10 Upcoming Gaming Worlds with Play-to-Earn Mechanics

There’s no other gaming genre better suited for metaverse and play-to-earn infused gameplay than massively multiplayer online games and virtual worlds. Gaming worlds where players gather resources, craft items, trade assets, and adventure into the virtual universe. In this article we will take a look at 10 upcoming gaming worlds where you might find a nice side hustle. 

Ever since we walked around Goldshire or The Barrens in World of Warcraft, many have been dreaming about living in an MMORPG. Sure, you could earn in-game gold by trading and pwning newbs, but that doesn’t pay the bills. Through blockchain technology that dream comes a bit closer, because players have ownership over game assets. They can trade, borrow, use or sell items, and that’s how a game economy suddenly gets very real. 

Let’s take a look at 10 online gaming worlds that will feature play-to-earn mechanics, each of them having strong ties with the MMORPG game genre that brought us EverQuest, World of Warcraft and Runescape. 

The games listed in this article are:

• Mirandus
• Ember Sword
• WorldWideWebb
• The Walking Dead Empires
• Mist
• Cradles: Origin of Species
• World Eternal Online
• Guild of Guardians
• Gaia Everworld
• Dungeon Universe

Keep in mind that all these gaming worlds are still in development. This article should not be considered investment advice.

Mirandus

From Gala Games comes one of the most anticipated MMORPGs in the blockchain space. In Mirandus every part of the economy is owned by either companies, guilds or individual players. Gala Games provides a living world filled with animals, monsters and 5 kingdoms. Where the story goes from there, is up to the players. Kings can wage war, while traders and crafters try to make the best of it. Players can go on adventure, sell their resources to shopkeepers or fulfill jobs on request of other players. It’s still early, but 2022 will likely be a big year for Mirandus.

Ember Sword

Bright Star Studios has been working on Ember Sword for quite some time, and so far one land sale has been completed. The action packed RPG will have players slaying monsters, gathering resources and trading items. There’s been a small development delay, because the team decided to move their assets over to Immutable X. Nonetheless, this action-packed RPG is very high profile. Expect more land sales in 2022, and perhaps we will get our hands on an early version of the game.

WorldWideWebb

With WorldWideWebb we add one of the most open metaverse worlds to the list. Not only does the project integrate many NFT projects, ranging from CryptoPunks to CyberKongz and from LarvaLads to MoonCats, it also promises land owners the ability to integrate their own games and services. The dev team sees a future where anybody can launch or integrate a dapp in the WorldWideWebb. Interoperability is one of the key features for this easy to access virtual pixel world.

The Walking Dead: Empires

With AMC’s The Walking Dead Empires we have the only branded gaming virtual world in this list. Players need to team up, build a home, defend themselves, gather resources and always be afraid of the zombie horde. The game takes place in Georgia, the setting also used in the famous TV series. Players can now buy plots of land for The Walking Dead Empires on the Gala Games website. Pricing starts around 11,000 GALA, which is $3,300 at the time of writing.

Mist

With Mist we add the first online action RPG on Binance Smart Chain to the list. The game will let players quest and defeat monsters for NFT rewards, but it also uses the native MIST token. The team promises the ability to yield farm MIST through gameplay, aside from the pure gameplay action. Holding and using NFTs can boost your staking and yield farming earnings, while also providing gameplay benefits. This gives these assets valuable functionalities for all users in the Mist ecosystem.

Cradles: Origin of Species

From all the games in this list, Cradles: Origin of Species still has the longest road to go. This innovative online role playing game let’s players own planets that develop over time. However, the earlier players venture into a dangerous and chaotic world, the bigger the rewards are. Players need to bring order to a world. NFTs in this game follow the new ERC-3664 token standard, which means that NFTs can fall into chaos and perish if players don’t interfere. Yes, every planet is a player owned NFT. Cradles takes the concept of gaming world with play-to-earn and community ownership very seriously.

World Eternal Online

World Eternal Online will give players a fantasy MMORPG world filled with raid bosses to slay, dungeons to crawl through and loot to collect. Trading and crafting will form the economy of this MMO, and cities will become vibrant social hubs. New zones, quests and dungeons spawn based on player collaboration. Hero NFTs, crafting licenses and land deeds will be sold to players through upcoming sales events.

Guild of Guardians

With Guild of Guardians the team at Immutable as one of the most hyped mobile games of the year in their hands. In this action RPG players team up in guilds to defeat dungeons, collect loot, and destroy raid bosses. Only when players are part of a guild, they are able to put their acquired resources to use for crafting. This emphasizes that the developers are all about player collaboration. Seemingly, players are up for it as well, because NFTs for Guild of Guardians are already in high demand a trading gas free on Immutable X.

Gaia Everworld

Even though it’s still early days for Gaia Everworld, this fantasy world is worth mentioning. In this game world players build their kingdoms, explore the lands, battle monsters, collect items and breed pets. They just launched the sale of their Gaia Warriors on the Binance NFT marketplace, while players can also buy land in Gaia. The world of Gaia will be filled with conflict, but special safe zones will allow players to trade and socialize peacefully.

Dungeon Universe

We end this list with Dungeon Universe, a fantasy MMORPG where players collect weapons and armor, but also rare spells and recipes. Dungeon Universe features players housing and pets as well, while players can go on quest, venture into dungeons or group up for epic raids. The MMORPG will be free-to-play, but a $20 premium subscription gives you economic benefits in the game world. Think about reduced fees and resource gathering times.

Those are 10 upcoming gaming worlds infused with NFTs, play-to-earn and blockchain technology. Soon your level 80 warlock will be your side hustle paying for the weekend away with your partner, or at the very least that level 40 warrior can earn you a burger at a fastfood restaurant. In which of these games do you want to become active? Let us know, and join our Discord.

If you are interested in blockchain games, you can find the most active gaming dapps by checking the DappRadar Rankings. Here we track games on Polygon, Binance Smart Chain, Ronin, Wax and many other blockchain ecosystems.