How Summoners Arena takes on popular P2E games with its ‘play, own, earn’ version

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say blockchain-based play-to-earn (P2E) games are now a key source of income for many people worldwide. 

Take the Philippines, for instance, where Axie Infinity feeds many a mouth. The P2E metaverse game became very popular in the archipelago, with COVID-19 destroying the jobs and livelihoods of many.

Welcome to the exciting world of P2E games.

But for any of the gaming companies in the market, including Axie Infinity, the journey to the top was not easy. It took great effort, grit and determination. To top it all, Axie built a compelling product with the consumer in mind.

“Getting gamers to embrace your blockchain or metaverse games requires more than hard work,” says Hung Tran. “You cannot win their hearts unless your games are fun and user-friendly.”

P2E vs POE

And this is exactly the cornerstone of the ‘play, own, earn’ (POE) model that Summoners Arena, a startup founded by Tran, has developed. “We remove entry barriers and promote sustainable development where gamers can focus on gameplay while also enjoying financial benefits,” he adds.

Summoners Arena, which Tran, a serial entrepreneur, founded in Vietnam in May 2021, is a role-playing game (RPG) that aims to redefine user experience in the blockchain gaming space. (RPG refers to games in which players take on the roles of imaginary characters who engage in adventures, typically in a particular fantasy setting overseen by a referee).

Also Read: How Sipher won high-profile VCs’ hearts even before its blockchain games hit the market

Summoners Arena integrates traditional and blockchain gaming elements to provide a multi-layered experience for players to participate in immersive gameplay and experience true ownership over gaming assets while earning digital assets.

In this game, players summon heroes to engage in five-vs-five battles with fellow Summoners through various game modes and settings, with heroes represented as NFTs with unique stats and features.

Summoners Arena is set out to be a multi-game universe of various genres made into a franchise based on the antique lore of Summonia and Summonian Heroes.

“Our game requires players to strategically plan their resources, items, characters, and formation to maximise the gaming experience. It is heavily based on the players’ decision-making. This makes it a perfect fit for the current blockchain and crypto uprising,” Tran remarks.

Bridging the gap

In Tran’s opinion, the primary purpose of any game is to satisfy the users in terms of entertainment. However, most P2E gaming players are significantly driven by the earning aspect. The reasons can be ascribed to the lack of sufficient gaming structure or the sophistication of the gameplay.

“We are here to bridge that gap. We aim to help build the blockchain gaming industry to become more balanced between ‘playing’ and ‘earning’ aspects,” adds Tran, who is also the co-founder of OneSoft (the 16th largest game publisher in the world in 2021) and ex-CEO of ABI Game Studio.

“Users can fully enjoy our game and play it in longer terms, just like what they are doing now in the traditional market. At the same time, it gives them the right to control their in-game asset (the NFTs aspect) and can earn some profit while playing. This is what our POE is all about.”

Also Read: Metaverse is around the corner and you should play a role in it

The company claims to have millions of users worldwide playing the traditional version of Summoners Arena.

Summoners Arena is scheduled to launch two official versions of the game, a non-blockchain free-to-play (F2P) version where users cannot earn digital assets and a play-own-earn version. Players of the F2P version are rewarded with free characters and features when they join the POE version.

In the blockchain version (Mainnet), players can play a specific set of game features out of more than ten features already favoured by the players of the traditional version, such as PvP (person vs person), PvE (person vs environment), Dungeon, Weapon Forging, and Black Market.

Even though the Mainnet version has not been launched, it already has many users playing its open beta version. The recent statistics suggest that its strongest user base is from Asia. Tran says the closed beta tests were oversubscribed with over 5,000 users from different countries.

“Besides this, our development team has integrated a mix of NFT and non-NFT structures, allowing traditional players and new blockchain players to experience the game without initial capital investment,” he maintains.

GameFi and opportunities

Global blockchain games account for just a tiny percentage of the overall gaming industry. This presents a massive opportunity.

“One of our goals is to bring the real gaming experience to games on blockchain and convert the traditional gaming users to GameFi (a combination of game and finance) players. Hence, it only gives more benefits for players besides their entertaining purposes,” he explains. 

“Summoners Arena would like to pave the way for traditional gamers towards an easily accessible blockchain game with a well-developed P2E model.”

To date, the gaming startup has raised US$4.25 million across seed funding and strategic financing round. The investors include Pantera Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Onechain Technology, GuildFi, Merit Circle, Cosmic Guild, Coin98 Ventures, Istari Ventures, Spartan Group, Impossible Finance, Kyber Ventures, and Kyros Ventures. Prominent angels, including Chang-Han Kim, CEO of Krafton, and Mirza Uddin from Injective Labs, are also among its backers.

Also Read: Infinity Force scores US$5.5M seed funding led by Animoca to provide infra for global P2E communities

Undoubtedly, P2E games are spearheading a new age of blockchain gaming. The opportunity to earn real money by playing a game with blockchain technology and NFTs is attracting even more players and games to the market.

Shortly, more sophisticated products may change the whole GameFi landscape. Summoners Arena intends to bridge the migration of traditional gamers into the crypto world.

But can it emulate the success of the likes of Axie Infinity?

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