The advent of cryptocurrency, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and blockchain-based gaming has changed the way people play games. Play-to-earn (P2E) games have enabled people to monetize their gaming experiences. 2021 was a big year for play-to-earn NFT gaming, and 2023 is shaping up to be even bigger.
Almost every NFT project that comes out these days also has a play-to-earn crypto game that users can buy into with cryptocurrency. People can buy, sell, and trade in-game assets and make money off of them. This has enabled many people to achieve their dream of having financial independence as play-to-earn games have made it easier for them to earn passive income. Imagine all the fun things you could do after quitting your 9-5!
Let’s take a look at 10 of the most popular play-to-earn games that you can play to earn big in 2023.
Here’s a quick overview of the top 10 play-to-earn NFT games in 2023:
Wizardia is a play-to-earn turn-based blockchain game where you assume control of a “Wizard” and battle with other players in a post-apocalyptic world. RPG elements such as character progression, artifact upgrades, and crafting are a big part of the game. Players can upgrade their Wizards and take part in Player vs. Environment (PVE) and Player vs Player (PVP) in the game.
These “wizards” that players take control of are NFTs that can be bought and sold. Players use them in battles to earn other NFT items that can also be sold for profit. By upgrading your wizard, you can sell it for profit on the Wizardia Marketplace.
To get started, you need to build a team of 3 Wizards. If you want to try it out without spending any money first, you can borrow free-to-play “Traveling Wizards” and see if you enjoy the game.
You can also try Wizardia's Practice Mode. It's a browser-based pre-launch game-mode, which is 100% free-to-play! In Practice Mode gamers play for fun and practice, not for prizes.
Wizardia’s utility token is $WZRD, running on the Solana blockchain. Any battle that takes place in the game rewards users with $WZRD tokens. You can also earn staking rewards by holding Wizardia NFTs. To see how much you could earn with your NFTs, check out Wizardia’s staking calculator.
Wizard NFTs are one type of NFTs in the Wizardia world. “Arena Genesis NFTs” are another. People who purchase Arena Genesis NFTs have the potential to build a steady passive income stream by earning royalties from every battle transaction that takes place.
There are 7 rounds of Arena Genesis NFT sales planned. Currently, they’re in the 6th round, and you can get one for $300.
Wizardia has amassed a huge following in a short amount of time, owing to its unique game mechanics and its ability to help people earn passive income. On Twitter, it has over 120K followers, and it has over 60K members on Discord, with thousands of them always active on the server.
If you want to learn more about Wizardia, you can follow them on Medium.
Image source: Medium.com
The term “Move-to-Earn (M2E)” is hugely popular nowadays, but people often forget the game that popularized it—Stepn. Stepn is a play-to-earn game that rewards users for walking, jogging, and running. It’s a very simple game (although it seems to be getting more complicated with every new update). You buy a pair of shoes (in-game NFTs) and use “energy” to walk.
Similar to Axie Infinity, Stepn has two tokens. One is the utility token called Green Satoshi Token ($GST) used for in-game currency and the second one is the governance token called Green Metaverse Token ($GMT).
Walking, jogging, and running reward you with $GST, which you can convert to any other cryptocurrency easily. The amount of $GST you earn in a day depends on how much energy you have.
One pair of “common” shoes gives you 2 points of energy. For every 0.5 point of energy, you can walk/jog/run for 2.5 minutes. Buying more pairs increases your energy. For example, buying 3 pairs gives you 4 points of energy, 9 pairs give you 9 points of energy, and so on.
At the time of writing this article, Stepn runs on three blockchains, or “Realms” as the team likes to call them—Solana (SOL), Binance Smart Chain (BSC), and Ethereum (ETH). You can create a crypto wallet in any of these realms.
Stepn’s founders have repeatedly mentioned in their AMAs that the purpose of Stepn has always been to encourage people to get healthy while making passive income.
There are many people on Stepn who are making thousands of dollars every day. They have almost 700K followers on Twitter and around 26K members on their Discord server.
Stepn’s endgame is to allow people to earn $GMT, which the team plans to implement by the end of the year.
Image source: Twitter.com
Splinterlands is a play-to-earn trading card game that you can play in your browser. It’s like Pokemon, but on blockchain! The game runs on the HIVE blockchain. To get started, you need to buy a “Summoner’s Spellbook” which costs $10.
Without the Summoning Spellbook, you can only play the free-to-play version of the game. This will help you understand the game better so you can make a more informed decision about whether you want to invest your money in it.
Users build a deck of cards that can be traded on the P2P market, used to battle for rewards, and to earn Splinterlands’ in-game cryptocurrency called Dark Energy Crystals ($DEC). The game was designed to give people ownership over digital trading cards, which is why every card in the game is an NFT.
Splinterlands has different game mechanics than other trading card games like Pokemon and Magic: The Gathering. Every battle lasts only 2-3 minutes, and players are required to build a team of 6 cards from their decks before the battle starts.
Winning battles rewards players with $DEC. Players can also earn the token by undertaking Daily Quests and participating in Seasons. Tournaments are also a part of the game, but they can only be joined by players who have Summoning Spellbooks.
Another way to earn money on Splinterlands is by selling and trading cards and entire decks on the Splinterlands marketplace. Splinterlands also has a governance token which is called Splintershards ($SPS). You can lock or stake your $SPS tokens to earn passive rewards.
Despite having been around since 2018, it seems the game’s popularity is restricted to certain niches in the NFT space. On Twitter, it has 60K followers, and its Discord server has around 170K members.
Image source: Pegaxy.io
If you’re a fan of horses, then Pegaxy is the perfect play-to-earn game for you. Created by Mirai Labs, Pegaxy is a PvP horse racing game where you compete with 13 other players to secure a position in the top 3. The utility token of the game is called Vigorus ($VIS), and it can be earned by selling, trading, renting “Pegas,” and winning horse races.
Pegaxy holds a worldwide competition called “The Grand Dash.” Taking part in the competition and winning matches will also help users earn VIS which can be exchanged for other cryptocurrencies.
Pegaxy runs on the Polygon blockchain and uses two tokens. The governance token is called Pegaxy Stone ($PGX).
When the game was launched, a total of 5,000 Pega NFTs were released with it. These 5,000 NFTs are called “Founding” Pegas. The game was originally 2D and only switched to 3D after the testing phase was finished.
The amount of VIS you earn in a race depends on the stats and bloodline of your horse. There are three ways to earn money in Pegaxy. Breeding horses is the most common one, but you can also rent out your horses.
There are three rental systems in the game:
Pegaxy has over 90K followers on Twitter and 121K members on Discord.
Image source: Twitter.com
MetaWars is a Binance Smart Chain-based play-to-earn role-playing game (RPG) where you can immerse yourself in the sci-fi world of the 50th century and become a “MetaWarrior.” The game has a campaign mode that lets users explore the MetaWars universe.
In MetaWars, you can build “Mech NFTs,” and use them to participate in battles with other Mech NFTs. The game rewards you with digital assets for completing certain tasks and taking part in PvP and PvE battles. You can also earn passive income by staking your NFTs on the MetaWars staking platform called “PlanetFi.”
The governance token of MetaWars is called $WARS, and you can use the token for staking, participating in auctions, and buying NFTs.
MetaWars also has lands that players can buy as NFTs. These lands are called “terrains,” and they’re part of different planets. Players can earn money from terrains by renting, mining, and farming. The game encourages players to buy as many terrains as they can as it will increase their chances of owning a planet.
The game has a governance token called Gamma ($GAM). $GAM is used for virtually everything in the game. Players who win battles and complete tasks are rewarded with $GAM, which they can use to upgrade their NFTs, and buy skins, terrains, ship parts, and avatars.
The primary focus of MetaWars is space exploration. The team has managed to build a vast and rich universe in the game that it wants the players to discover. Players can earn money simply by interacting with elements present in a universe that constantly changes according to the actions of other players.
MetaWars’ Discord server has over 30K members, and its Twitter page boasts a following of about 100K.
Image source: Medium.com
Genopets is another move-to-earn NFT game that rewards users for walking. The game is built on the Solana blockchain. ”Genopets,” as the NFTs are called, are digital pets that evolve as you play the game and walk.
Like most play-to-earn games on this list, Genopets has two tokens—the utility token is called $KI, and the governance token is called $GENE. The governance token can be used for staking as a way to earn passive income.
As you walk, your steps are converted into “Energy,” which is what helps you earn rewards such as $KI and XP needed to evolve your Genopet. Energy also allows you to battle other players in a series of turn-based mini-games.
Mini-games are designed to “bring you closer” to your Genopet, which improves its “Mood” and makes it produce more Energy when you walk. A Genopet’s Mood determines how much Energy it will give you after each walking session. Improving your Genopet’s Mood and regularly leveling it up also increases its chances of winning in battles against other players.
As you level up your Genopet, its value and rarity increase, which means you can sell it for profit.
To gain access to additional features of the game, players have to buy “Habitats.” Habitats are digital assets that represent a Genopet’s home. In simpler words, they are virtual lands that let you perform various in-game activities. Habitats can be rented out to other players.
All in-game items like food and accessories for Genopets are NFTs and can be sold and traded on the Genopets marketplace. The team behind Genopets plans to introduce a story mode and PvE quests in the future to give players more ways to earn passive income.
Genopets has over 170K followers on Twitter and around 180K members on its Discord server.
Image source: Twitter.com
Were you obsessed with Runescape in the early 2000s? If yes, then Ember Sword will be right up your alley. It’s a free MMORPG game where players are tasked with traveling the world while leveling up and battling monsters they encounter on their journey. There are multiple “nations” in the game and players can choose which nation they want to live in.
Ember Sword is based on the Ethereum blockchain. Players can buy lands and other in-game items which are all NFTs.
The in-game items are earned by players by completing different quests and exploring the Ember Sword universe. They can then be sold for PIXEL Tokens.
Players who own lands in the game have complete autonomy over what happens on their lands. They can put different elements on their lands, including in-game items, monsters, and even NPCs. This allows the players to dictate the direction of the game.
The game’s in-game token, Ember, can be earned by completing quests, killing monsters, and winning PvP battles. Players can sell Ember for real money.
The best way to make money in Ember Sword is by owning land and monetizing the activities other players perform on the land. Landowners also get a share of 50% of in-game revenue.
Ember Sword has 87K followers on Twitter and 70K members on Discord.
Image source: Battleofguardians.com
Built on the Unreal Engine, Battle of Guardians (BOG) is a PvP play-to-earn game that runs on the Solana and Binance Smart Chain blockchain networks. Players fight against each other to win rewards. There are three types of game modes:
The game uses two currencies—Battle of Guardians Share ($BGS) and Fighting Points ($FP). $BGS is the governance token and is used for staking and purchasing NFTs. $FP is the utility token and is used for participating in tournaments.
To make passive income in Battle of Guardians, players can rent out their NFTs to other players. Staking the BGS token is another way to earn passive income. It also allows you to become eligible for airdrops.
Battle of Guardians has around 50K followers on Twitter.
Image source: Medium.com
ChainZ Arena is a play-to-earn NFT game where players from three different blockchains (Ethereum, EOS, and TRON) can fight against one another and earn $SOUL, the game’s utility token.
$SOUL is the link between the three blockchains and they’re mined as you play the game. According to the team behind ChainZ Arena, all of the $SOUL tokens are owned by the players, which means there’s no possibility of price manipulation by the company.
Whenever a user buys something in the game, a portion of the cryptocurrency used to purchase the NFT is added to the reward pool. A small percentage of the reward pool is given every day to players who stake, or “freeze” as it’s called in the game, $SOUL.
To participate in a battle, you must have a team of 6 heroes who have to be summoned when the battle starts. The team has repeatedly called the game an “Idle Mining RPG” which means that you don’t have to do much to make progress and earn tokens in the game. Your hero does most of the work, and all you have to do is claim the loot boxes they find while fighting other players.
Image source: Cryptokitties.co
Created by Dapper Labs in 2017, CryptoKitties has become a household name in the world of play-to-earn NFT gaming. The game’s release caused the Ethereum network to become clogged due to it reaching the highest number of transactions the network had recorded.
The popular NFT marketplace OpenSea was created in response to the sudden rise of CryptoKitties’ popularity so more transactions could be carried out on the Ethereum blockchain.
CryptoKitties has very simple game mechanics: you buy, breed, and trade virtual cats. The visual features of CryptoKitties determine their level of rarity and thus, their price. The visual features are quantified in the form of 12 attributes.
The rarer your CryptoKitty is, the more money you’ll be able to make off of it. It’s difficult, however, to breed a CryptoKitty with rare attributes since the way the attributes are passed from an original CryptoKitty to a CryptoKitty that’s been bred is unknown to users.
CryptoKitties has around 56K followers on Twitter and 43K members on Discord.
Play-to-earn NFT and cryptocurrency games have become hugely popular now. And why wouldn’t they when, unlike traditional video games, they allow players to make money while playing and take control of everything they do in a game?
Blockchain gaming is an excellent way to earn passive income as many of them require little investment and effort. You don’t have to do much once you’ve bought your way into the game. Many of the play-to-earn games on this list, like Wizardia, are revolutionizing the NFT gaming industry. Welcome to a future where people are able to play AAA-quality play-to-earn games.
What are Play-to-Earn games?
Play-to-earn, or P2E, games are blockchain games that aim to provide players with opportunities to earn passive income by buying in-game NFTs. Players can earn in-game tokens by performing different activities in the game. These tokens can then be converted into real money.
Are Play-to-Earn games legit?
Many people have made thousands of dollars with the help of play-to-earn gaming. Some have even become millionaires. However, you have to keep in mind these games require an initial investment and they’re cryptocurrency and NFT-based games, which means they tend to be extremely volatile. As a result, you should practice caution and do thorough research when deciding to invest in these games.
What is the best game to earn crypto?
Here are some of the best games to earn crypto:
Hamza is a freelance writer who enjoys creating meaningful content. He's a crypto/NFT enthusiast who's been involved in the space for over a year and when he's not working, you'll find him reading books or watching food videos on YouTube.
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