With a Netflix-like interface and over 2,600 integrated games, Earn Alliance aims to simplify the process of discovering crypto and NFT games across all chains. And with a new feature launching Tuesday, the startup wants to help traditional gamers jump into the space
The prospect of crypto token rewards doesn't hurt either.
Today, Earn Alliance is launching a feature that allows players to link their accounts on the two major PC gaming marketplaces—Steam and the Epic Games Store—as well as on gaming chat app Discord. It is designed to help players find crypto games that match their interests, all while helping developers find more players interested in playing their own unique game.
Compared to the wider “Web2” gaming market, the crypto gaming space is relatively small. While on-chain data is a key aspect of most blockchain applications, Earn Alliance founder Joseph Cooper—a veteran game developer and serial entrepreneur—believes there is a vast amount of valuable off-chain data that isn't being used to help market and target crypto. Games.
“We want to get game data in good shape,” Gigi told Decrypt. “We don't just want to take your data — we want to pay you in tokens to convert.”
Linking your PC gaming accounts can tell Earn Alliance that you're into first-person shooters or role-playing games. That helps game developers (who pay the company) better target players, and ideally gives you more attractive game recommendations.
On top of that, it will get you into the Earn Alliance airdrop. Leading the fray from the NFT marketplace, Earn Alliance is distributing care package-style drops based on your play history and how you interact with games on the platform. Starting March 28th, when airdrops officially launch, users will be able to unlock those drops and claim ALLY tokens.
And there's an incentive to do more than just plug your accounts and disappear next month. Each Care Pack can be upgraded with “Upgrade Tickets” on Earn Alliance to interact with games, complete daily missions around games, and participate in street promotions. Referring other users will help increase your airdrop allocation.
In other words, it pays to play when it comes to ALLY token airdrops. Cooper says the lean towards a referral system reminds him of the days of Facebook gaming where players would drag their friends to unlock perks. He sees that model evolving in the Web3 world.
“I actually see this era as a repeat of Facebook's website,” he said, “where we're going to see a huge referral system — and you're going to get crypto for referrals.”
Earn Alliance already claims to have logged over 400,000 players, but with recent feature additions, the discovery platform is looking for a much wider market. Many games have resisted crypto games, citing issues ranging from poor quality to issues surrounding blockchain technology, as well as scams around the crypto industry.
Cheating and “carpet pulling” haven't been eliminated yet, but the technique is slowly becoming easier to use—and the games are getting better and better. Games take a long time to build well, but recent hits like Pixel and Shrapnel are showing the way forward.
Cooper knows the feeling all too well, as the team is co-developing the ultimate blockchain zombie survival game on the Epic Games Store. He first started making video game mods as a child and later worked professionally as a game developer and online casino founder.
In 2021, he got into the blockchain games with Axie Infinity, which offered a crash course in this space adventure. He saw the potential value of user property ownership, but also how thin gaming and an unbalanced economy could shortchange the growing phenomenon.
Since then, at Earn Alliance, he's watched the cryptic gaming space mature and evolve—and his goal is to help those creators find their audience as more and more quality games emerge.
Now, there is more adoption by game designers who are more curious about this space, and we will see some better games here in the next few months.
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