The P2E apocalypse is gaming’s best news

Play-to-earn gaming’s collapse isn’t a crisis; it’s a necessary reset that will force developers to prioritize fun over financial extraction mechanics.

Opinion by: Tobin Kuo, founder and CEO of Seraph

Play-to-earn (P2E) had a moment — “had” its moment — but that’s the problem. Its time has passed. The thrill was the payout, not the play, not the result, which looked less like a game and more like shift work with a user interface. 

To be fair, the experiments weren’t worthless. They proved that wallets can be controllers, assets can be portable, and communities can co-own the worlds they love. But it shouldn’t — and can’t — be denied that subsidies bent every design choice toward leeching mechanics. Everything was extraction: recruit, inflate, cash out and repeat. 

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