Play to Earn (P2E) Games is the new paradigm in video games that combines DeFi and entertainment to create a new game genre that allows players to make money while playing. There are more and more games and projects that aim to create economies that sustain themselves by feeding incentives that balance NFT and tokens’ utilities.

In this research in collaboration with Economics Design we have delved into the concept of Play to Earn games. We started with analyzing the type of users, the incentives applied to these users, and subsequently the project’s gameplay, and how these incentives work together. These games aim to become the new way we interact with the internet economy by creating new ways to earn money and monetize our free time. This is aligned with the concept of a metaverse.

You can read the full Economics of Play to Earn Gaming Economy report here.

Twelve games, 5 personas

Twelve games were selected and analyzed taking into consideration the most different mechanisms, token designs, and game types.

First, we analyzed the different personas and agents inside the game ecosystem delving into their incentives on taking part in the metaverse and becoming part of a community.

Then we used the usual framework to classify and categorize the projects defining the mechanism, the market, and the token design to understand the fundamental blocks of this new genre of game and finance.

Lastly, we analyzed how the design of a game affects the P2E economic model combining different research areas to identify the pros and cons of the project and to make some considerations about the solution.

Research goals: economics, persona’s interactions, and network effects

The research seeks to analyze the economics and user interaction aspects within games rather than the aesthetics of the game itself. The new trend of the metaverse, the potential of non-fungible tokens as a digital property right, the secondary and open economy, and a market of 2.5 billion people are just the outline to understand how strong the interest in this sector is.

A big thank you goes to our collaborators Dan Dubokovič, Daniele Montagnani, Gianmarco Guazzo, and Luca Prosperi who participated in this joint research with Economics Design.