As the blockchain gaming industry rapidly expands, the Play-to-Earn (P2E) model has emerged as a way for players to earn money from in-game activities. However, amidst fierce competition, the Play-to-Airdrop (P2A) model has appeared.
What is Play-to-Airdrop?
Play-to-Airdrop is a method of rewarding tokens or NFTs through airdrops when players participate in special in-game activities.
This model encourages long-term player engagement and the completion of tasks or activities such as promoting the game on social media, completing community events, or participating in special missions. P2A differs from P2E in that rewards are not immediately available; players need to be active and maintain engagement with the game.
Reasons for the Development of Play-to-Airdrop
Play-to-Airdrop (P2A) emerged in 2024 as an innovative alternative to the traditional Play-to-Earn (P2E) model, focusing on increasing player engagement and community building.
In the context of P2E increasingly struggling with controlling token inflation and retaining players, P2A is seen as a solution to balance in-game economies and attract players through airdrops based on their participation and achievements.
P2A not only helps reduce marketing costs for game projects but also attracts players more organically compared to the P2E model. In P2A, players complete tasks or accumulate points to qualify for airdrops, encouraging them to engage with the game long-term instead of just playing for short-term profit.
This approach helps avoid token inflation and maintain the sustainability of the in-game economy, something many P2E games have struggled with in the past.
The Difference Between Play-to-Airdrop and Play-to-Earn
At first glance, Play-to-Airdrop (P2A) and Play-to-Earn (P2E) may seem similar, but each model has its own characteristics and goals, offering different experiences and benefits for players and the community.
Nature of Rewards
- Play-to-Earn (P2E): Rewards are given directly through in-game tokens or assets and can be traded immediately, helping players accumulate income.
- Play-to-Airdrop (P2A): Rewards are typically tokens or NFTs issued through airdrops, which are speculative and depend on the project’s development. These assets often do not have immediate fixed value.
Frequency of Receiving Rewards
- P2E: P2E games often provide continuous rewards based on player performance in the game. This allows players to accumulate income steadily over time, providing more stable returns.
- P2A: In contrast, P2A is intermittent, with airdrops triggered when certain milestones are reached or through events organized by the developer. This creates excitement but also requires long-term player engagement.
Community Interaction and Engagement
- P2A: This model focuses on enhancing interaction and creating a vibrant atmosphere within the player community. The promise of a future airdrop motivates players to maintain interaction, enhances community spirit, and encourages long-term engagement.
- P2E: With P2E, the focus is on building an in-game economy where players can earn and use tokens in daily transactions, creating a more circular economy rather than an interactive community.
Reward Value
- P2E: The value of P2E rewards is often based on the current value of the token within the game economy and is less influenced by external factors.
- P2A: The value of tokens or NFTs from P2A is more speculative and can increase significantly due to market demand or unique in-game features. In particular, airdrops can be very valuable if they have a limited supply or play an important role in the game ecosystem.
Further reading: The Current Landscape of Play-to-Earn.
Games that have adopted Play-to-Airdrop
In 2024, many Web3 games implemented Play-to-Airdrop campaigns to attract players and build in-game economies. Some typical projects include:
- Pixels: The game attracted over 1 million active players through the PIXEL token airdrop. Players actively participate in in-game tasks and use PIXEL tokens in market transactions. Pixels shows a strong increase in player numbers and engagement thanks to its airdrop campaign, helping to strengthen the internal economy.
- Spellborne on the Avalanche network: With over 100,000 registered players and 12,000 daily active users, Spellborne has demonstrated the power of P2A in attracting and retaining players. Spellborne’s airdrop campaign encouraged players to participate in 2.1 million matches and capture 140,000 monsters, demonstrating a high level of engagement thanks to the P2A model.
- Nifty Island: A virtual world where players build and manage islands, while participating in events to receive ISLAND tokens. Nifty Island also collaborates with over 120 other NFT communities, allowing players to use characters from these communities, creating a large and unique community space within the game. This model has helped the game significantly increase participation and interaction.
- Kuroro Beasts: Players accumulate points through activities to earn KURO tokens, which can be traded or held as demand increases in the market. Similar to Pokémon, Kuroro Beasts is a game where players collect and battle digital creatures. This game rewards players with KURO tokens through in-game events and quests, while also implementing a Play-to-Airdrop campaign to drive community engagement.
- MixMob: This game has adopted the Play-to-Airdrop model by encouraging players to promote the game and participate in social events to receive tokens. MixMob has attracted a large number of players thanks to its creativity in combining NFTs and social culture.
- Nyan Heroes: This is a PvP shooter game on the Solana platform, with a Play-to-Airdrop system allowing players to earn NYAN tokens through events and community interaction. This game quickly gained popularity due to its unique design and easy reward opportunities.
Case Study: The Success of Spellborne with the Play-to-Airdrop (P2A) Model
The Web3 game Spellborne, developed on the Avalanche network, achieved remarkable success in 2024 thanks to the Play-to-Airdrop (P2A) model.
Spellborne’s P2A Model Implementation Strategy
Spellborne implemented its P2A campaign with key elements aimed at attracting players and creating a sustainable game ecosystem:
Diverse Quests and Rewards: Spellborne encourages players to participate in various activities and quests, such as catching monsters and engaging in PvP battles. Players completing these tasks accumulate points to redeem for KURO token airdrops or special NFTs. Spellborne’s gameplay is quite similar to the Pokémon games.
As of 2024, Spellborne has attracted over 100,000 registrations and 12,000 daily active users thanks to these quests, with a total of 2.1 million matches played and 140,000 monsters captured, creating a high level of interaction and long-term interest in the community.
Engaged Community: Spellborne has established social events such as tournaments, guilds, and large-scale PvP battles to provide a platform for players to interact and compete.
About 50% of the total KURO token supply is distributed by Spellborne through reward programs and community events, not only incentivizing players but also helping to maintain the token’s value through asset scarcity and conditional airdrops. This approach helps control token inflation and ensures the sustainability of the in-game economy.
Token and NFT Airdrop Strategy: Instead of immediate token issuance, Spellborne distributes KURO tokens and NFTs through airdrops based on player contributions, mitigating the risk of token inflation.
Spellborne has released various types of Apartment NFTs, from small units to luxury penthouses, each with its own benefits like special costumes and priority access to new assets.
By 2024, these Apartment NFTs had a floor price of around 0.2326 ETH on the secondary market, indicating significant value and appeal within the community. NFT holders not only receive tokens from airdrops but also gain whitelist access to new projects from Mon Studios
Spellborne allocated 10% of the total KURO token supply for airdrops during the first season to Apartment NFT holders and active players. Players can earn rewards by completing tasks, such as hunting monsters, participating in PvP matches, and reaching community event milestones. These tasks require players to be committed and contribute, rather than just participate for the short term.
Spellborne’s Notable Figures
According to reports in early 2024, Spellborne achieved many successes thanks to the Play-to-Airdrop model:
- User Growth: Spellborne has attracted over 100,000 registered users and 12,000 daily active users, demonstrating that the P2A model helps maintain a stable player base.
- High Engagement: In P2A campaigns, players completed over 2.1 million matches and captured 140,000 monsters in the game, demonstrating the community’s interaction and engagement. These figures demonstrate the appeal and ability to retain players in the long term thanks to the achievement-based reward mechanism.
Current Market and Appeal of Play-to-Airdrop
Play-to-Airdrop (P2A) became a new trend in 2024 thanks to its ability to attract players without requiring initial investment, helping Web3 games both enhance interaction and build sustainable communities.
A prime example is the game Pixels, which started the year with an airdrop 2.0 event for the PIXEL token, creating a strong wave of support in the industry. This approach not only rewards players based on playtime but also encourages effective participation, focusing on those who actively contribute to the game’s ecosystem.
Other titles like Nyan Heroes and Nifty Island have also leveraged P2A, requiring players to complete community tasks or social interactions to qualify for airdrops. Instead of just focusing on “grinding” for rewards, these games aim to create an engaged community where players interact in-game while developing NFT assets. This has helped games like Pixels achieve significant player growth.
However, as the P2A model becomes more popular, the question arises whether it still provides a competitive advantage for new games. As more games adopt this model, competition for players will become fiercer, and P2A may become a “mandatory” feature rather than a unique selling point.
Learn more: Web3 Games – The Revolution of Digital Asset Ownership.
