Play to Earn #1 - Rollercoaster Tycoon & Panini
A Curated Weekly Blockchain Games Newsletter
This is the first of - hopefully - many weekly updates I will be sending to you. Play to Earn is a publication on Medium and will become a decentralized index for blockchain games (more about this later). On top of that I’m launching this newsletter using Substack. In this newsletter I will highlight the latest news from the world of blockchain games, not limited to publications that appeared on Medium.
Every Thursday or Friday, depending on my work schedule, I will update you with the latest and greatest from blockchain gaming. This will be a mix of our publications and news about blockchain games and technology. Now let’s get started!
NEWS
Blockchain version Rollercoaster Tycoon Touch delayed
Animoca Brands and Atari have delayed the launch on Rollercoaster Tycoon Touch and Goon Squad. Both mobile games are getting a blockchain version with non-fungible tokens. Instead of late 2019 these games are now planned for a release in the second half of 2020. Animoca Brands CEO Robbie Yung told us that there’s no new date set in stone just yet. First Animoca wants to properly launch its upcoming F1 Delta Time game.
Square Enix seriously looking at blockchain games
For a year now Japanese games publisher has been talking about blockchain technology. In his New Year’s Letter the company’s CEO Yosuke Matsuda stated that ‘blockchain games are no longer in their infancy’. Matsuda sees the rise of XR, cloud gaming and blockchain technology as an opportunity for new challenges and game experiences. He didn’t announce a game, but it’s likely we’ll hear more about Square Enix and their ambition into blockchain games this year.
Collectible card company Panini jumps into blockchain
Panini has launched a series of Dutch auctions for collectible blockchain cards of all kinds of sports heroes. Buying a card would give the buyer a digital and physical version. In a Dutch auction the price starts high and goes down until someone decides to pick up the card. There are three basketball cards, three American football cards, two baseball cards and one football / soccer card. However Panini is using a ‘private blockchain’, without releasing any details. As a result it might as well be an Excel sheet. The sale will end this Friday night in Europe, and day time in the United States.
EDITORIAL
How You Can Earn Money Playing Free Games
Free-to-play games have always been about investing lots of time and/or spending money. Thanks to blockchain technology a new business model has entered the industry: Play-to-Earn. This editorial by Robert Hoogendoorn is all about how Play-to-earn will slowly takeover the Free-to-Play market. READ MORE.
The Classification Of Blockchain Games
Not every blockchain game is the same. Some run on centralized servers, others only let you own and trade certain items, while others are completely run by gamers themselves. There’s a whole spectrum of blockchain games, and in this editorial Robert Hoogendoorn makes a first effort to classify blockchain games. READ MORE.
Editorial note: If you write on Medium about blockchain games, please consider publishing on our publication.
ICYMI
Axie Infinity - This blockchain game is still having its alpha test on both desktop and mobile devices. Farming Small Love Potions (SLP) has become a way to make money in the game. Use Uniswap to do this. The team behind Axie Infinity has made a great guide to get started in the alpha.
Stryking’s Bayern Munchen NFT sales - German game studio Stryking has sold for 552 ETH worth of Bayern Munchen digital collectibles. That’s approximately 80 thousand dollars. Some of these cards have already been sold on OpenSea, like for example a Christmas Edition card of Thomas Müller for 25 ETH.
Forgotten Artifacts - Developer Cliff Cawley has made a deep dive in the technology used to create the action role playing game Forgotten Artifacts. It’s a very interesting read to get an idea about the difficulties a blockchain game developer has to deal with. Play the game here.
Blockchain Cuties - This is one of the first Tron blockchain dapps launched on the Samsung Blockchain Wallet. That means Blockchain Cuties is native on for example Samsung Galaxy S10.
Cryptovoxels - This virtual world has been stealing headlines in recent weeks. It’s becoming increasingly popular, causing the price for virtual land to go up. Value has tripled in recent weeks and the game is almost surpassing Decentraland in terms of volume. They also released wearables. Enter their game world here.
Knight Story - The mobile idle role playing game Knight Story is releasing its first dungeon boss this Friday. Knight Story is available for iOS and Android.
Gods Unchained - This month Immutable will be introducing all kinds of updates for their collectible trading card game Gods Unchained. Trinkets are now on the board, a new mulligan card system has been introduced, and the first details about the Season One cards have been teased.
My Crypto Heroes - One of the most popular games is My Crypto Heroes. This game is now in its second year. Different promotional campaigns from December 26th to January 4th resulted in 1100 ETH, or 152 thousand dollars, in sales.
Outplay Games - Blockchain gaming company Alto.io is rebranding itself to Outplay Games. Their software development kit (SDK) and API offerings are focused on casual PVP gameplay and crypto rewards. More about this in their blog post.
I hope you enjoyed this first newsletter from Play to Earn. Please follow us on these other platform:
This newsletter was curated by Robert Hoogendoorn.