto Banter team.
For now, there is a pretty large barrier to play the game as you need a Silver Pass for access - these passes are considerably expensive, making the game inaccessible for many.
I personally can’t wait for Big Time, as well as other games that come from Big Time Studios.
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2. Champion’s Ascension
Champion’s Ascension is one of the first play-to-earn AAA games with an arena combat-style gameplay - similar to Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter. You as the player battle as a ‘Champion’, with the goal of earning power to your ‘house’. There are seven different houses, with each representing different game characters.
The team also plans to bring in an open-world environment where players can own land and explore with others. These features are expected to roll out later in the roadmap, with the game releasing with solely arena combat gameplay.
The game is being built by Jam City, a game development studio that has been building games for more than a decade with experience in building other player-versus-player (PVP) combat games. The Jam City team has over 1200 members, showcasing their success within the gaming industry.
Each character within Champion’s Ascension is an NFT meaning every player that plays the game will have full ownership of their character. Players need to own at least one character in order to play the game, as well as earn rewards in the form of a native token.
It’s still early days for Champion’s Ascension, but their team is proven to build successful games in the past, and sneak releases have shown impressive graphics along with solid game mechanics.
You can get an idea on the early combat mechanics in this video.
3. Heroes of Mavia
Heroes of Mavia is an online multiplayer blockchain-based strategy game where players build bases and forces in an effort to battle it out for a native cryptocurrency, $RUBY. If you’ve ever had the pleasure of playing Clash of Clans, you know exactly what Heroes of Mavia is going to be about.
Players can own land as an NFT, where your base is built. Players then need to upgrade their defenses as well as their attacking forces for battle. Upgrades in bases are executed by spending $RUBY to upgrade your NFTs which come in the form of your land, heroes, and statues.
Landowners can also rent out their bases and will earn $MAVIA or $RUBY for doing so. $MAVIA is the governance token for the game which is the currency used for buying and selling NFTs on Mavia’s marketplace - which is coming soon.
Landowners can also partner with other players in an effort to earn $RUBY from battling. Landowners and actual players can split the $RUBY profits - meaning you don’t necessarily need to own land if you want to partake in Mavia and earn their in-game currency.
The Clash of Clans model is a masterpiece and in my opinion, introducing a crypto economy to the model makes perfect sense. It will be interesting to see if Heroes of Mavia gets their tokenomics right, but from what it seems, there are plenty of deflationary measures to ensure there’s the necessary scarcity as well as notable use-cases for both tokens.
Keep an eye on Heroes of Mavia, especially if you’re a Clash of Clans fan.
4. Sidus Heroes
Sidus Heroes is a massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORG) based in space that aims to bring in the benefits of traditional and blockchain gaming. Players can engage in various modes, with the ultimate goal of acquiring rare in-game items (NFTs) and an in-game utility token, $SIDUS.
The team at Sidus has a clear goal of making the game as accessible as possible, highlighting that you won’t need an expensive console or device in order to play the game. What makes Sidus unique is that they’re going to be a browser-based game, meaning you won’t have to download any form of content to your device to have in-game access. You will, however, require an internet connection.
Players can grind it out in a player-versus-player or player-versus-enemy in the quest to acquire resources, assets, and $SIDUS. Assets or in-game items can be traded on Sidus’ open marketplace, as well as the purchasing of land - necessary to farm resources. Land can be purchased with the project’s governance token, $SENATE.
Sidus Heroes has shown impressive gameplay demos and has been building for over four years. They’ve put in plenty of effort into their in-game economy, ensuring the longevity of both their tokens. Sidus’ focus to make their game as accessible as possible is one to note as well. Many blockchain games aren’t available to many, purely because one needs to make a hefty investment in an asset to gain access to the game.
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5. MonkeyLeague
The final game to make our list, is MonkeyLeague. This is a game very different from the others, as it has a sports element. MonkeyLeague is one of the first projects to introduce a soccer game with a crypto and NFT economy. MonkeyLeague aims to emulate the success of titles like FIFA Street, with an element of Final Fantasy.
MonkeyLeague is bringing the concept of asset portability. Players own in-game assets which are Monkeys (players) and Stadiums (playing arenas). Both of these assets will come in the form of NFTs. Players can earn a cryptocurrency in the form of $MBS by playing and winning matches, hosting matches in owned stadiums, or even betting on a winning team as a spectator.
Players can enhance their Monkey’s attributes by playing the game and accumulating skills in four key areas: passing, accuracy, defense, and control. Each Monkey has different DNA and therefore different traits. The rarer the traits, the greater potential to perform special moves within a game which boosts performance and the potential to win.
There will also be three different modes in which players can engage with. These include player versus environment, player versus player, and team versus team.
MonkeyLeague is the only game on this list that functions on the Solana blockchain - one of the fastest and most affordable blockchains transaction-wise. This makes trading assets on marketplaces more affordable and accessible for anyone.
This project is one of the most hyped sports games coming to blockchain gaming this year, and I personally can’t wait for a FIFA Street style game with the potential to earn for my efforts.
