Playing video games can be quite entertaining, and it can attract gamers so much, thus taking a lot of their time. However, while the process is fun, it does not provide any practical or financial benefit to gamers. It is simply entertainment that also requires a financial investment.
This problem can be solved by blockchain games, which provide an opportunity not only to play but also to receive real income in the form of digital assets that can later be sold, exchanged, and converted into real money.
Gala Games is one of the platforms that provide such opportunities. We will talk about it in the article.
This project differs from other similar platforms and attracts users with a variety of games and opportunities for income. In addition, its creators tried to make the games interesting. You can learn about other cryptocurrency projects and their currencies in the article "Cryptocurrency rankings."
Why blockchain games are popular
Blockchain games are gaining popularity among gamers around the world. This is because they allow you to earn real income and assets just by playing. Ordinary video games do not have such options, as all purchases in them are relevant only to the virtual world.
Thus, the digital assets that users purchase or receive as rewards in blockchain games have real value and worth outside of these games. Such games fall into the realm of GameFi, which provides monetary incentives that compel users to spend their time and finances.
Such games provide several opportunities to generate income:
- In the form of the game's internal currency. These are service tokens issued by the platform. They can be earned by participating in battles, completing quests, or other tasks in the game;
- NFT tokens are non-replaceable, unique tokens that may have some value outside of the game. Typically, this category includes characters and other in-game items that can be purchased or obtained and later resold;
- Through participation in staking. Users can block a certain number of coins on their account, which are used for the functioning of the platform. For this, they are rewarded in the form of a percentage of their stake.
However, it should be remembered that almost all blockchain games require an initial investment to buy characters, for example, or upgrade them. Therefore, many users view it not just as entertainment but as an investment. Sometimes it is free to start a game, but access to some features is paid.
Therefore, before you start playing a particular game, you need to carefully understand all the issues. This applies to the ways of paying rewards and opportunities for converting the platform's service tokens into other currencies, as well as assessing all potential risks.
Representatives of blockchain gaming
At first glance, blockchain games seem very attractive. However, their popularity and relevance among users depend on many factors. Firstly, developers need to constantly attract new players, and they need to actively participate in the game on a daily basis.
Secondly, the digital assets that are acquired in the game must retain or even increase in value over time. Users should be able to sell their characters, weapons, land, or other items without any difficulty.
Thirdly, new quests or any other updates should be constantly added to the games. This is because, even for money, anyone will hardly agree to play the same thing all the time. Players will simply move to other sites in search of something new.
There are some of the most prominent and well-known representatives of blockchain games, or Play-to-Earn as they are otherwise known. We will briefly discuss some of them and their key features in this section.
- Axie Infinity is one of the most popular P2E games. It is a universe populated by special creatures called Axie, which can be crossed and thus get new characters as well as participate in battles. All the characters have a different cost; it can reach tens of thousands of dollars.
- In the game Farmers World, users can manage their farms. Earnings can be obtained by selling crops or livestock, as well as other items. In addition, gamers can fight monsters, mine gold, and build houses for sale.
- The Upland game gives the opportunity to try on the role of a realtor who deals with not only real but digital real estate. You can earn money by reselling or renting out real estate. As in the real world, the cost of objects is influenced by a large number of factors, including infrastructure and others.
- Star Altas is a science fiction game based on the theme of space. Players can move to different planets and try themselves in different professions. All items and equipment in the game are NFT tokens.
- DeRace is suitable for gambling fans, as it is a model of horse racing. You can buy horses, participate in races, or place bets on races. Each horse is represented as an NFT.
Gala Games
We have already talked about what blockchain games are and how they differ from regular video games, as well as named some of the most popular representatives of this industry. In this section, let's take a look at another well-known platform, Gala Games, and its native coin, GALA cryptocurrency.
Gala Games is an ecosystem that includes several games at once. Different sources indicate different numbers of games. However, judging by the available data, the number of games could be 70. Nevertheless, not all games will be launched at the same time. Currently, there are five games in the active development phase.
Users can find the most interesting game for them among strategies, battles, role-playing games, and so on. Each game pays rewards in the form of its currency and NFT tokens.
Gala Games was initially launched on the Ethereum blockchain. However, thanks to the cooperation with Polygon Chain and the merger with BNB Chain, the possibilities for using the platform are already expanding significantly, and the costs for players are decreasing. In addition, the developers plan to create their platform.
The platform is managed by a network of nodes, which are owned by the holders of the project's service currency. These nodes support the functioning of the platform, as well as protect it and contribute to its development. We will talk about them in more detail later.
The project is led by several core developers, including Eric Schiermeyer and Michael McCarthy, who are already known for their other projects. Thus, Schiermeyer once became one of the founders of the company Zynga, which created many famous games back in the 2000s.
How Gala Games works
So, we have already mentioned that the platform is managed through a network of nodes owned by Gala Games users themselves. To run a node, you need to use your own project coins, which are GALA cryptocurrency.
These nodes are called Gala Nodes or founder nodes, and to launch each node, a user needs to obtain a license. Its cost is gradually increasing. Two years ago, it was about $13,000; at the moment, it is at least $18,000.
The project initially envisioned a maximum number of nodes, 50,000, with just under half of the total number of nodes currently functioning in the network. Since the number of nodes is limited, their cost increases as user demand rises.
Initially, for every 100 gala nodes sold, the price of a node increased by $100. However, now the situation has changed, and for every 100 new nodes that are added to the network, the license cost increases by $500. At the same time, the highest license cost can be at most $100,000.
Node owners transfer the computing power of their devices to keep the network running and to receive a reward in the form of GALA and NFT coins. Node operators are responsible for verifying transactions, protecting against fraudsters, creating new tokens, and also have the right to take part in voting on the further development of the platform.
The project developers plan to launch additional special nodes for each game on the platform. Also, each game will launch its own tokens, which will be used for transactions and voting on the development of a particular game but not the entire project.
Games available at Gala Games
As already mentioned, the platform contains several games of various types. This is done to attract more users from different segments and with different interests. At the moment, there are five games in the active development phase. Let's take a closer look at them.
- Town Star. The essence of the game is to build your own city. Users can choose any point and start building their city using different workers. Also, in this game, you can create various objects, which can be sold later as NFT. In addition, you can earn money in competitions, which are held every week. The top 100 players share a prize of 198,000 GALA coins. Another way to earn income is to complete certain tasks, for which you can earn from 1 to 100 of the game's own tokens, TOWN.
- Spider Tanks. It is a game in which players fight each other using tanks and other weapons in various locations. To start playing, it is enough to have at least one tank. This game was developed by a third-party studio and is still in the testing phase.
- Mirandus is a role-playing game that is also not yet released. Its essence is to be a knight of one of the five monarchs or go on a journey and fight there with monsters. In the game, you will be able to purchase lands and rent them out, and other ways of earning money will be available.
- The action of the Fortitude game takes place in the Middle Ages. The task of each player is to defend their tower and damage the towers of their opponents. This will be the main point of the game, which is also still in development. The main NFT is the defense tower, as well as characters, lands, and even clans.
- Echoes of Empire is one of the most interesting and anticipated games, the action of which takes place in space. Players need to organize their fleet and take part in battles throughout the galaxy. As the skill increases, you can increase your conquests as well as unite in teams.
Unique features
Gala Games is not the only platform that provides the user with access to blockchain games, which you both play and earn. However, this project and its currency, the GALA cryptocurrency, have some features that distinguish them from other similar platforms.
First, most similar services offer only one game at a time, while the platform in question offers several games. Users can choose the one that is more in line with their preferences or play different games in turn.
Secondly, the platform has its own built-in store, where gamers can buy or sell various items from the games. These can be characters, lands, weapons, and other items, depending on the game. This option allows you to quickly make transactions, receive income from the sale, or make upgrades.
Thirdly, the project has the strong support of its community. As already mentioned, the functioning of the site is provided through a network of nodes, which are managed by GALA token holders. In addition, the development team is in contact with community members to improve the project according to their needs.
Fourth, the platform has a huge community of active users who do not just play games but care about the future of the project.
Moreover, holders of their own currency and owners of nodes can vote on various issues related to the development of the platform.
In addition to voting on the most important issues of the project's development, community members can also propose their ideas for creating new games or developing existing ones, and even invent and create new games themselves. Active community members are rewarded for their participation.
GALA cryptocurrency
We have already discussed Gala Games, its structure, and its features. Now it is time to take a closer look at the platform's currency.
GALA is the main means of payment within the Gala Games project. It is used to fulfill several important functions, including:
- purchase of digital assets and NFT tokens, i.e., characters, lands, weapons, and other game items;
- payment of rewards to players for winning battles or completing tasks in the games;
- support of ecosystem functioning through the creation of special founder nodes by token holders (license purchases are also made for GALA);
- the possibility of participating in voting and managing the further development of the project for token holders.
The total maximum supply of GALA currency is limited to 50 billion tokens. However, not the entire volume of coins is in circulation. According to the rules of the project, initially, every day, just over 17 million tokens were distributed equally between node holders and the external administration of the project.
However, in July 2021, the management of the platform decided to apply halving. In this case, this means that the GALA issue is halved annually. Thus, as early as July 2022, the number of coins issued daily decreased to just over 8.5 million units.
At the moment, the price of the GALA coin is about 4 cents, which makes it very affordable for users. At the same time, during the launch of the project, the price of this currency was much lower, and the maximum level was reached in 2021.
Advantages and disadvantages
Like any other cryptocurrency platform, Gala Games and its service token, GALA cryptocurrency, have positive and negative sides. Let's consider them in more detail in this section.
So, the advantages of this platform are:
- A large number and variety of games. Other similar platforms, as a rule, offer only one game, and this can quickly bore users. Here, the creators have taken into account the interests of different gamers and offered games for every taste;
- Free games. In some of the games presented in Gala Games, gamers can start playing for free. Thus, they have the opportunity to get income without an initial investment of their funds;
- Potential for further development and expansion. The project can develop not only in this industry but also in the fields of education and training;
- Strong community of active users. Community members are interested in the development of the project, they can put forward their ideas for improving games or even invent their games, as well as participate in voting and become owners of founder nodes;
- A team of experienced developers. The creators of the project have vast experience in the video game industry, their names and reputation also increase the credibility of this project in the eyes of users.
Among the key disadvantages of the platform under consideration are the following:
- Not all games are launched. Some are still in the development or testing stage. That is why it is still quite difficult to assess the real success of the platform. Users are waiting for the launch of some games since, during their creation and promotion, excitement was created;
- The impossibility of using fiat currency. All payments and purchases on this platform can be made only with the currency of the project, GALA tokens. Accordingly, these coins must be purchased or exchanged on other platforms and transferred to the Gala Games account.
Gala Games future
The industry of P2E games is developing rapidly, so the Gala Games project will continue to gain popularity. However, its creators should not relax, as the competition in this sphere is also growing and other projects want to lure gamers to themselves.
The company has already signed several profitable partnerships with major investors. In particular, some well-known venture capital funds have invested in the project, and a $100 million agreement has been signed with C2 Ventures for the development of the P2E games market.
The key success factors of the platform are a hugely loyal community and a large number of active users. This is achieved due to the fact that the development team has tried to make the games not only attractive in terms of revenue generation but also in the process of the game itself.
Ultimately, if the promises of the project creators are indeed fulfilled and the games are launched in the format that users expect, it will bring even more success to the platform.
In addition, the company plans to launch its blockchain to serve the project. This will significantly reduce costs, as the platform is currently hosted on the Ethereum blockchain, which is known for its high fees.
As for the prospects of the value of the project's currency, its growth largely depends on the success of the Gala Games. If the platform continues to develop and offer gamers new games, its native token will be in greater demand, which will lead to an increase in its price. Some analysts predict a multiple-fold increase in the value of GALA.
Conclusion
In this article, we got acquainted with one of the brightest representatives of the blockchain gaming industry, Gala Games, and its currency, GALA cryptocurrency. This platform has some unique features that distinguish it from similar projects.
One of the key features of the platform is the ability to choose from several games that can be played by the user. The platform offers games of different types to attract a large number of gamers with different interests and preferences.
This has attracted a large number of active users who use the platform every day. In addition, the project has a loyal community of holders of the project's tokens, GALA.
They can participate in the management of the platform, offer their ideas for improving and creating new games, as well as buy licenses, and become owners of the founders' nodes. These nodes support the functioning of the entire system and protect it from criminal actions.
The GALA coin plays the most important role in the project, as it is with its help that all operations are carried out and rewards are given to users and owners of nodes. In addition, Gala Games plans to release a separate currency for each game.