Play-to-earn has fatal flaws: How can Web3 gaming be more sustainable?

cointelegraph.com:

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 hundreds of dollars to acquire the NFTs required to get involved. And even users willing to make that upfront investment may be disappointed by the quality of the gameplay –– with clunky graphics and a non-existent narrative.

Problems with this model don’t end here. Games with revenues that are driven by NFT sales are often at an early stage of their development — and unless sufficient traction is made with rolling out new features, users can end up exasperated. There can also be pressure to release new collectibles constantly so there’s a continuous flow of income.

And as users saw with Axie Infinity, the biggest issue surrounds rewards. While doling out generous amounts of tokens to players might entice new players, it’s an approach that can be hugely detrimental to that cryptocurrency’s value. Digital assets are volatile, with supply and demand playing a huge role in pricing. By dramatically inflating the total circulation, this