10 Best Play-To-Earn Projects to Watch in 2022
10 Best Play-To-Earn Projects to Watch in 2022 Unsplash

Non-Fungible Tokens, better known by their acronym NFTs, have had an incredible year. Rising up from a relatively unknown concept into a total market that is on track to be worth $80b by 2025, these digital assets are hard to ignore.

A recent development in the NFT space has been the rise of P2E blockchain games, where developers reward their users with NFTs for playing their games. This ‘Play-to-Earn’ system has taken the world by storm, allowing users to generate income for playing some of their favorite online games.

While all of these games focus on NFTs, they do so in different ways, with each integrating these virtual assets in different styles. Within this article, we’ll be taking a look at the ten best NFT Play-To-Earn projects that are currently bringing in players on a daily basis.

We’ll be covering the following play-to-earn NFT projects that are currently live:

  • Spells of Genesis
  • Splinterlands
  • UniX Gaming
  • DEA
  • Battle Drones
  • Mythical Beings
  • Soccer Manager Elite
  • CryptoTanks
  • Wonder Hero
  • MonkeyLeague

In no particular order, let’s break down why these projects are seeing an influx of players using their play-to-earn schemes.

Spells of Genesis

Starting off the list with one of the original blockchain-based mobile games, Spells of Genesis is the very first mobile blockchain game ever made. By combining trading card game functionalities and shooting mechanics of an arcade game, the developers behind SoG have created an addictive game that users are flocking to.

By playing the game, users are able to collect orbs, with each orb providing different mechanisms that help the user in-game. These blockchain collectibles can either be bought in-game or collected through gameplay, with the latter option inspiring users to build their decks and take on the world.

Blockchainization is the in-game process of converting cards into digital assets, with four cards equalling a new asset. The more you play, the higher on the leaderboards you’ll ascend, getting better opportunities for unlocking cards. From there, you’ll be able to get more NFT assets, making money while enjoying everything the game has to offer.

Splinterlands

Moving from the first to the most played, we arrive at Splinterlands, which has been the game with the highest player base for the last six months continuously. This application has seen incredible support, with the application seeing its billionth battle on the 25th of January 2022.

In this NFT game, users will be able to buy, rent, and trade NFT monsters, then use these to battle with other players. Through playing the Spinterlands application, users are able to earn Splinterlands’ in-game currencies, Dark Energy Crystals and Splintershards, as well as win cards to use in their deck.

Users are able to rent out the cards they have, earning in-game currency, which can then be exchanged on major decentralized platforms. A recent sale of Splinterlands’ Chaos Legion NFT monster pack sold 6 million packs in under 24 hours, further demonstrating the vibrant community that has gathered around this NFT-collectable online game.

UniX Gaming

UniX Gaming is currently the second-largest community in the metaverse having 190,000 members on board, with monthly revenues of over $250k and a total asset value on their NFT portfolio of nearly $2 million USD. They act as a central platform for those wanting to earn through play-to-earn games. Working as a launchpad for other projects, they represent a unique approach to NFT gaming.

An incredible aspect of this platform is that they offer a scholarship system, allowing people from developing countries around the world to make a livable income by playing play-to-earn games.

UniX lends NFTs to their ‘Scholars’, enabling them to play at high levels on a range of play-to-win games. A portion of their revenue from playing at these high levels is then cycled back into UniX, allowing them to create even more NFT-based scholarships. Their recent partnership with The Sandbox has allowed them to take this even further, expanding their scope by partnering with one of the largest play-to-earn games out there and gaining access to a new range of online games.

DEA

Digital Entertainment Asset (DEA) is a central platform that hosts a range of play-to-earn NFT games. Across all of their games, they offer a token economy, using their native DEAP coin as the central powerhouse. By playing games, staking NFTs they’ve collected throughout their gameplay, and lending them out, users will be able to earn DEAP coins on the games they play.

Currently, DEA is experiencing a rapid expansion of its userbase, with registered users recently exceeding 2 million. Additionally, the total value of their NFT network has surpassed more than 2.6 billion yen since its 2018 beginning. Off the back of its success, DEA has recently raised $12 million to continue growing its ecosystem.

Three of their most successful projects are PlayMining Puzzle, Lucky Farmer, and Jobtribes, each of which boasts a continually expanding user base and devoted fan network. DEA also offers partnerships to artists, with digital creators from across the world being provided partnerships in which they can design NFT items for one of the DEA games.

Battle Drones

Creating a comprehensive metagame ecosystem that is built by gamers for gamers, Battle Drones allows users to collect NFTs while also earning BATTLE Tokens by playing the game. The NFTs on this platform are all centered around Drones, with different digital assets being ranked by their rarity.

By playing the game, users will be able to find collectible NFTs, as well as earn BATTLE tokens, the in-game currency. The game is hosted on the Solana blockchain, allowing for fast transactions and uninterrupted gameplay. With over 10,000 collectible items currently in the game, the first stage of Battle Drones has come out the gate running.

With both short-term scope for browser gaming and long-term visions for console-based battle royales, the longevity of this NFT project is impressive. Although only founded in July of 2021, the clear vision of Battle Drones entails a full ecosystem that provides an enjoyable gaming experience while also supporting artists around the world.

Mythical Beings

Mythical Beings is primarily a card collection game, with each NFT card having a unique story and an elaborate written history. Within the game, the user will be able to collect new cards, trading them with other users that are currently online. Users will also be able to craft cards and earn cryptocurrency on the application.

Users will be able to buy a pack of cards directly on the platform, then use those cards to play on the application. Additionally, if there are repeat cards that you’ve earned, a user will be able to craft new cards from them, furthering the actions you can take in-game. Mythical Beings is one of the many NFT play-to-earn games currently launched on the Ardor ecosystem.

As of February 2022, new cards have been released. Additionally, the Battlegrounds Beta has been launched, allowing users to put their decks to the test against computer-driven enemies. The play-to-earn features even move into the realm of passive income, with whoever earns the Grootslang or Tarasca Mythical Being cards being able to generate a dividend income from their ownership of the NFT cards.

Soccer Manager Elite

After an extensive history within the blockchain space, starting way back in 2013, XAYA turned its sights towards decentralized blockchain gaming. One of their most successful play-to-earn games is Soccer Manager Elite, which is a blockchain-based remake of Soccer Manager.

Within this NFT ecosystem, users can become the manager, agent, or shareholder of their favorite football teams. A user will be able to buy players, compare their stats, trade with other users, and even generate an income from the club they support. They’ll be able to sell shares of their own clubs, as well as buy into other teams at any point in their journey.

By combining football knowledge with NFT accessibility, Soccer Manager Elite provides users the opportunity to play-to-earn while experiencing the very best that football has to offer. Processing through the leagues towards division one will see higher rewards, sparking competition between players all over the world that are fighting for that number one spot.

CryptoTanks

Designing and launching an improved version of the wildly popular 8-bit Tanks game, CryptoTanks allows users from around the world to go head to head in tank-based combat. Users will be able to drive around the arena, targeting other tanks and attempting to destroy them without being blown up themselves.

As a user plays CryptoTanks, they can earn new tanks, each one acting as an NFT that can be sold or traded. Each tank comes with a unique skin, demonstrating their difference as they wheel around the battlefield. Additionally, all of the NFT tanks come with different speeds, armor ratings, and weapons, ensuring they are highly valued by the community.

With future plans to launch missions to the player bases, the creators of CryptoTanks are implementing much-desired improvements that the community is asking for. This mix of fast-paced warfare and the opportunity to earn NFT tanks while playing has created a cult following.

WonderHero

Positioning itself as a uniquely anime-inspired NFT asset mobile RPG, WonderHero is another fantastic example of play-to-earn taking over the gaming space. Users will be able to earn and choose exclusive heroes, with over 100+ NFT variations granting each hero a specific set of equipment and abilities.

With these NFT heroes, users will be able to then conduct turn-based RPG combat, moving through battles and beating their opponents as they progress through the game. As levels are conquered, users will be able to farm items and new heroes, earning legendary equipment that can be used or sold directly on their NFT marketplace.

WonderHero has recently launched ten major guilds, uniting players around the world from the Philippines to Brazil. These communities have rallied around Wonder Hero, with over $2 million being raised over their funding rounds. With new NFTs being added to the game continuously, this NFT play-to-earn application has taken the world by storm since its release.

MonkeyLeague

Monkeys have become synonymous with NFTs, with MonkeyLeague representing a further manifestation of this furry animal into the blockchain space. Built on the Solana blockchain ecosystem, MonkeyLeague is an online multiplayer game where users play a turn-based soccer game. While easy to learn, the game is notoriously hard to master, enticing competitive players from around the globe.

Each one of the Monkey NFTs gives a range of different appearance elements, central skills, and additional perks in-game. Each of them is assigned a rarity ranging from common to legendary, with over 2.5 trillion potential permutations of the main characteristics demonstrating the diversity that this application has achieved.

By playing MonkeyLeague, users will be able to go head to head against others, playing games to earn $MBS and unlocking new NFT monkey characters. These NFTs are comprehensive digital assets, being available for viewing both on and off the pitch. No matter how you want to play, this next-gen eSports game allows players to earn while putting their NFT monkeys to use.

Final Thoughts

No matter what sort of NFT gaming experience you’re looking to have, the fast development of this industry has ensured that there’s a game out there for you. The brilliance of these NFT gaming systems is that while users are enticed to play simply due to the nature of the games, they receive actual rewards for playing in the form of their earned NFTs.

Within each gaming system, these NFTs can be used to transform the gameplay, further develop their experience, or can be sold or traded with other players for in-game currency. The most developed of these systems are already connected to coin exchanges, allowing users to cash out their in-game currency for USD on major exchanges.

While NFT gaming is still in its early days, it’s a magnetic field that’s drawing millions of players from around the world to its applications. NFT gaming is undoubtedly a modern field that everyone should be keeping an eye on.