Q&A: Play-to-earn mechanics 'kill' blockchain games — so what's the answer?

The play-to-earn boom has left many blockchain games on the scrapheap because they relied upon unrealistic tokenomics.

Here, Angelic's Founder and CEO Erkan Bayol explains why, despite all of this, NFTs have huge potential in the world of gaming — as long as they're added in the right way.

1. What are AAA games — and how can NFTs make them better?

AAA games are the pinnacle of the entertainment industry — bringing art, technology and literacy together. They're the gaming equivalent of the biggest blockbuster movies in Hollywood — and better still, they're interactable.

NFTs and blockchain technology enhance this further, and convert gamers into collaborators. Now you can contribute to your favorite universe, design characters and maybe become a celebrity. You can have a say in the governance of games you're enthusiastic about, and share unforgettable experiences with friends based in a world that is partially designed and owned by you.

That was what excited us from the beginning — and that was why we always considered play-to-earn as a very short-sighted vision. Thanks to NFTs and blockchain, we can now design, create, govern, utilize and enjoy universes collaboratively.

2. You believe nonfungible tokens can be unlimited. How does that work?

Angelic strives to create a balance between two key components.

The first is having a low barrier to entry, and ensuring the game is free to play. Gamers can get free heroes by registering on our website.

Crucially, we don't have a play-to-earn model. The most expensive NFT will not necessarily be the best one in the game.

Our NFTs are designed with a level up and cap system that will suit different kinds of players and investors. We want as many players to experience the joy of Angelic and all its many aspects, including the NFTs, without placing a value on what means more to us: our community enjoying and loving our game as much as we do.

3. Why is it so important to avoid play-to-earn and pay-to-win mechanics?

We are a game first. If blockchain, NFTs and cryptocurrencies disappeared tomorrow, we would still be an amazing science fiction game that takes place in a collaborative universe.

This mentality means we're focused on long-term sustainability and playability. Play-to-earn mechanics might work in the short term, but they always kill the title in the long run. In our opinion, play-to-earn is effectively a bribing mechanism that quality games would not even need in the first place to convince people to play.

4. Tell us how Angelic is doing things differently.

Angelic wants people to play for fun. We're a collaborate-to-earn game, and the multiplayer layer is completely free.

Our players won't just enjoy our universe, they'll contribute to it in many ways. They can design characters, help us govern, compete as a professional player, team up with others to dominate sectors and run various economic and military activities, or simply enjoy the narrative. It's all up to them.

We don't want all of our players to be motivated by what they can earn — we want them to be passionate about the game and be proud of being a part of this universe.

5. What do you say to critics who argue games like this can be done without blockchain — and NFTs only add a layer of monetization?

I agree that games can be developed without blockchain — they have been from the beginning.

What the critics were missing is the point that we could even make games without 3D graphics.

Especially when you develop a AAA title, you usually prefer using bleeding-edge rendering technologies — not because you must, but because you should enhance the game on various fronts.

Blockchain is also an enabler. It is an evolution, not a revolution. Critics were mostly right because we've mostly seen weak implementation of this technology in AAA gaming so far. We can still merge traditional AAA with the blockchain to unleash even more exciting combinations.

How about building a collaborative intellectual property — contributing, owning, governing and enjoying together, based on a transparent infrastructure and a trustless system with distributed ownership and democratic governance? How would this be possible without blockchains, tokens and NFTs?

6. Some metaverses have struggled from technical difficulties — even Meta is suffering bugs. How are you tackling this on your platform?

We are good at distributing the technical risks. We have been utilizing agile methodologies and have an iterative development approach.

That approach enables us to deploy playable builds quite frequently, which automatically tackles many risks and optimization issues, while letting us gather feedback.

We had a playable demo that offered three-hour gameplay back in early 2021. Deploying builds is a great way to spot issues early on — and I can safely say we are masters of that approach. At some point, we will make our builds public as well to further integrate our community even during the development stages.

7. Who are the types of gamers that will enjoy what Angelic has to offer?

RPG and strategy fans will love our core gameplay. The dark tone makes the game more appealing for people who enjoy things like Game Of Thrones or the Witcher series. Even if you are not interested in the campaign, you would still feel the influence of the setting on the multiplayer universe.

We're also keen to welcome more casual players, and you don't have to be a hardcore devotee to enjoy the game. Our universe is vast and deep, and there is a place for everyone.

8. You've struck up some pretty impressive partnerships. Tell us about some of them.

We are proud of our backers and partners. They have believed in our long-term vision, which was quite unorthodox especially 10 to 12 months ago.

Our lead investors — Pantera Capital, Animoca Brands and Everyrealm — are all reputable and distinguished partners.

We have Solana Ventures, Morningstar, Shima Capital, Mechanism, Fundamental Labs, GSR, Signum Capital, UOB, Double Peak, IBA and Dweb3 and awesome guild partners like Ancient 8, Unix, PIF, GGG, PathDao and Rainmaker.

Angelic also enjoys solid support from many CEX VCs like OKX Blockdream Ventures, Huobi Ventures and Gate.io Labs.

There are more than 65 partners and backers, and it is impossible to list them all here.

9. What are your plans for the next 12 months?

Soon we will release gameplay footage — especially from the new combat module. We will continue free NFT poster campaigns, which is a great way to earn some epic hero NFTs.

In January, we will release our very first NFT sale campaign to the public, and also release a playable build to influencers.

In February, we are launching both the tokens and public playable build of the first iteration of Angelic, which will be a player vs player game module where you can use your NFT heroes and begin your journey in our universe. Then we will keep adding new modules, features, heroes and contents along the way.

All these dates are based on our honest estimations and projections, and we are doing our best not to delay any launch dates and milestones.

We encourage people to join our community, especially our Discord servers, to both track and contribute to our roadmap and release plans.