Play-to-earn is a type of video game that rewards players for their in-game achievements with assets that have real-world monetary value.

The financial services sector isn't the only area that blockchain technology has impacted. Its key characteristics of decentralization and immutability have also allowed it to revolutionize different aspects of the entertainment industry too.

Play-to-earn (P2E) has emerged in the last few years as one of the hottest new frontiers in online gaming. 

By combining the worlds of cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and decentralized finance (DeFi), play-to-earn crypto games allow players to acquire digital assets that have real-world value in return for their in-game achievements.

For many around the world, the play-to-earn model has shown that video gaming is no longer just an entertaining pastime — it also has the potential to be a revenue-generating activity.

Game designers typically build and launch play-to-earn gaming platforms using Layer 1 blockchain networks, such as Ethereum, Solana, or BNB chain. 

These platforms provide developers with software tools for creating crypto-compatible applications and experiences that run on top of their respective blockchains.

Leveraging these blockchain infrastructures, game studios can tokenize game items and give them unique digital identities. In this way, players can become the rightful owners of these intangible items. Holders can sell this digital ownership to others in the gaming community, trade their items for other NFT-linked assets or even convert the crypto tokens they earn into real life money.

Let’s look at an example using a P2E gamer named Jenna. Jenna is an avid player of Axie Infinity — one of the most popular P2E games around.

During her time playing the game, she has managed to acquire and level up a lot of rare Axies (Axie Infinity’s collectible monsters used to battle others in the game). Each Axie in the game is an NFT. This gives Jenna complete ownership over each of her characters, not the company behind the game, Sky Mavis.

These ownership rights allow Jenna to sell her Axies using the game's in-house marketplace or on the secondary NFT marketplace.

In return, Jenna can earn the game’s native tokens, which have a real-world value. Jenna could convert the tokens she earned from her in-game achievements into a government issued fiat currency using a cryptocurrency platform like Kraken.

In short, the play-to-earn model allows players to earn rewards that have a real world value in return for completing quests, battling enemies, or leveling up characters.

Play-to-earn is a type of video game that rewards players for their in-game achievements with assets that have real-world monetary value.

The financial services sector isn't the only area that blockchain technology has impacted. Its key characteristics of decentralization and immutability have also allowed it to revolutionize different aspects of the entertainment industry too.

Play-to-earn (P2E) has emerged in the last few years as one of the hottest new frontiers in online gaming. 

By combining the worlds of cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and decentralized finance (DeFi), play-to-earn crypto games allow players to acquire digital assets that have real-world value in return for their in-game achievements.

For many around the world, the play-to-earn model has shown that video gaming is no longer just an entertaining pastime — it also has the potential to be a revenue-generating activity.

Game designers typically build and launch play-to-earn gaming platforms using Layer 1 blockchain networks, such as Ethereum, Solana, or BNB chain. 

These platforms provide developers with software tools for creating crypto-compatible applications and experiences that run on top of their respective blockchains.

Leveraging these blockchain infrastructures, game studios can tokenize game items and give them unique digital identities. In this way, players can become the rightful owners of these intangible items. Holders can sell this digital ownership to others in the gaming community, trade their items for other NFT-linked assets or even convert the crypto tokens they earn into real life money.

Let’s look at an example using a P2E gamer named Jenna. Jenna is an avid player of Axie Infinity — one of the most popular P2E games around.

During her time playing the game, she has managed to acquire and level up a lot of rare Axies (Axie Infinity’s collectible monsters used to battle others in the game). Each Axie in the game is an NFT. This gives Jenna complete ownership over each of her characters, not the company behind the game, Sky Mavis.

These ownership rights allow Jenna to sell her Axies using the game's in-house marketplace or on the secondary NFT marketplace.

In return, Jenna can earn the game’s native tokens, which have a real-world value. Jenna could convert the tokens she earned from her in-game achievements into a government issued fiat currency using a cryptocurrency platform like Kraken.

In short, the play-to-earn model allows players to earn rewards that have a real world value in return for completing quests, battling enemies, or leveling up characters.