The blockchain gaming industry is undergoing a rapid evolution, and the days of “play-to-earn” are rapidly disappearing over the horizon. With the emergence of a new generation of action-packed and visually spectacular blockchain games like My Pet Hooligan, players will no longer have to endure the repetitiveness of former hits like Axie Infinity.
Soon, they’ll have the opportunity to earn real-life rewards while playing games they actually enjoy. The next generation of blockchain games is laser-focused on delivering genuine thrills and spills, so much so that the crypto players earn will be little more than a nice bonus at the end of the day.
Axie Infinity: The Birth Of Blockchain Gaming
The launch of Axie Infinity in March 2018 slipped under the radar, but it ultimately proved to be a bombshell for the nascent blockchain gaming industry. As “DeFi Summer” kicked off in the heady months of 2021 when crypto was at the peak of its last, true bull run, hundreds of altcoins were making spectacular gains, the NFT craze took over, and blockchain gaming finally entered the spotlight.
Axie Infinity was the queen of blockchain games. In the game, players get to train and fight “Axies”, which are a bit like pokemon, but the difference is they can actually be owned because each one is an NFT. By battling their Axies, players can earn a cryptocurrency called Smooth Love Potion. Players can also breed their Axies, creating newer, baby Axies that have to be trained to fight. Those Axies can also be sold on the open marketplace, or rented out to other players.
With reports of some players earning hundreds of dollars per month, the price of Axie NFTs soared, with some of the most powerful ones selling for thousands of dollars. Even the weakest NFTs would fetch around $350, meaning that anyone who wanted to get in on the game had to make a significant investment. That’s why loaning Axies became a profitable business, with some investors reportedly buying up hundreds of NFTs and renting them out to capable players in return for around 40% to 70% of the profits they made.
A Spectacular Downfall
Axie set the blockchain gaming world alight, generating revenue of more than $15 million per day at one point, but just as quickly as it rose, it began to crash and burn. Due to its ill-thought out tokenomics, which amounted to little more than a Ponzi scheme, and a $600 million hack that shook confidence in the platform, the value of Axie’s NFTs and the Smooth Love Potion token cratered. The same Axie NFTs that once cost thousands of dollars were suddenly worth less than $10.
Traditional video gamers highlight the fall of Axie Infinity as a reason to reject the blockchain gaming industry. One of their fears is that crypto will transform gaming into a hustle, with players focused purely on profits rather than enjoying the game. Axie itself was notoriously dull to play, with limited room for any tactical maneuvering or skill that might determine the outcome of its battles.
However, it’s important to remember that Axie Infinity is not representative of the future of blockchain games. All Axie did was draw attention to the benefits blockchain could bring to gaming, and today, developers are racing to create AAA titles with a focus on thrilling gameplay, with blockchain simply there to enhance the enjoyment and rewards players get from those games.
My Pet Hooligan: Reinventing Blockchain Gaming
One of the most popular video game genres is the “battle royale” style shooter, with names like Fortnite and Pub G enjoying worldwide success for their thrilling gameplay.
That’s precisely the reason why AMGI Studios decided to enter the battle royale arena with its first-ever blockchain game, My Pet Hooligan. It’s built upon the KARRAT Protocol, and players get to engage in action-packed shootouts similar to those found in other titles in the genre, such as Call of Duty, Apex Legends and Overwatch. The gameplay, according to early reviews posted on YouTube, is exhilarating, and a breath of fresh air compared to the turn-based snooze-fest that Axie Infinity provides.
My Pet Hooligan takes place in the wonderful wacky world of Hooliland City, where players take control of NFT Rabbits that are armed to the teeth, amidst a rebellion against the evil overlord MetaZuckBot. Having escaped from enslavement, the rebellious bunnies are officially termed “hooligans” by their evil overlord, and they’re on a mission to get rid of him once and for all.
But there’s much more to My Pet Hooligan than just a shoot ‘em up, for it’s a game that also involves exploration, creative expression and social interaction. The gameplay blends player-vs-environment and player-vs-player action, with players facing off against multiple humans as well as computer-controlled bots, meaning they’re constantly forced to be on their toes.
Players can choose from dozens of different wacky weapons to arm themselves with, including a water pistol, fully automated machine guns and even a plunger-style sniper rifle. The various maps are extremely diverse too, with lots of high ground to be found for those looking for a tactical advantage. The action moves fast too – very fast, in fact, if you hop onto a skateboard in order to zoom across the landscape. But be careful if you do, because out in the open you will very quickly find yourself a “sitting rabbit” for other players.
The game also incorporates AI, with one of the most novel features being its motion capture technology, which enables players to control the expressions of their rabbits in real-time. The effects are extremely realistic, creating the sense of a more immersive virtual world that’s both alive and interactive.
The other innovation, of course, is the blockchain capabilities that sit at the heart of My Pet Hooligan. Because it’s built on the blockchain, players own their assets, including their NFT bunnies, their weapon load outs, and other items. They earn cryptocurrency for winning battles, and they’re free to sell both their earnings and their in-game assets at any time they wish
There are three main gameplay modes, including Coinpocalypse, which is where players hunt for coins while killing each other in a free-for-all, with the winner determined by those who have the most coins (and who is still alive) when the timer runs out. Second is the Anarchy mode, which is a more traditional battle royale without the coin collecting. In this mode, the last bunny standing is the winner.
Finally there’s the Hang Out mode, which is a non-violent open world where players can explore, hone their skateboarding skills, talk with other players, spray graffiti on buildings and generally just chill.
My Pet Hooligan vs Axie Infinity: How Do They Compare?
When comparing My Pet Hooligan to Axie Infinity, the contrast could not be more stark. While both games are built on the blockchain, that really is where the similarities end. On the one hand, we have My Pet Hooligan – an addictive, fast-paced AAA game that really might well give Fortnite a run for its money, and on the other, we have Axie Infinity, which is barely more advanced than something like Super Mario Bros. or Pac-Man, only arguably a lot less fun that either of those classics.
My Pet Hooligan is all about non-stop, frenetically-paced, action packed gunfights where the unthinkable can and often does happen. It’s full of surprises, it’s thoroughly entertaining, and it’s clearly a game that’s meant to be enjoyed again and again.
Axie Infinity has some elements that might keep players interested for a time. Players can get involved with breeding and training their Axies to try and make them more powerful, and there’s the business of trading them on the side to look forward to as well. There’s still a profit potential there, even if the profits are nowhere near as enticing as they once were. But at the same time, Axie is clearly not a game that’s designed to be enjoyed for long, for its battles are repetitive, turn-based affairs with agonizingly few strategic options. More often than not, it’s simply a case of the most powerful Axie winning every single time. Dull, in other words.
While both games use blockchain for the purpose of owning in-game assets, Axie Infinity lacks the visual delights of My Pet Hooligan, especially its breathtaking inclusion of AI. My Pet Hooligan also enables players to create their own content and engage in the game’s community, where they can make friends to enhance their enjoyment of the game.
My Pet Hooligan’s story also wins hands down. Players can join different factions in their quest to overthrow the MetaZuckBot evil overlords. Each faction has unique abilities and goals, adding more depth to the game. In contrast, Axie Infinity lacks any real story, and is simply focused on the mechanics of breeding and battling other players.
Maybe we’re being harsh on Axie Infinity. To its credit, Axie stands out as a revolutionary game that will go down in history for its pioneering use of blockchain, which enabled the profit-making potential that made headlines around the world. But it also stands out as a dismal failure in terms of longevity, due to the lack of any enduring appeal in terms of its gameplay.
Axie Infinity had its moment in the limelight, but that time has come to an end, and it’s giving way to the rise of a new generation of more engaging blockchain games, with My Pet Hooligan at the forefront of that movement.
Final Thoughts
My Pet Hooligan is still only available in beta, but it can be accessed easily via the Epic Games Store. AMGI Studios is continuing to develop the game, incorporating player feedback as it works towards its general release.
By merging advanced AI capabilities with blockchain and focusing extensively on developing a game that’s fun to play, the creators of My Pet Hooligan are much more likely to succeed where Axie Infinity failed – creating a long-lived game that’s richly rewarding in more ways than one.