The popularity and prevalence of NFTs have been rising in popularity over the last couple years. For example, now p2e, or play-to-earn games are expanding more rapidly in scope and demand than ever before. (1) As the name implies, play-to-earn or p2e games are games that offer players certain rewards in-game that can be traded or sold outside of the game on an external marketplace. (2) Beyond this, some marketplaces are integrated.
Many p2e games offer players crypto assets as incentive. These assets can take the form of crypto coins or tokens. Crypto coins are interchangeable assets with which many people have grown increasingly familiar over the years, thanks to the rising popularity of NFTs. A particularly well-known example is Bitcoin or BTC, which is the coin native to the Bitcoin blockchain. (3) One bitcoin is worth the same as another bitcoin. NFTs are a little different. Unique tokens that represent a specific item, such as an in-game reward are called NFTs, and are inherently unique, which can drive their value up significantly. (4)
Players are attracted to a way to earn crypto assets while they enjoy fun to play video games. Some of the most popular games offer a way for players to earn NFTs while they play, which can then be traded for fiat currencies or traded for other crypto assets. So, what are some new NFT games? Which are the top NFT games?
We’ll discuss which NFT games are popular right now and which ones are new. Some are in beta, while others haven’t been introduced yet, while others have been in use for a while now. There is a lot of interest in NFT games so it’s no surprise that so many new ones are being developed each year. (5)
NFT Game List
There are a ton of NFT games play-to-earn out there already, and as more time goes on there will certainly be more. Some games will require an initial investment to get started but there are also a lot of free NFT games that are extremely popular. We’ll include some of both in our NFT games list. Some of the most popular new games that players can earn NFTs on are:
- Gods Unchained
Free to get started, this card trading and battling game also offers robust balancing mechanics to make gameplay fair to new players.
- Axie Infinity
The game requires an initial investment in the form of purchasing 3 Axies—Pokemon like creatures that players can train, battle, and collect—to get started, but is one of the most well known and popular NFT games. While it’s an earlier NFT game compared to some new ones just now gaining popularity, it continues to evolve.
- DECIMATED
DECIMATED is slated for release in late 2022 and, while alpha isn’t available yet, promises to be a post apocalyptic RPG that’s built on blockchain technology and the wildly popular Unreal engine. You can add it to your Steam wishlist now.
- Doctor Who: Worlds Apart
Doctor Who: Worlds Apart is still in closed alpha, but will release some time in 2022. The trading card game offers players the ability to trade and collect cards that will be NFTs using Polygon Blockchain. For fans of Doctor Who and NFT collectors, this will surely prove a popular game.
NFT Mobile Games
You might be wondering if you’ll need to spend some serious money on an expensive crypto gaming rig to make the most profits in p2e games. The short answer: no. There are plenty of NFT mobile games already available to play. (6) And, you can rest assured that more will follow as blockchain technology evolves.
There are a lot of NFT games for Android and iOS already available, and some of the most popular NFT games are NFT games Android and NFT iOS games. Many of them are available on both operating systems. Axie unlimited, for instance, can be played on both Android and iOS, though it isn’t on the app store or google play store, so you may need to take some steps before playing. (7)
Play To Earn Games
Though a large bulk of play-to-earn games are NFT games, not all play-to-earn games are simply NFT games. Some Play-to-earn games are NFT games and some offer crypto coins, or both. If you’re just getting started, you might be wondering what’s out there to play, and it can be quite confusing since there are so many different types of play-to-earn games available. That’s why we’ve compiled a play-to earn crypto games list:
- Axie Infinity
We already mentioned this one, but this wildly popular play-to-earn game is one of the top p2e games being played right now. Be warned, you will need to make an initial investment to play.
- Splinterlands
This card trading and battling game offers users the ability to earn new cards which function as NFTs that can be traded for fiat currencies outside of the game
- Sunflower Farmers
This pixelated farming sim looks a lot like other games, such as Stardew Valley, but offers users the chance to earn SFF tokens that can be traded for other currencies.
- MOBOX: NFT Farmer
This game also offers farming—but it’s a bit more on-the-nose. Players can farm for NFTs which can be used in other games, traded and sold.
- Bomb Crypto
This game revolves around—you guessed it—bombs and crypto. Players can use bomb heroes, hunt monsters, and search for tokens called BCOIN, which can be sold outside of the game.
Best NFT Games
So, what are the best NFT crypto games? That’s subjective, but with so many available to play, no matter what your criteria are for a good NFT game, there are probably some you’ll be interested in. There are a lot of new NFT games 2021 and there are too many too include them all in a blockchain games list, but here are a few more you might love:
- Alien Worlds
- Farmers World
- Upland
- Crazy Defense Heroes
- Second Live
- Crypto Blades
- X World Games
- Blockchain RPG
There are many more games out there to play for those interested in a play-to-earn experience, and you can expect more and more to show up as gamers and NFT enthusiasts alike flock to the new play-to-earn space popping up recently. Some of the most popular games already have thousands of players every day and over a million each month, and we’ll likely see those numbers grow as more and more people are interested in earning crypto assets and having fun at the same time, playing new NFT and crypto games. (8) Many are already slated for release in 2022 and we’ll likely see more in 2023 as well.
Best NFT Games To Earn Money
You may be wondering what the best NFT games to earn money are. Which ones are the most lucrative and which ones require the most up front investment. While that’s hard to say, as it is difficult to track exactly how much money people make and how much money they’re making for the amount of time they’re spending, we can look at some metrics like their total balance and trading volumes which may lend us some insight into which games people are using to make the most money. (9)
It’s also important to note that some games might require you to invest money upfront before playing, so it partially depends on if you’re willing to spend money to make money. Either way, you’ll have to spend time to make money—though with p2e games, you can have fun while you do it. Some games with the highest balance lately include the following:
- Axie Infinity
- DeFi Kingdoms
- Arc8 By GAMEE
- Fantasy Space
- REVV Racing
- Crazy Defense Heroes
- Decentral Games
Some of the games with the highest trading volumes recently are:
- Axie Infinity
- DeFi Kingdoms
- Bomb Crypto
- Pegaxy
- SolaJump
- Alien Worlds
- Elfin Kingdom
Again, it may be different for each user which game is the best NFT game for making money, and the gameplay aspect of p2e games is yet another variable, but there are some games that are extremely active spaces where users are trading and selling, so there are ways to guess the best place to start.
Free To Play NFT Games
Since players can earn crypto assets that can make them real-world money, you might be wondering what kind of investment you’ll have to make to get into p2e games. The short answer is: none. Are there p2e games that require an initial investment? Absolutely. Are there free to play NFT Games? Absolutely.
In fact, many of them are free-to-play. Many p2e games also include ways you can invest that aren’t required but a large bulk of p2e games are free-to-play NFT games. Splinterlands, as we mentioned, is one of the most popular p2e games, and it’s also free to play. Another wildly popular free to play NFT game is Alien Worlds. Gods Unchained is another extremely popular p2e game, and so is The Sandbox.
When it comes to free-to-play play-to-earn games, there are already a ton out there and we can certainly expect to see more of them appear.
Resources
(1) https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertfarrington/2021/12/13/play-to-earn-gaming-is-driving-nft-and-crypto-growth/?sh=11760da3c2dc
(2) https://www.fool.com/investing/stock-market/market-sectors/financials/non-fungible-tokens/nft-games/
(3) https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/bitcoin.asp
(4) https://www.theverge.com/22310188/nft-explainer-what-is-blockchain-crypto-art-faq
(5) https://www.gfinityesports.com/cryptocurrency/new-nft-games-upcoming-crypto-nft-titles-blockchain-gamefi/
(6) https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/top-play2earn-crypto-games-for-android-and-ios
(7) https://www.alphr.com/axie-infinity-play-mobile/
(8) https://dappradar.com/rankings/category/games
(9) https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-07/play-to-earn-crypto-gaming-apps-surpass-defi-in-user-popularity