Play-to-earn has fatal flaws: How can Web3 gaming be more sustainable?
Play-to-earn projects live and die based on whether they have an influx of new users or the means to continue rewarding existing ones. All of this lacks sustainability in the long run. Web3 game development company QORPO says there are significant shortcomings in the play-to-earn space — and a drastically different approach is needed to create games that retain users and achieve sustainable tokenomics. Ever since the heady days of 2021 — when play-to -earn games reached their peak — Web3 has been in a period of reckoning. At its height, Axie Infinity was helping players in emerging economies like Ghana and the Philippines earn substantially more than the minimum wage. A crushing token bridge hack and a cooling market later led to rewards being cut considerably. When you zoom out, only a small handful of projects have achieved sustainable growth — and this relates to inherent flaws in the concept of play-to-earn. Entry costs can be high, with players sometimes having to splash out hun...