Within a couple of past years, GameFi has grown in popularity immensely. It is connected with the fact that in GameFi, people do not only play games. When they compete with each on a gaming arena, trade, participate and win in tournaments, manage lands or other infrastructure components in virtual worlds, they earn money.

GameFi shifts to a New Model

While the first games were focused on yearning opportunities only, that's why they got the name play-to-earn games; new games offer much more. Along with offering in-game items and rewarding players with digital assets for their participation in a game, they also provide their users with excellent gameplay with top-quality graphics and animation.

Along with an opportunity to earn rewards, users can enjoy the game itself. That's why such games that, along with money, offer top benefits of traditional gaming are sustainable in the long term.

In-game Items, In-game Transactions, and In-game Assets Combined With Top-quality Gameplay

When playing, users create a specific value for all the digital assets they own. These assets in the form of non fungible tokens can be sold or exchanged on a special marketplace. Such marketplaces are normally offered within a game. So, axies and SLP can be swapped, bought and sold on the Axie Infinity marketplace.

In-game tokens are traded on most decentralized exchange platforms. So, buying and selling them is not an issue, either.

This true ownership over the gaming assets is something that is valued by players and turns P2E games into a separate industry. If a game offers excellent gameplay, along with passive income opportunities or options to earn, it has all chances to become a leader in the crypto and blockchain gaming space.

Some games have already achieved this level. Here they are - top GameFi projects to follow in 2023.

Leading GameFi Projects in 2023

All these projects, even though they are very different one from another, offer and create something that attracts people: engaging gameplay, plenty of activities, and loads of earning opportunities.

Some of them have already an established place in the gaming ecosystem while others are just starting their way in this highly competitive but extremely promising field. Let's start with the names that you know already.

Existing GameFi Projects to Watch in 2023

The most popular of the projects that have been here for a while are the following.

The Sandbox Metaverse

Sandbox is working on creating a virtual world where users can do what they normally do in their daily lives: live, construct, work, do shopping, etc. Along with excellent earning opportunities, Sandbox offers excellent gameplay. In the Sandbox metaverse, gamers can not only earn but do it while enjoying all their activities: attending and participating in their favorite shows and events, exploring, constructing, etc.

Sandbox doesn't limit gamers to the existing options but expands the number and type of activities constantly. This is another detail that makes Sandbox increasingly popular and Sand tokens - demanded.

The Sandbox platform is easy to use - a feature that makes it very attractive to beginners. It allows it to widen its target audience to those who would like to try a metaverse but were frightened off by its complexity from the technical point of view.

With all the mentioned benefits, Sandbox is a metaverse that is here to stay.

Axie Infinity

Axie Infinity is the first blockchain-based play-to-earn game that has earned immense popularity. Axie Infinity was very popular during the COVID pandemic. When people started losing their jobs, many of them started looking for options to survive and discovered Axie Infinity.

After the pandemic was over, Axie Infinity still continued to be one of the top popular projects. Many people in the Philippines, for example, used to earn more money while playing than they were paid in their jobs previously.

However, with the arrival of a prolonged bear market during the recent crypto winter, all crypto tokens, including those used in Axie Infinity, dropped in value, and many players just left the game, causing a massive 98% drop in the game ROI.

Upcoming GameFi Projects

Some projects still do not offer extended functionality because their developers are working to create metaverses that will be able to compete in the future.

Otherside

The Otherside was branched out from Bored Ape Yacht Club, an ambitious project whose non-fungible tokens are known to be among the most expensive in the market.

Otherside is still under development. It is going to be a gamified interoperable metaverse blending multiplayer games and Web3-enabled worlds. Yuga Labs knows all about expensive projects and thus, it is difficult to expect that free players will be let in Otherside.

The game looks promising from what we can see now. But only when the platform is live, allowing players to access the available features, will we see the real value of this platform, and it is quite possible that this will become one of the most successful NFT projects (even though, judging from the start, one of the weirdest, too).

Star Atlas

Star Atlas is another promising project. It positions itself as a grand strategy game of space exploration, conquest, and so on.

This is a community-focused project. It is expected that players will decide how the Star Atlas is going to develop.

Plenty of games and immersive experiences, top quality, and carefully-developed gameplay are definitely the attractive points. The absence of decent experiences for non-paying users is a significant drawback. If you hope to join a free-to-play version of Star Atlas, you might be highly disappointed.

Even though the game developers didn't provide those who don't buy in-game money with an opportunity to enjoy the game, Star Atlas takes its place among the most promising NFT projects, and its utility token value may boost in 2023, especially if the team delivers some significant advancements.

ElseVerse

ElseVerse is still under development, but the potential is seen even by inexperienced investors. This metaverse project is an incubation of BullPerks and GamesPad. It is led by a team of experts, those who have been in the area for ages and know everything about blockchain and the metaverse.

The main difference between ElseVerse and Metaverses is that the project doesn't concentrate on providing gamers with earning opportunities only. In the ElseVerse world, one can find his place based on his skills and wishes.

Those who would like to trade can open a shop or just become one of those merchants who travel around looking for rare game assets and resources and reselling them.

If trading is not for you, but you love competition, you can participate in numerous tournaments, manage your dragons to win, and get valuable token rewards, in-game assets and in-game items.

Land sales may be very attractive to those investors who want to benefit in the long turn and massively. In the marketplace, such lands will cost millions in the future. But this is not their main value. A plot with a well-developed infrastructure has the ability to boost the value of your business by offering numerous benefits, such as accessing plenty of users all around the world, growing customer loyalty by offering customized experiences, and many more.

ElseVerse is not focused on earning money only. The metaverse creators decided to include non-paying players into the endless world by offering them a comprehensive range of experiences such as visiting shows and tournaments, shopping, and enabling them to upgrade their accounts to paying ones when they are ready to do so.

Game assets, just like it is the same with all similar games, will have tangible value in the real world. Whatever users will receive during their gaming activities, they can sell or exchange.

MetaVision

MetaVision is another possible leader in the future gaming industry. It enables users to get the best gaming experience on Binance Smart Chain with lower in-game transaction costs and faster speed of transactions than on the Ethereum network.

This is going to be a comprehensive metaverse that offers top gaming experiences and is based on four pillars: play-to-earn games, life experience, virtual merchandise, and virtual advertising.

So, users will be able to earn money by getting and upgrading digital assets with an opportunity to benefit from renting them or selling them for a profit in a marketplace. Some in-game items will be unique or rare, which will boost their value.

Along with blockchain technology, the project can boast integrated virtual reality features that boost the gaming experience.

AI-driven activities and interactions are other benefits introduced by this virtual world creators. It allows creating endless experiences for users and adds value for investors.

Along with all the mentioned options, there will also be standard land sales, game assets airdrops and sales, and other perks that game developers normally have ready in the blockchain gaming industry.

A Focus on Digital Assets Alone Won't Work

It depends on the focus the project takes. Experience shows that blockchain technology-based gaming projects with a focus on money only attract users as long as their tokens and in-game assets can be sold at a profit.

As soon as a decline in the crypto market comes, and in-game assets drop in price so that users stop receiving the expected value of rewards, they start leaving the platform. Other players, especially those who are interested in playing the game, not trading options, earning token rewards, selling land plots, and other activities connected with money, ignore the game because it doesn't deliver them what they want.

Therefore, the only option for gaming developers is to shift from a pure P2E model to something more. Now, options are still being explored. Some game platforms offer users to create their own game variations, as many as they want. Others provide additional value to the game land plots. Other players may be attracted by an opportunity to try the platform for free before shifting to trading, buying, and selling in-game assets.

Finally, the gaming experience shall be immersive for the future game to survive and prosper in the long term. Game developers are using all the new advancements increasingly, and there is no reason why blockchain technology-based gaming shall be different.

So, blockchain-based gaming is going to survive. But most likely, it will take a completely different form. Virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and fully immersive experiences have already created some expectations. So, in the future, they shall become the foundation for gaming on blockchain.

Another detail is the community. Communities will play a more important role in the development of game projects. A decentralized autonomous organization will decide the project's development direction. This decentralized autonomous organization is not a new thing. It has been applied for a while in many DeFi and gaming projects. For now, we cannot say that any decentralized autonomous organization has reached its full power, but with the adoption of Web3, it will happen.

Top reasons to invest in GameFi projects

GameFi sector offers lucrative opportunities for investors. When a project launches an IDO with the hope of raising enough funds for its future development, investors can get the metaverse token before it starts trading on a decentralized exchange. So, they get the token even before other players can purchase it on an exchange.

Once the token is listed on a decentralized exchange, investors can trade it immediately by benefiting from it. Or they can keep it until the network value grows and sell it later for a profit.

Normally, it is possible to earn pretty much money if you invest in a metaverse or a game that has immense growth potential. That's why normally, it is required to get whitelisted to participate in an IDO and get a game token at a predetermined price before its value surges.

Final Thoughts

outdated. A token value is not a priority anymore for a game to be sustainable. To survive, a game shall offer something else: exciting gameplay, an immersive environment, plenty of ever-growing activities, and similar. GameFi has great potential, but only when it offers users whatever the latter need.

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Disclaimer. This material should not be construed as a basis for making investment decisions or as a recommendation to participate in investment transactions. Trading digital assets may involve significant risks and can result in the loss of invested capital. Therefore, you must ensure that you fully understand the risk involved, consider your level of experience, investment objectives, and seek independent financial advice if necessary.