Q&A: Play-to-earn mechanics ‘kill’ blockchain games — so what’s the answer?

The play-to-earn growth has left many blockchain video games on the scrapheap as a result of they relied upon unrealistic tokenomics.

Right here, Angelic’s Founder and CEO Erkan Bayol explains why, regardless of all of this, NFTs have large potential on this planet of gaming — so long as they’re added in the proper means.

1. What are AAA video games — and the way can NFTs make them higher?

AAA video games are the head of the leisure trade — bringing artwork, know-how and literacy collectively. They’re the gaming equal of the most important blockbuster films in Hollywood — and higher nonetheless, they’re interactable.

NFTs and blockchain know-how improve this additional, and convert players into collaborators. Now you may contribute to your favourite universe, design characters and possibly turn out to be a celeb. You’ll be able to have a say within the governance of video games you are captivated with, and share unforgettable experiences with associates based mostly in a world that’s partially designed and owned by you.

That was what excited us from the start — and that was why we at all times thought of play-to-earn as a really short-sighted imaginative and prescient. Because of NFTs and blockchain, we are able to now design, create, govern, make the most of and luxuriate in universes collaboratively.

2. You consider nonfungible tokens may be limitless. How does that work?

Angelic strives to create a stability between two key elements.

The primary is having a low barrier to entry, and guaranteeing the sport is free to play. Players can get free heroes by registering on our web site.

Crucially, we do not have a play-to-earn mannequin. The most costly NFT won’t essentially be the perfect one within the sport.

Our NFTs are designed with a degree up and cap system that may go well with completely different sorts of gamers and traders. We wish as many gamers to expertise the enjoyment of Angelic and all its many elements, together with the NFTs, with out putting a worth on what means extra to us: our neighborhood having fun with and loving our sport as a lot as we do.

3. Why is it so necessary to keep away from play-to-earn and pay-to-win mechanics?

We’re a sport first. If blockchain, NFTs and cryptocurrencies disappeared tomorrow, we’d nonetheless be an incredible science fiction sport that takes place in a collaborative universe.

This mentality means we’re targeted on long-term sustainability and playability. Play-to-earn mechanics would possibly work within the brief time period, however they at all times kill the title in the long term. In our opinion, play-to-earn is successfully a bribing mechanism that high quality video games wouldn’t even want within the first place to persuade folks to play.

4. Inform us how Angelic is doing issues in another way.

Angelic desires folks to play for enjoyable. We’re a collaborate-to-earn sport, and the multiplayer layer is totally free.

Our gamers will not simply get pleasure from our universe, they’re going to contribute to it in some ways. They will design characters, assist us govern, compete as knowledgeable participant, workforce up with others to dominate sectors and run varied financial and army actions, or just benefit from the narrative. It is all as much as them.

We do not need all of our gamers to be motivated by what they will earn — we wish them to be passionate concerning the sport and be pleased with being part of this universe.

5. What do you say to critics who argue video games like this may be performed with out blockchain — and NFTs solely add a layer of monetization?

I agree that video games may be developed with out blockchain — they’ve been from the start.

What the critics had been lacking is the purpose that we may even make video games with out 3D graphics.

Particularly if you develop a AAA title, you often desire utilizing bleeding-edge rendering applied sciences — not since you should, however since you ought to improve the sport on varied fronts.

Blockchain can be an enabler. It’s an evolution, not a revolution. Critics had been largely proper as a result of we have largely seen weak implementation of this know-how in AAA gaming up to now. We are able to nonetheless merge conventional AAA with the blockchain to unleash much more thrilling combos.

How about constructing a collaborative mental property — contributing, proudly owning, governing and having fun with collectively, based mostly on a clear infrastructure and a trustless system with distributed possession and democratic governance? How would this be doable with out blockchains, tokens and NFTs?

6. Some metaverses have struggled from technical difficulties — even Meta is struggling bugs. How are you tackling this in your platform?

We’re good at distributing the technical dangers. We now have been using agile methodologies and have an iterative growth strategy.

That strategy allows us to deploy playable builds fairly steadily, which mechanically tackles many dangers and optimization points, whereas letting us collect suggestions.

We had a playable demo that supplied three-hour gameplay again in early 2021. Deploying builds is a good way to identify points early on — and I can safely say we’re masters of that strategy. Sooner or later, we’ll make our builds public as nicely to additional combine our neighborhood even through the growth phases.

7. Who’re the varieties of players that may get pleasure from what Angelic has to supply?

RPG and technique followers will love our core gameplay. The darkish tone makes the sport extra interesting for individuals who get pleasure from issues like Sport Of Thrones or the Witcher collection. Even if you’re not within the marketing campaign, you’ll nonetheless really feel the affect of the setting on the multiplayer universe.

We’re additionally eager to welcome extra informal gamers, and you do not have to be a hardcore devotee to benefit from the sport. Our universe is huge and deep, and there’s a place for everybody.

8. You have struck up some fairly spectacular partnerships. Inform us about a few of them.

We’re pleased with our backers and companions. They’ve believed in our long-term imaginative and prescient, which was fairly unorthodox particularly 10 to 12 months in the past.

Our lead traders — Pantera Capital, Animoca Manufacturers and Everyrealm — are all respected and distinguished companions.

We now have Solana Ventures, Morningstar, Shima Capital, Mechanism, Elementary Labs, GSR, Signum Capital, UOB, Double Peak, IBA and Dweb3 and superior guild companions like Historical 8, Unix, PIF, GGG, PathDao and Rainmaker.

Angelic additionally enjoys stable help from many CEX VCs like OKX Blockdream Ventures, Huobi Ventures and Gate.io Labs.

There are greater than 65 companions and backers, and it’s inconceivable to listing all of them right here.

9. What are your plans for the subsequent 12 months?

Quickly we’ll launch gameplay footage — particularly from the brand new fight module. We are going to proceed free NFT poster campaigns, which is a good way to earn some epic hero NFTs.

In January, we’ll launch our very first NFT sale marketing campaign to the general public, and likewise launch a playable construct to influencers.

In February, we’re launching each the tokens and public playable construct of the primary iteration of Angelic, which can be a participant vs participant sport module the place you need to use your NFT heroes and start your journey in our universe. Then we’ll maintain including new modules, options, heroes and contents alongside the best way.

All these dates are based mostly on our trustworthy estimations and projections, and we’re doing our greatest to not delay any launch dates and milestones.

We encourage folks to hitch our neighborhood, particularly our Discord servers, to each observe and contribute to our roadmap and launch plans.