Since the early days of modern mobile gaming, certain free-to-play games (that shall remain unnamed) have taken the cake for displaying that oftentimes, less is more. These games have shown us how effective the simplification of gameplay can be in getting us hooked. The introduction of the iPhone opened the doors to a completely different type of amusement for players around the world. Alright, fine, I’ll name them: Candy Crush Saga, Apex Legends, Clash of Clans, anyone? These titles paved the way for an entirely new generation of mobile gaming: the addicting world of hyper-casual F2P gaming.
The Free-to-Play Paradigm
Free-to-play mobile games quickly grew into one of the most popular genres, consisting of very lightweight gameplay (take a break, Leeroy Jenkins).
The ingredients are an incredibly simple, often pixelated design, a minimalistic interface, and palatable, straightforward game mechanics. As players, our primary purpose in F2P gaming is attaining the highest score while advancing through incrementally challenging levels meant to make us play just one more time — an addicting slot machine. Inevitably, to progress past the most frustrating obstacles of gameplay, we eagerly purchase in-game currency or watch ads. It really doesn’t get much simpler than that. And so, due to their easily accessible and addictive nature, F2P mobile games would appear to teach us a thing or two about user acquisition. But what about retention? Where does the money we spend go?
The problem with the F2P mobile gaming model is that once the industry realized how profitable it was, an influx of mobile games began to piggyback on each other with short, simple, tropeless loops, saturating themselves in ads and flooding the market. And it was in that deluge that the once-fiery passion and sense of creative freedom drowned. Those that endured would go on to fight to remain relevant within these tight, self-imposed standards. Unfortunately, today’s trends have become hardly about the gameplay itself and all about profit maximization. Game design quickly devolved into a pure numbers game that stifles creativity. And as players, we can feel it, and it’s sad. (The parallels with the music industry are uncanny.) In short, F2P mobile gaming has become a way for companies to give you the fanciest ways to watch ads and purchase in-game currency to watch more ads. Luckily, the universe threw us a wild card, a breath of fresh air has entered the room.
The Pay-to-Play Revolution
On the opposite end of the spectrum, the surging developments in the NFT and crypto space have made room for a new mobile gaming genre, and it’s barrelling its way through the gaming industry. These developments give players ownership over their assets and control over the in-game economy: Play-to-Earn gaming.
Like Animal Crossing, trading is encouraged among the community, but imagine if you could sell all your excess Animal Crossing items for real value instead of bells and nook miles tickets. Launched in 2018, Axie Infinity has shared with the world a blockchain-based NFT breeding game that lets you earn income from playing and is renowned for its pioneering of the P2E gaming model. With an impressive record high of a 65% day one retention, Axie Infinity is proving its promising application of P2E blockchain mechanics to be a robust framework for getting players to come back time and time again. Subsequently, Sky Mavis (Axie Infinity’s game developer) recently raised $152M in funding at a nearly $3B evaluation. And the amazing thing is that according to VentureBeat, Sky Mavis only owns 20% of Axie Infinity; the rest of it belongs to the players and token holding community. As a result, Axie Infinity NFTs are skyrocketing in value, but the only drawback is the price to play. Just like attaining nice cars to cruise around on the weekends, jumping into the world of Axie Infinity isn’t cheap, so, unfortunately, not everyone can afford to play. This has paved the way for guilds like Yield Guild Gaming to provide scholarships and education for players worldwide, providing financial assistance for anyone to get started.
As devoted students of Axie’s success and innovation in the P2E space, Genopets is building upon the P2E model providing players, who can’t afford such a high investment, easy access to the benefits of blockchain NFT gaming — Free-to-Play.
(Yes, I’m implying that you can earn crypto to buy more crypto! Click here to learn about the variety of NFTs you may encounter in the Genoverse, and click here if you want to find out about all the different roles and ways to start earning!)
A Sustainable Economy
So, we asked ourselves: “Is it possible to make a game that is free to play that can still provide players with ways to earn?”
Genopets integrates the proven economic models of F2P mobile gaming and P2E NFT gaming to deliver a player experience that can harness the best of both worlds.
Yeah, yeah, that’s great — but how is this all gonna work?
Well, in studying play-to-earn gaming models, we’ve learned that all sustainable economies require a net inflow of cash for the game to thrive. In other words, for the economy to be viable, there must be more players spending money for the sake of enjoying the game than players cashing out to pay their bills.
A great way to do that is to gate playing the game with the purchase of items. As new players join, more money enters the ecosystem, tying the economy's viability to user growth. The only problems with that are: (1) The barriers of entry it creates make it less accessible for players to join the game, and (2) since people pay so much to get started, the amount of money they earn becomes the focus of the gameplay.
So as we’ve said, in Genopets, all players will start for free, hatch an infant Genopet on your mobile device and start walking to earn. But how is that going to work if there needs to be a net inflow of cash in order to earn?
Well, as you walk, we take those steps in the real world and convert them to XP (not a token). If you get enough XP, over time, you can level up your Genopet to the point where it becomes valuable to other players, and you can sell it in an NFT marketplace. Don’t worry if that’s confusing; you can do it all right from the mobile app too. The only way a free player can earn is by staying active enough to level up their Genopet and then sell it to another player. No crypto in, but no crypto out from the game economy either. That free player just convinced another player to buy their Genopet so they could earn, having no impact on the in-game token economy.
However, if you’re not in it for the long haul and just want your daily earnings, we have a path for you too. The sustainability in our model, which allows free players to earn, is made possible by gating daily token earnings from free players with the purchase of a Habitat NFT. A Habitat is like your home in Animal Crossing, but way cooler because it unlocks your ability to earn $Ki token along with XP. You can use $Ki to craft in-game items like crystals to speed up your Genopet’s evolution process and increase its rarity.
So now, not only can you earn by generating $Ki tokens daily, your effort and time spent crafting crystals or leveling up your Habitat can turn into financial rewards (this also includes selling your beloved Genopet if you’re ready to part from your spirit animal). Genopets delivers an evolution game that allows you to create and sell NFTs to other players in-game so you can play and earn. So every NFT (besides your free infant Genopet we give you to start) will come from your fellow players.
Above all, the innovation in this model is that it ties the viability of the economy to players’ daily active use and enjoyment of the game rather than relying on continuous user growth to be sustainable. As long as players keep crafting, buying, and selling Crystals, Genopets, and Habitats, the economy will flourish. tl;dr:
Free Players Earn via:
- Sell Genopet
Paid Players Earn via:
- Sell Genopet
- Continuously generate $KI for daily activity
- Sale of other in-game items (Habitats, crystals, and more)
And that’s how we arrived at our dual-earning economic model. (click here to learn more about the difference between free and paid players)
Parting Thoughts
Genopets stands on the shoulders of giants. We’ve watched the story begin to unfold, and we’re privileged to have the vantage point to be able to build on these innovative game models. Genopets is incorporating the best of both worlds and simply steering towards a different outcome from the outset. With a dual-earning economy, players get to choose whether they want to pay to play by purchasing a Habitat NFT or play for free, but either way, everyone gets a Genopet, and everyone can earn.
Our coined Move-to-Earn model bridges the gaps by combining F2P mobile gaming, P2E, and staying active with a dual-earning system that allows anyone to obtain a Genopet NFT and have an enriching experience regardless of the road you travel.
The player-driven marketplace allows us, as game creators, to focus on creating a good game because we’re not obsessed with getting you to buy stuff from us. Instead, we set the stage for fun and excitement so players can work together to supply each other with everything needed to play the game. The essence of Genopets is the idea of encouraging satisfying gameplay that is mentally, emotionally, spiritually, physically, and financially rewarding. It’s a pretty spectacular sight — being able to see the dawn of an age that can facilitate all these wondrous possibilities that were merely science fiction a decade ago.
Summon your Genopet for free to start earning XP and reveal your intrinsic worth as you and your Genopet evolve together. And please remember — the Genoverse wouldn’t exist without you. You are important.
What a time to be alive. ☺
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Summon your Genopet and start moving to begin exploring and evolving together. Stay tuned for future updates, and join the conversation in our community channels below. See you in the Genoverse!
About Genopets
It’s time to step up your game. Genopets is the world’s first Free-to-Play, Move-to-Earn NFT mobile game that makes it fun and rewarding to live an active lifestyle. A Genopet is your digital pet whose evolution and growth are inextricably linked to your own. The steps you take every day power your journey through the Genoverse as you explore, battle, and evolve — earning crypto while you play.
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Important Notice
This post and all other materials provided by us are subject to this notice (“Notice”). Please familiarize yourself with the terms of the Notice, as it contains important information, limitations, and disclaimers regarding Genopets and our Genoverse and digital assets, forward-looking statements, and other representations and warranties from you in accordance with the digital assets. By accessing Genopets, the Genoverse, the digital assets, or any of our material, you accept and agree to the terms of this Notice. The sale of tokens is not available to U.S. Persons (as defined by Regulation S under the Securities Act of 1933) or to persons located in a sanctioned country as provided by OFAC.
