A glimpse into the world of NFT Horse Racing

NFT horse racing started by taking a popular betting sport and integrating it with blockchain capabilities, leading to the success of web3 titles such as Zed Run and Pegaxy. What is the difference between horses in the game as opposed to real life?

Real horse racing is an established sport in the non-digital realm. Although it has a certain reputation for its playing qualities, it is considered a legitimate sport. The popularity of the sport is reflected in its large market size that reached $5.4 billion in 2022. But with the introduction of NFT horses into the game, can the success of real horse racing be transferred to the blockchain?

NFT horse racing may not be as popular as the Kentucky Derby, but the Web3 gaming genre has been the talk of the crypto world for the past few years. The most popular iterations of the genre such as Pegaxy or Zed Run have gained the majority of the industry’s audience, and its popularity has led to a number of sports NFT horse racing titles such as those mentioned.

While they may not be as popular as the best horse racing games, their continued release of similar titles cements the continued interest in the genre.

Like real horse racing, NFT horse racing runs races (albeit digital) that reward owners for the fastest finisher. Players invest in a variety of different NFT horses, each with their own different characteristics and rarity. So instead of feeding your horse premium horse food, users choose the best possible breed they can find to put them in a race against other players.

Not only can users race, but they can also collect, sell, or even breed their horses in the game, offering them multiple methods of earning money in the game. NFT horse racing encourages players to invest heavily in their horses so they can either sell, breed or pit them against other horses.

Unlike real-life racing, blockchain technology allows these horses to be an NFT – meaning they can be “breeded” to create a special new NFT horse. The newly bred horses have a special code in them that distinguishes them from other digital horses. Players may not be able to pet or feed them like real horses, but they offer several ways to earn from them such as selling and trading.

Owners can pit their horses against 11 other horses to win great rewards if they win. These races are conducted around the clock since these digital horses do not need to sleep and rest, unlike real horses. This means that players can profit from their NFT horses 24/7.

In Zed Run, there are different types of “bloodlines” in the game. There are certain bloodlines that are rarer than others, and differentiate among other things between high-class horses. This creates a value hierarchy for the horses where the rarer the horse is, the higher the price in the market. Also, design and lore are also surprisingly added aspects to these games. Pegaxy features a futuristic, brightly colored mechanical horse that adds a layer of visual appeal to the game.

The NFT horse racing genre enjoyed Web3’s spotlight for a time. However, these games have also received criticism for their unsustainable “play-to-earn” economy and their lack of fun gameplay to be considered within the GameFi genre.

These games largely fit the ethos of “Play-to-Earn” where the primary motivation factor of users is to earn money. But as the play-to-earn genre unfolds, we’ve seen the pitfalls of this type of model, especially during a bear market. Games for profit tend to lose users when the prospect of making big money disappears.

Edmond is a passionate writer for video games, GameFi and Web3. He has worked for top GameFi companies and video game/crypto news sites.