In the year 2022, blockchain technology has taken the gaming world by storm.
Developers have created new and innovative games that use cryptocurrency and blockchain technology in creative ways.
Offers 5 different game modes.
The most popular NFT-based game.
Complete ownership of your digital assets.
Today we will talk about some of the best crypto games in the market and then review the whole concept of crypto-gaming as a whole.
Let’s begin!
The List: What Are The Best Crypto Games To Play In 2022?
So, let’s take a look at some of the most popular crypto games in the world.
Keep in mind that their popularity is determined by a combination of parameters such as game quality, entertainment value, social activity, and earning ability. Let’s begin:
Thetan Arena
- Awesome graphics.
- Multiple game modes.
- Good earning ability.
- The NPCs are not the smartest.
- Rare heroes could be expensive.
Thetan Arena is a new NFT game. The official launch took place on November 27 (While public testing has been conducted since September).
This is the first MOBA game based on blockchain. Even though primarily casual and card games were released in the past, while causing no genuine interest among users, Thetan Arena has really exciting gameplay.
Axie Infinity
- Constantly evolving.
- Huge game economy.
- Pretty fun.
- Lots of scammers.
- SLP coin is very volatile.
In Axie Infinity, players can earn money by selling pets with rare characteristics as NFTs, and also receive rewards for winning battles and other achievements. The game has become incredibly popular.
The token’s capitalization has increased from zero to $8.5 billion over the year.
The Sandbox
- A revolutionary idea for creating content.
- Tokens are representations of voting rights.
- An interesting creation experience.
- Has a major restriction over SAND tokens.
- Even though it’s popular, we’re still talking about a very young project.
The Sandbox allows developers to create their own game applications. At the same time, all other users can create items and plots in the built-in constructor.
The created objects can then be sold by using the marketplace and SAND tokens. The platform provides a wide range of opportunities for both players and content creators.
RetroCade
- A collection of games.
- Interesting tokenomics.
- Very cool ideas.
- Every game gets less focus because there are multiple games to work on.
- The player base isn’t at its peak yet.
This is one of the new blockchain projects. The game aims to bring back the atmosphere of slot machines of the 80s and 90s. It also fully supports NFTs.
RC tokens are required to access games on the platform and also serve as a reward within the game. The players are awarded prizes from the shared prize pool. Holders of RetroCade tokens will also be able to participate in project management in the future.
Decentraland
- One of the biggest players in the VR world.
- Allows you to create almost anything you want.
- Very big vision and a great community.
- Still in the early development phase.
- Not free to play.
This is one of the most popular metaverses on the blockchain.
It opens up almost limitless possibilities for creating objects, arranging plots of land, and earning money on NFTs. The game can be played on any browser. It has a powerful community of participants to interact with.
CropBytes
- Cool design.
- Constantly being developed and improved.
- Can play on mobile.
- Still not as popular as it could be.
- Takes a long time to start playing.
This is a virtual farm with a balanced economy, including earning opportunities and NFT tokens.
Previously, users could earn TRX, but now the project has launched its native CBX token that is distributed using the Binance Launchpool. This project is available as a mobile application.
With fun gameplay and the ability to earn real-world rewards, CropBytes is a must-check game for all gamers and farmers out there!
Alien Worlds
- Low entry barrier to play and earn.
- Active and friendly community.
- Lets you finish quests across the galaxy.
- The staking system is not perfect yet.
- Bad looking website.
In this game’s world, players have to control planets and their resources. They can trade the necessary resources with each other and extract minerals.
They can rent spaceships, send them on missions, and participate in various activities. You need to be incredibly careful because there are many fraudulent fake copies of this project.
Mines of Dalarnia
- Fully decentralized.
- Have a thorough whitepaper.
- Growing player base.
- The graphics are quite bad.
- Feels a bit tedious at times.
In the world of the Mines of Dalarnia, players buy equipment and garment to dive into the mines to extract minerals of varying degrees of rarity.
The game provides a fresh and unique take on the genre, with exciting mechanics and an immersive world to explore.
Descending into a mine and spending a certain amount of time in it requires payment. You can create a source of passive income by buying plots and renting them out.
ZOO Crypto World
- Interesting staking tools.
- Combines GameFi with DeFi.
- Can battle other players.
- Not really a game by full definition.
- UI can be improved.
It is a DeFi project disguised as a game. It offers investment pools and staking.
Participants can fight each other or bosses in various modes, as well as find chests with collectible NFTs. It is planned to expand the functionality to a full-fledged MMORPG.
The Ultimate Best Crypto Games Guide
Let us start with the fact that money-earning crypto games are one of the fastest-growing segments of the cryptocurrency market in 2021 and 2022.
At the beginning of 2022, the entire gaming world was shaken by a massive wave of NFTs or so-called non-fungible tokens. Interestingly, many of them are sold for lots of money.
Here is another interesting fact: the most significant volume of this money can be found in games that offer unique collectibles among the wide range of in-game items and goods.
As a result, the process of making money in the world of crypto games by using all features of NFT is becoming more and more enjoyable.
For example, Battle Pets transforms regular pets into tokens. Players can then collect, grow, breed, and arrange battles between pets and sell them while withdrawing the earned cryptocurrency to their wallets.
First of all, the “crypto games” term is used to define games where players can own certain digital assets while the authenticity and uniqueness of such items and goods are confirmed by the blockchain.
So, players have an opportunity to freely exchange or sell their assets, both inside the game and on third-party trading platforms.
Here is an example: Many of us have heard about the famous card game “Heartstone.” Now, imagine that you could sell any card you do not really need, and use that money to buy whatever you want, or withdraw money from the game and spend it in any way you desire.
Interestingly, digital assets in crypto games can be bought and obtained in the game world in the form of rewards. Thus, theoretically, crypto games allow you to monetize the time you spend playing them.
There is a vast number of crypto games to choose from. Some of them do not even require registration. All you have to do is to open a website, indicate your cryptocurrency wallet address, and withdraw the earned coins right into it.
Generally, I’d recommend choosing games with Bitcoin withdrawal without any investments from the player.
There are also paid crypto games with the Bitcoin withdrawal feature, which sometimes reminds me of financial pyramids. At the same time, they offer more lucrative earnings. However, you need to stay away from fraudulent projects.
Whenever you choose a free crypto game, you need to know that the owner of the service is an intermediary or developer who promotes their product.
In the case of paid versions, gamers receive income by making initial investments.
In the world of online crypto games, such things as game tokens and NFTs are often used. So, let us take a closer look at both of them.
Tokens
First of all, it is used to reward players for certain achievements and can also allow them to buy some assets in the game.
Most of these tokens are functional only within the game.
At the same time, if the project becomes successful, such tokens become valuable trading assets.
NFTs
NFTs are tokens used to secure the ownership of unique digital assets. NFT tokens can represent items, skills, territories in metaverses, and many other things.
These tokens can be freely bought and sold on third-party markets and are not directly connected or attached to the game.
Most of these games require a small initial investment. For example, sometimes starting a game is impossible without buying your first character, pet, or plot.
So, before investing in any game, make sure to check its reliability and trustworthiness. It’s always better to invest in popular and trustworthy projects.
Otherwise, you may face various fraudulent activities, as happened with the Squid Game. The creators of that game deceived users and managed to steal around $12,000,000.
How to Choose The Best Crypto Game To Play?
When choosing a suitable Bitcoin game, you should pay attention to the following aspects:
The storyline
The strategy and the game’s storyline should be interesting. Otherwise, you will not be able to enjoy your time playing the game.
Check reviews
Take a look at testimonials of other players, the number of coins earned, all difficulties they had to face, and whether it is possible to get the promised money.
Many developers strive to set high withdrawal thresholds, while some prefer to add certain conditions.
Game quality
Only high-quality content can attract the attention of a wide audience of users. The high level of competition will also allow the project to become a long-lasting game.
Payments and withdrawals
You need to evaluate the prospects of the payouts. Try to think about how long it will take to achieve the goals set by the developers to receive revenue.
Different games implement various systems of rewards for users. In some cases, it is enough to spend 10-15 minutes to receive a reward, while in others – you have to spend many hours to get at least something.
Language support
Most crypto games with withdrawal features aim primarily at English-speaking audiences.
The main reason for that is the higher cost of advertising, so it is not so easy to find Bitcoin games in other languages.
At the same time, you should also pay attention to the possibility of translating the game and changing languages in the future.
The entry threshold
You can find a lot of dubious projects where you need to make a deposit before starting the game. In general, these are gambling crypto games or just fraudulent projects.
It’s recommended to avoid such projects and play only free Bitcoin games.
Main Game Types
As in the case of classic games, blockchain games can belong to many genres.
They have a number of common features: they can be played in the browser (Mobile applications are less common at the moment), have simple controls, and have an easy interface, which even a complete beginner can handle.
There are several key genres chosen by the developers of DeFi and NFT projects:
Metaverses
These are virtual worlds where you can create your own character or avatar, buy plots of land, decorate properties and houses, get pets, participate in competitions with other players, communicate with them, and perform many other actions.
One of the best examples of games in this genre is Decentraland.
Fighting games
These games are based on battle tournaments with other players. In order to win, you need to improve your character, skills, and weapons and buy new equipment.
This type of game has many different atmospheres: From outer space to the Middle Ages. The Cryptoblades is one of the best examples of this genre.
Card and collectible games
Some projects focus on working with NFT collections, e.g., collecting virtual baseball cards. You can use the cards to play the game or sell the rarest of them as NFTs.
There are also games based on the blockchain, similar to Hearthstone from Blizzard. One of the best examples is the Splinterlands.
In addition, there are also strategy games, educational games, puzzles, arcade games, and a lot of other genres in the world of crypto games. So, everyone will be able to find an interesting game for themselves.
Pros and Cons of Crypto Games
Let’s take a look at the main pros and cons of blockchain games:
- High transparency, reducing the likelihood of fraud.
- Real financial incentives for players.
- Easy and flexible smart contract setup. Developers can talk with users and promptly make changes to the protocol. Many projects also support decentralized governance, where token holders vote for changes they like.
- Primitive graphics and gameplay. This can be explained by the fact that truly professional and talented game developers are employed in traditional companies and are just beginning to look at the world of blockchain.
- Speed and scalability. The majority of crypto games are based on the Ethereum blockchain, which offers only expensive and slow transactions.
- The above situation imposes significant restrictions and increases the entry threshold for beginners. Fortunately, many alternative blockchains allow the creation of games using GameFi platforms.
Play-to-earn (P2E) Games
P2E games are based on the play-to-earn principle.
Users can get rewards for participating in the game, e.g., for winning battles, advancing through levels, and mastering the in-game universe.
Move-to-earn (M2E) Games
M2E games are based on the move-to-earn principle. All M2E games and apps use the sensors of the player’s mobile device to track their movements while automatically rewarding them for physical activity.
As in the case of P2E games, some M2E games can be played for free, but in most cases, the user needs to purchase NFT to start the game.
Since the price of NFTs usually increases with the game’s popularity, the user may have to invest a considerable amount before having a chance to earn.
The M2E concept is based on expanding the benefits of the blockchain-based reward concept beyond gaming to promote a healthy lifestyle.
This concept coincides with the growing number of fitness trackers and wellness programs employers that encourage employees to exercise and stay fit. By using fitness-based M2E solutions, medical insurance costs can be reduced.
In addition, it allows for increasing the overall performance of employees by making their health stronger. In other words, M2E applications can reach an even broader market than P2E.
Move-to-Earn games where you can make money
STEPN and Genopets are among the first projects based on the move-to-earn model.
They were officially launched at the end of 2021, together with WIRTUAL, DEFY, and OliveX. Let’s take a closer look at the most popular tokens for earning: STEPN and Genopets.
STEPN
The development of STEPN on the Solana blockchain began in August 2021. From August to October, the developers participated in the Solana Ignition Hackathon.
Already in November, they began private beta testing of the application. The public beta version was launched in December.
Already in January, STEPN received seed funding from Sequoia Capital, Folius Ventures, Solana Capital, and Alameda Research, as well as from other investors.
The STEPN app uses NFT sneakers to track the movements of the player based on the GPS signal from their mobile devices.
The game uses a dual cryptocurrency token structure: The Green Satoshi token (GST) acts as an in-game service token, while the Green Metaverse token (GMT) acts as a management token to participate in the development of the project.
The price of GMT has increased by 1,925% since its launch on the Binance exchange on March 9. It reached the maximum price of $3.11 on April 1 and went down to $2.16 on April 5.
At the time of writing this review, such platforms as DigitalCoinPrice and PricePrediction were optimistic about the future of GMT, predicting that its price could move into a double-digit range in the coming years.
Genopets
Genopets is a role-playing game that combines all the best elements of digital Tamagotchi and Pokémon Go games with fitness and social incentives.
This game uses data on the player’s physical activity in the real world from their smartphones or wearable devices to determine their progress through the in-game metaverse.
Genopets are NFT virtual pets that become more valuable as players customize and improve them while discovering the Genoverse. Players accumulate their steps to unlock in-game features and new abilities.
GENE is the in-game management and betting token used for in-game NFTs. It provides owners with exclusive features and gives them the right to vote for different decisions related to the game’s development.
The price of GENE quickly increased by 188% compared to the initial price of $13.13 when it was launched in November.
At the end of 2021, it seriously decreased, together with the cryptocurrency markets. It fell to $5.31 by February 24. At the same time, with the growth of the markets in mid-March, the GENE price recovered, thus reaching $22.79 on April 2. As of April 5, the coin was trading at $16.00.
At the time of this review, cryptocurrency forecasting websites were ambiguous in their predictions of the value of the GENE token.
WalletInvestor predicted it could trade from $0.70 to $6 over the next five years, while PricePrediction says that GENE will cost about $39.87 in 2025 and, on average, $350.44 by 2030.
It is important to remember that cryptocurrency markets are extremely volatile, which makes it difficult to accurately predict the price of a token in a few hours, not to mention long-term estimates.
This is especially true for new coins and tokens. In addition, all past results shall never be used to guarantee future earnings.
Since M2E applications are in the early stages of development, their potential as long-term investment assets is unclear.
There is always a risk that after the initial hype, the sector will not receive enough hype, and the market’s attention will switch to another trend, as a result of which the coins will cost significantly below their peak value.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are crypto games?
Those are games running on a blockchain and give players the opportunity to use crypto-tokens and NFTs while creating an additional source of income.
What is Play-to-Earn (P2E) model?
This is a game model where users can receive real financial rewards for actions in the game.
What is Move-to-Earn (M2E) model?
This is a game model where users earn by showing real physical activity (Walking, running, cycling, and so on).
Which move-to-earn games (M2E) are the most popular?
STEPN, Genopets, WIRTUAL, DEFY, and OliveX are among the first M2E games that have become tremendously popular.
Is it profitable to play move-to-earn (M2E) games?
The profitability of the M2E application depends on the user’s physical activity, the number of cryptocurrency rewards they can receive, and the value of coins on the open market. Since some M2E games require users to purchase NFTs to participate, it can be challenging to make a profit when NFTs are too expensive.
What are the main genres of crypto games?
There are many games in all genres: Card games, strategies, arcades, farms, racing, fighting, FPS, and collections.
What are the most popular blockchain games?
The most popular crypto games at the moment are Axie Infinity, Sandbox, and Decentraland. New projects appear all the time and are actively promoted by Binance and other major exchanges.
What are the pros and cons of crypto games?
A decentralized, transparent structure and earning opportunities are among the advantages. The disadvantages are the lack of exciting gameplay, many scammers, and delays caused by the high load on the blockchain.
What is NFT?
NFTs are Non-Fungible Tokens. In other words, each of them is unique and cannot be replaced by another. Various game objects are often offered in the NFT format, and their value depends on the rarity of the specific item.
The Bottom Line
The cryptocurrency market is increasingly intersecting with the gaming industry. As a result, a lot of crypto games are created every single day.
Most of them are related to NFTs, which have a lot of prospects for monetizing game items and characters.
The most popular genre is role-playing or RPG, which perfectly fits the NFT economy.
Vova Feldman
Entrepreneur, inventor, investor, crypto believer. Always trust the process, persist, and don't let the a-holes get you down.