Although many crypto play-to-earn games have entered the mainstream in the last few years, they have failed to stand the test of time. They bite the dust within a few months of the launch. The focus on tokenomics and fundraising is out of proportion with gameplay and engagement, which proves to be detrimental.
The poor performance and eventual death of blockchain games reveal that play-to-earn is unfeasible and unsustainable.
What’s next?
The blockchain gaming industry doesn’t need play-to-earn. There are more sustainable business models that can take it to new heights. A good example is Swords of Blood – a new web3 gaming project built on a play-to-own business model that addresses the long-standing problems in the industry.
A game can’t survive without gripping gameplay and a strong gaming community. This is the fundamental principle that drives Swords of Blood. It resurrects blockchain gaming by directing the focus back to the game.
At the heart of it, Swords of Blood is a blockchain-based, AAA-quality, fast-paced, free-to-play, hack-and-slash RPG built on the framework of an award-winning title. Although the earlier version of Swords of Blood was published in 2019 with limited access and features, it continues to be profitable. Today, it has an active gamer community with a good retention rate. In fact, the MVP has been downloaded by over 4M players from App Store and Play Store.
The MVP is playable and features a wide range of asynchronous game modes as follows:
- Main campaign dungeons in three difficulty levels.
- Monster Hunt dungeons, where you play against waves of progressively harder monsters.
- Boss Fortress, where you team up with four other players to fight against powerful bosses.
- PvP, where you compete against other players to rank up in the global leaderboard to earn prizes.
- Daily dungeons, where you enter a special rift to play a daily selection of dungeons with special rewards.
- Time-limited event dungeons with a special currency that can be spent on unique event items.
- Challenge dungeons are special events where you take challenges to win prizes from the global leaderboard.
- Shattered Mazed is a week-long special event with an event shop where you go through mazes and fight monsters and bosses.
Swords of Blood is set against the background of the brutal fall of the World of Ezura. It is upon you to breathe life back into the desolate lands through strategic gameplay. The rights to Swords of Blood are now with Hit Box Games LLC, which will take it to Web3 with fresh, engaging features.
A first-of-its-kind riveting game
The long-term goal of Swords of Blood is to become a community-centric MMORPG. This is made possible by integrating more synchronous game modes and multiplayer features like Tournaments, Clans, DAOs, and 4, 8, and 16-player PvP Arena. The new game will be published as a cross-play game that is compatible with mobile and desktop devices.
Here are some of the new features that you can expect in the reimagined game:
- 4, 8, and 16-player PVP modes
- Play-to-own and improved free-to-play mechanics
- E-sports micro tournaments
- Community-based gaming with guilds and clans
- Multichain crypto payment integration via SphereOne
- Fiat payment with Visa and Mastercard via Simplex
- New soundtrack that features talents from many famous acts such as Disturbed and Trivium
- U.T.’s – game utility tokens, NFTs that can be used in-game and sold in the open market
- A 150-hour game expansion pack (narrative written by a team with members from Cyberpunk, The Witcher, Gord, Command and Conquer, and Ghost Recon).
- Community-based communication areas with (likely) VR capabilities.
Swords of Blood lowers the barriers to blockchain gaming
It goes without saying that the technical and financial barriers to blockchain gaming need to be brought down. Unless it becomes accessible to a large group of people, it won’t go mainstream. And unless it goes mainstream, it won’t have long-term relevance.
Swords of Blood is designed to be not just financially accessible, but also technically. It is opening the doors of blockchain games to a large demographic, which includes traditional digital gamers, giving them a taste of the decentralized and democratic gaming experience.
In Swords of Blood, you will get a custodial wallet through Stardust upon signing up. It allows you to seamlessly store, buy, and sell $SWDTKN (native token) and in-game Game Utility Tokens. Abbreviated as GUTs, these are the NFTs in Swords of Blood. The custodial wallet does away with the hassles of downloading a wallet outside the game and setting it up. Swords of Blood also supports the purchase of $SWDTKN using your Mastercard or Visa card via Simplex.
Coming to the financial barrier, Swords of Blood is a free-to-play game with blockchain features expanding the game’s economy. As a result, it will be accessible to anyone passionate about gaming.
$SWDTKN presale will begin in March 2023
$SWDTKN is the native cryptocurrency of Swords of Blood. Tapping into the gripping gameplay and the fast-growing gaming community, Swords of Blood has the potential to become the next big crypto game. If the project unfolds as planned in the roadmap, it has the potential to outstrip leading blockchain games like Axie Infinity, Gods Unchained, and Alien Worlds.
It is also important to note that the project is led by a team of game development veterans like CEO James Seaman, with more than 35 years of experience in the industry. Their expertise strengthens the credibility and growth potential of the project. That also explains why Swords of Blood has secured partnerships with leading industry players like Fundamental Labs, Solana Ventures, Master Ventures, Gate.io Labs, Magnus Capital, Flame, and Acknoledger.
The $SWDTKN presale will be held in March, split into three rounds. As the presale moves to the higher stages, so will the price. So it is best to secure them early for the best discounts.
Early investments also come with exclusive access to the game’s closed beta, automatic whitelisting to future NFT sales, and phygital giveaways, to name a few.
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