CryptoBlades Coming to Avalanche Blockchain

The GameFi project CryptoBlades is expanding its ecosystem from Binance Smart Chain to the Avalanche blockchain. The leading decentralized exchange Pangolin revealed that they will list the SKILL token next week. Whether the ecosystem will also support the newly announced CryptoBlades Kingdoms, remains a mystery.

Back in August CryptoBlades launched on Binance Smart Chain, and the game quickly became a huge success. However, as quickly the game attracted an audience of hundreds of thousands, just as fast it dropped to the current level of roughly 22 thousand users per week on BSC.

Since then CryptoBlades has expanded to other chains, including OEC (formerly known as OKexChain) and Heco. Avalanche would be the next EVM-compatible blockchain. This means that there are different versions of the same, running on different blockchain, but using the same economics: the SKILL token.

Having a game running on different blockchains can be a benefit, as you might attract a new audience. That's of course why CryptoBlades is doing this.

What is CryptoBlades?

CryptoBlades looks a lot like a game, but ultimately it’s also a DeFi yield farm. When your hero, or multiple heroes, are strong enough and you have decent NFTs, it’s time to optimize your gear. Crafting NFTs is a key element of CryptoBlades, and matching heroes with the perfect weapon is crucial for success. Players can also fine-tune their characters through traits, and unlocking abilities. The stronger these heroes become, the more SKILL tokens they can earn you.

Looking at CryptoBlades from a traditional gaming perspective, then it’s a bit of a passive experience. However, for gamified DeFi it’s actually quite deep. What’s even more interesting is that low level characters mainly play at a loss. Users that dive into CryptoBlades and expect to make money instantly, will realize they need to put some effort (and money) in it.

However, as the hero levels up and players earn better gear, their rewards become better. Better rewards means more SKILL tokens, and as you level up you will start earning enough SKILL to outweigh to BNB investment. As a result the best heroes and their gear become money printing machines, or at least mercenaries that make you SKILL tokens. Of course, you will also need to think tactically. Weapons and heroes have certain elemental powers, and these work better or worse against certain enemies.

The road for CryptoBlades has not been without failure. Since its launch the game had issues with its economy, and SKILL dropped in value. It's a major challenge for game developers to really balance the economy of a play-to-earn game, especially when gamers demand instant richness. Look at SKILL, but also at the drop in value of SLP for example.