Every blockchain gaming enthusiast has heard about Play-to-Earn, also known as P2E. Meanwhile, GameFi is not limited to this model. There are more different ones: you might have seen their abbreviations without knowing the meanings. Let's unveil the most common ones alphabetically!
As the industry's most popular model, P2E enables users to earn by playing, participating in battles, and turning gaming into the source of their income. The priority of P2E is on earnings. Thus, users' motivation is revenue. However, the industry keeps developing, and now the model seems to mutate acquiring new features, value, and players motivation.
The
Play-to-Own model is similar to P2E, allowing users to earn. Meanwhile, it has a different focus, entertainment. Players join titles to have fun, dive into intriguing mechanics, and enjoy processes as they do in traditional projects. Revenues are additional and can be gained via NFT ownership. For this, users need to turn their in-game assets into non-fungible tokens and sell them. This model is
supposed to be more sustainable than P2E because it boosts the development of high-quality titles, legit gameplays, and stronger communities.
Pay-to-Pay, or P2P, has been
regarded as the most popular gaming strategy since the 1970s. It brings profits to game developers and grants players fun for investments in devices, products, and subscriptions. The focus is on fun, and earnings are available only for professional esports gamers.
The model
was shaken with the P2E boom but later settled down thanks to the users' attitude to entertainment. Now Web 2 games are
migrating to Web 3 regarding technologies without obligatory model adoption.
Caution: the P2P abbreviation can have other meanings, for instance, Peer-to-Peer and Proof-of-Play, but they both are related to the serverless gaming network structures, not to the gaming economy models.
Being a subvariety of P2E, the Learn-to-Earn model lets gamers gain revenues for learning about
blockchain or answering peculiar questions. In some cases, users need to pay to access such titles or unveil extra earning opportunities. Thus, though money is the primary motivation, they also seek new knowledge and fun.
One more type of P2E is
Move-to-Earn. This model persuades players to run, swim, or spend time on other physical activities to earn crypto. M2E was impressively popular: the sector rose to
over $1 billion in 2022. The reasons were the healthification of gaming and the initial solid motivation of users to earn. However, later such projects were
blamed for Ponzi economics and lost revenues. Will they prove their relevance or not? Time will tell.
Free-to-Own is supposed to revolutionize gaming by
shifting the power from developers to players. Players can play and earn by minting NFTs for free within games' economies. Thus, they will truly own the digital assets without paying anything.
Free-to-Play is a standard model both for Web 2 and Web 3 gaming that makes gaming
accessible to any enthusiasts without initial investments. As a rule, it takes only a few options available. For instance, in traditional mobile gaming, users need to pay to unlock extra features or levels, and to earn in blockchain gaming, they need to acquire NFTs.
Similarly to P2E, X-Activity-To-Earn enables users to earn by completing tasks. However, they don't have to be game or movement-related. One can
Relax-to-Earn and get crypto for sleeping or Eat-to-Earn monetizing eating out. People go for such projects, not for profits but for bonuses and emotional satisfaction.
The diverse world of blockchain gaming has multiple models with different revenues. And, though some can mutate, nearly all of them are available. So you can test them and discover which one fits you the most!
