Play to earn refers to video games in which you receive cryptocurrencies and NFTs for time played, wins or completed tasks, which you can then exchange for euros or dollars on an exchange. The model boomed from 2020 to the end of 2021 and has since almost completely collapsed: according to CoinGecko, eight of the best-known gaming tokens were trading between 98.8 and 99.9 percent below their all-time highs on November 11, 2026.
This explainer shows how the rewards are created technically, why the economic model runs up against its limits and which rules apply under EU regulation. If you want to make money from games, you will find the figures here that let you assess an offer in advance.
What is play to earn? Games that hand out tokens and NFTs as rewards
In a conventional game, you own nothing you collect. Swords, skins or in-game money sit on the publisher's servers, and reselling them outside the game is usually prohibited. Play-to-earn games turn this around: characters, land and equipment are NFTs, unique tokens on a blockchain that sit in your own wallet. On top of that there is at least one fungible token, an interchangeable in-game currency that t...
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