The Development Paths of GameFi (1)

P2E is GameFi 1.0, then P&E is 2.0?

The continued popularity of Axie Infinity in early 2021, brought a word on fire — — P2E. But after the huge hype and follow-ups, followed by the bear market of the Cryptocurrencies, a large number of Axe-like projects disappeared or went bankrupt, and the entire Crypto industry also began to summarize and reflect on what problems existed in GameFi at that time, such as: lacking true gameplay and fun, economic system too single, immature gameplay mechanism, unreasonable token fluctuations, lack of new players to maintain a Ponzi structure and so on.

The industry naturally put forward the concept of GameFi 2.0. The current GameFi 2.0 in the industry does not have a unified standard to define, it is worth affirming that the consensus of GameFi 2.0 is emphasizing the return of the FUN part of blockchain games, advocating learning from the mistakes of the many P2E projects, solving all the problems of GameFi 1.0, and adjusting to better meet the needs of the community. In this context, the industry naturally evolved and produced a new slogan, P&E (Play and Earn), for example, Axie Infinity has secretly changed the slogan of P2E to P&E, the goal of which is to improve in-game player retention and consumption by making the game more interesting, while attracting new players to enter.

But will changing to P&E attract more traditional game users? Is P&E really GameFi 2.0? Let’s look at a core question: a GameFi product is essentially an internet product, and its target users are seeking for PLAY? Or seeking for EARN?

A P2E product is essentially not a game product, but a gamified representation of a financial product (including DeFi, including fake DeFi). Games are more of a wrapper, which is easy for users to understand, easy for users to enter, and also conducive to experience. But the experience here has a very low ceiling, and under the core appeal of “Earn”, the efficiency and stability of earnings will be much more important than the game experience. Under the story of P&E, the core appeal will still be “Earn”, and the vast majority of users who pursue “Earn” will still not have a too high tolerance for Play. Similarly, the vast majority of users who pursue Play will not give up their pursuit of the game experience for the “Earn” that is not their core appeal, which does not meet their needs, why don’t they continue to play their traditional games to enjoy the game?

P&E’s story is more about the industry exploring and trying, and P&E will not become GameFi 2.0, neither surpass P2E, let alone replace P2E.

So where are the opportunities lies ahead for the subsequent development of GameFi? Let’s separate Play and Earn then combine them!

If we separate Play and Earn, and divide them into Play for Fun and Play to Earn according to different target groups, many problems will be solved in a second.

This is not a new concept, there are a large number of entertainment consumer players who are willing to pay for the quality experience of high-quality content in the game ecosystem, there are also workers who obtain value returns by serving others in the game world, and even some players who firmly believe in the development of a game and become investors of the game economic ecology, and there are a minimal number of top players standing at the top of the pyramid who can both enjoy the game and make money by the way. In some games, such as “Fantasy Westward Journey” and “World of Warcraft”, they can even coexist harmoniously for a long time, supporting and relying on each other, growing and progressing together.

The emergence of decentralized technologies, Tokens and NFTs, should strengthen and empower the economic and social relationships that P4F and P2E combine to make them simpler, more convenient, more robust, and more secured, provided that game developers allow and support the change.

Part 2 : The Development Paths of GameFi (2) | by Jeromeoh.eth | Sep, 2022 | Medium