The Rise of NFT Games

2012–2013 – The Colored Coins

The very first non-fungible tokens that appeared were Colored Coins. The entire concept of NFTs has been around since December of 2012. With that, the beginnings of Colored Coins had a hand in establishing the Bitcoin blockchain.

It came from the idea of delivering real-world assets (like real estate) on a blockchain.

Colored Coins are made from a bitcoin’s small denomination, and these can be as little as one satoshi. The latter is the smallest unit of bitcoin.

Colored Coins can be utilized to represent a number of assets while having numerous use cases. These include properties, coupons, subscriptions, access tokens, and digital collectibles. Not only that, but the capacity to issue your own cryptos, and issue shares of companies are included too.

The thing is, the scripting language of Bitcoin had limitations, and these were not enough to sustain the app. But despite this, the entire concept and idea of Colored Coins opened a lot of possibilities for experimentations. From there, a groundwork was laid out for successful NFTs to come.

2014 – Counterparty

Because of Colored Coins, a lot of people realized the huge potential of issuing assets to the blockchain. Yet at the same time, people also realized that Bitcoin itself wasn’t made to enable these additional features.

So in 2014, Counterparty was formed. It’s a p2p open-source online protocol/financial platform established on the Bitcoin blockchain. It allowed asset creation and even had a decentralized exchange.

Plus, it also sported a crypto token called XCP.

Counterparty included a couple of projects using its own assets. These include meme trading and card trading.

2015 – Spells of Genesis and the Beginnings of ICO

This year, the game creators of Spells of Genesis became the very first creators to issue in-game assets. They did this on a blockchain through Counterparty.

The creators of this application weren’t only founders for issuing in-game assets to a blockchain. They were also the first few to establish an ICO, also called crowdfunding.

Spells of Genesis launched a token called BitCrystals to fund the ICO’s development and was used as an in-game currency.

2016 – Force of Will and Rare Pepes

In August of this year, Counterparty grouped with Force of Will, a famous trading card game. They did this to launch their cards on the platform of Counterparty.

Force of Will was the fourth-ranked card game by sales. It only ranked behind popular names like Pokemon, Magic: The Gathering, and Yu-Gi-Oh.

It was an important event since Force of Will was a huge mainstream company. To note, they didn’t have prior cryptocurrency or blockchain experience either.

Their entry to the ecosystem motioned the value of including these assets on a blockchain.

By October of the same year, memes as collectibles were issued with Rare Pepes, the notable green frog on Counterparty. People started issuing Rare Pepes as assets on the Counterparty platform.

If you aren’t familiar, Rare Pepes is a meme that features a green frog character.

Is It Safe to Play NFT Games?

The main purpose of playing video games is to have fun until the game is over. But today, a new form of playing games is emerging. It’s becoming an investment opportunity and potentially a method to earn a living.

These games that let you gain money are called play-to earn games. Examples of this include Axie Infinity and The Sandbox 3D, which has been exploding in popularity these days.

Unfortunately, play-to-earn games aren’t always free-to-play. Since these games are an investment opportunity like mutual funds or UITF, investing large amounts of money is a must. Otherwise, you won’t earn big.

Cryptocurrencies are naturally volatile and with that, the value of NFTs could suddenly spike up or spike down. Additionally, cryptocurrencies aren’t declared as stores of value, legal tender, or investment vehicle.

But that doesn’t mean NFT games aren’t legitimate. It’s only too risky to endorse these to the general public.

Of course, you can find yourself earning big while enjoying games as long as you do proper research. It’s the same with any digital purchase where you need to use critical thinking. It’s to ensure that the NFT is worth the purchase.

Axie Infinity – A Safe Game to Earn

The NFT space is soaring and the online gaming market is a grateful participant of it. Today, more and more gaming projects are tokenizing their game assets that can be used in-game or traded for cryptocurrency.

Axie Infinity is the most known NFT game in the market today. Its value increased over twenty times last month, and currently, it’s looking at a billion dollars in value.

Initially, skeptics thought that the play-to-earn system wouldn’t gain momentum. However, the NFT space and crypto gaming is booming across the cryptocurrency industry.

Axie Infinity is a decentralized strategy game where users breed, collect, and trade character creatures called Axies. Its gameplay is similar to that of Pokemon where the game focuses on managing Axies to prepare them for battles.

Players gain SLPs or Small Love Potions after winning battles. These can be used to breed Axies and increase one’s NFT base. SLPs can also be bought from Uniswap or other decentralized exchanges.

Another thing that players can do with Axies, SLPs, and other NFTs in the game can be sold in the in-app NFT market.

Axie Infinity has around 5,000 new users and nearing $1.8 million volumes weekly.