The shift to crypto gaming is real

A few years ago, my family had several investments in the gaming world. We owned shares of apple, of course, the premier mobile gaming platform (the most important platform out there right now). And we had a couple of investments on the software side, ActivisionBlizzard and Ubisoft. So when Christmas 2020 came around, I decided to ask for one Sony Playstation, two Ubisoft games and an ActivisionBlizzard game. You know, for stock research.

Okay, here’s my confession: I never took them out of the box. The very nice hardware and software sat under a table for a year, with the box unopened. In the end I gave it away. Why didn’t I even try to play my cool games on the Sony Playstation? Because I had so much fun playing free games on my iPhone, and a free game on the blockchain called Splinterlands (SPS -2.75%).

Free games are the best

On my iPhone, I spend a lot of time playing this free game, I think it’s from Korea, called “Galaxiga”, which reminds me of the fun games of my youth. Sometimes I spend money to upgrade one of my four battleships so I can blast the stupid aliens that keep attacking me. I also play “Clue” and “Jeopardy” and other games that don’t hurt my brain or wallet too much.

Back in 2019, when I was trying to research and understand crypto, I discovered a cool online game called Splinterlands. So, in the name of stock research, I started playing this free game that was on the blockchain. It’s a card-based fighting game with aliens, vampires, robots, dragons, a giant eyeball – it’s got it all.

Splinterlands is incredibly addictive and fun. People around the world play it. I am “Saint Croix” — so if you see “Saint Croix,” you play me and I will defeat you. I have seen at least one “Jester Investor” and he or she gets pretty good at it.

So for me, I’m a mobile gamer and a crypto gamer. Recently I have decided to spend less money in Galaxiga and to start spending more money in Splinterlands. So my “free” game usage habits are starting to change. Why?

Making money is even better than free

I played Splinterlands for free for months. What happened was that I kept running into these strange aliens who were out of my league. I basically got to a level where if I wanted to go higher I had to pay over $10. Then one day I did.

What happens when you pay $10? The whole game opens up and all the alien monsters are available to you. And you start winning (and owning) non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that can be exchanged for crypto on third-party sites.

At first I didn’t realize what a big deal this was, since all the cards were valued at pennies. After playing for a year, I had accumulated $2000 worth of in-game assets. Later that year, as crypto prices rose higher, the value of my battle cards also increased. They went from $5,000 to $12,000 to $17,000 in a matter of months. (You can see why kids are interested in crypto.)

This year crypto has crashed and the value of my NFT playing cards has crashed along with it. Now they are down to $5,000 again. I haven’t cashed out because the game is still addictive and fun and more people are discovering it all the time.

It’s early days

I’m keeping an eye out for other free games on the blockchain. One of the ones I hear a lot about is a game called Axie Infinity. I don’t think I’m the target market for this game. These are very childish graphics. And then when I click on “Battle”, it says “Coming Soon.”

Another is called Alien Worlds. It sounds like Dune and/or Star Trek. But when I click on “Play”, it says: “You need to login to Wax Cloud Wallet first”. I don’t have a Wax Cloud Wallet. Star atlas looks super cool and people are buying the NFTs but the actual game doesn’t exist yet.

Right now, Apple has nothing to fear from crypto gaming. Nevertheless, I have noticed a trend in my own spending habits. The amount of coins I send to Apple is shrinking. And I’ve started spending some money in Splinterlands.

I play games for fun. But I have to say that value creation is an added bonus. So I think at the end of the day these crypto players have the right idea. The future of gaming will be on the blockchain, with cool graphics and free games that give you money.