Play-to-earn to become like SEO, says Anito Legends co-founder
When you visit the site of Philippine-made blockchain game Anito Legends, you will be greeted with a disclaimer that says, in part: “Anito Legends is a game that utilizes some ‘play and earn’ mechanics. It is not an investment opportunity nor is it an invitation to invest.”
“Play-to-earn needs to evolve past being an investment or ‘get-rich-quick’ scheme. Looking at the local guilds and players today, a balanced game economy looks more like a rewards program like SM Advantage, Robinsons Rewards, or even the Starbucks Card for the casual gamers. For competitive players, the scene and corresponding rewards will be similar to esports,” said Anito Legends Co-Founder and CMO Jayvee Fernandez.
“I personally believe that ‘play-to-earn’ will be less about hype and more about quietly integrating into most facets of the gaming industry. What I mean is — if you remember the mid 2000s when marketers were talking about SEO (search engine optimization) and algorithms being the next big thing — well today, nobody talks about that. SEO is now just part and parcel of digital marketing. In the same way, ‘play-to-earn’ will be a component of future games in the same way we have in-app purchases and paid DLCs (downloadable content). We’re seeing some aspects of that today with titles like Ni no Kuni where the play-to-earn features are there but entirely optional,” he said.
Putting its own spin on Philippine myths and creatures, Anito Legends is a strategic auto-battler. You assemble your own team of Anitos by buying the non-fungible tokens. Then feed and train your Anitos, battle other players, and earn $GINTO tokens.
Asked what is the competitive advantage that differentiates Anito Legends from other blockchain games, Fernandez replied: “Our perspective comes from that of game developers. We do not come from fintech or are ‘crypto bros.’ The team has had so many learning experiences from past success in web2 games (App Store and Play), especially in the casual space. Aggregately, the team has shy of 60 million downloads for the casual game titles.
“We were actually quite surprised that many blockchain GameFi projects don’t even have an MVP (minimum viable product) after fundraising. For us, the team had already released a game while the fundraising was happening — and it was out on four platforms with cross-play features. Many projects don’t think long term and make themselves look like quick cash grabs. We were honestly disturbed by this because the indie mindset meant a constant iteration based on feedback from the community. For the record, our six-month beta period had a total of 40 game updates pushed out and this was all from user feedback. We take data very seriously.”
Fernandez pointed out that Masayato Games (the game developer behind Anito Legends) is actually the product of 15 years of friendship and collaboration.
“On my end, I’ve known [Co-Founder and COO] Erick Garayblas while I was still working with Hinge-Inquirer Publications as I was actively beta testing his games on Palm OS and the Pocket PC and writing about them for Mobile Philippines — our publication at that time. [Co-Founder and CEO] James Chua and [Co-Founder and CCO] Jed Cruz were my guildmates since the Guild Wars days. Since the local game development scene was small at the time, James and Jed of Pixelkit met up with Erick and founded a game studio together almost a decade ago. I think you could say that Anito Legends is 15 years in the making, bringing together all the success, failures, and learnings the four founders accumulated in that span of time.”
While we saw the meteoric rise of play-to-earn last year, why did it lose momentum, and where will it go from here?
“Play-to-earn was a hit because of the pandemic. All of a sudden people had time to focus on something new because they needed new sources of income while staying home. The problem was in-game economic hyperinflation that had real consequences to the token value. To be very fair, this isn’t the fault of anchor games like Axie Infinity and Pegaxy — they were not prepared to grow this fast in such a short period of time. You could call it the first mover dilemma — they reaped the benefits but also have to deal with creating a playbook that new games will have to either follow, critique, or build on top of.
What happens, however, to the community that formed around play-to-earn games, especially the scholars? What can be done to help them if they have been previously relying on play-to-earn games for income?
“I think guilds should take an honest look at the industry, at their scholars, and their goals. The Axie phenomenon was a unique blip in time and I doubt copying it today will be sustainable. Scholars need to graduate at some point. You can see how many scholars-turned-influencers are doing it and they have branched out to more than just playing play-to-earn games. What the industry needs more of is education. It’s hard, I know — but that is reality.
“Also, a lot falls on the game developers as well, to design loops and gameplay features that prioritize rewarding players and collaborations rather than looking too much like a grind. At the end of the day, a good gaming experience retains players because it’s fun, not just because you can potentially earn,” he said.
Blockchain is not a fad, and both the blockchain and gaming industries will continue to evolve and reshape each other. The important thing to remember is that play-to-earn is just one of the different business models that exist now for blockchain games.
Who knows what others the future will bring?
