Popular Solana-based Game DeFi Land Introduces Play-and-Earn Mechanics

While the play-and-earn mechanics require players to own in-game NFTs, DeFi Land also offers a free-to-play mode for new players to try out

According to a recent report from VC firm Andreessen Horowitz, gaming-related NFTs made up 20% of total NFT sales volume in 2021. What’s more, 49% of all crypto wallet activities last year came from games. If anything, these findings show that blockchain games have seen continued growth, and that web3 presents a great opportunity for game developers.

One latest example of a prospective blockchain game is DeFi Land. As the name suggests, this is a game designed to gamify decentralized finance (DeFi). The game was built on the Solana blockchain, and currently has over 7,500 daily and 25,000 monthly active users, according to NFT Plazas.

DeFi Land’s gameplay is mostly about agricultural simulation, with player activities that include farming, fishing, shooting, harvesting, taking care of pets, and more. The game has been operational for some time, but it just recently received an update that brought play-and-earn mechanics.

These new mechanics require players to own at least one DeFi Land Gen–0 NFT, which can be purchased through Magic Eden, Solanart, Fractal, or (soon) the in-game marketplace. These in-game NFTs serve as tools for players to carry out said activities, which will then reward them with an in-game currency named $GOLDY.

$GOLDY is a new currency for DeFi Land that’s introduced alongside the play-and-earn mechanics. Players can use their $GOLDY tokens to upgrade and improve their Gen–0 NFTs. Prior to this, DeFi Land already has a governance token named $DFL. According to the developer, players will soon be able to earn $DFL as well, as well as blueprints for crafting new NFTs.

One unique thing about DeFi Land is that the game also offers a free-to-play mode that allows players to play with default items instead of the Gen–0 NFTs. On top of that, free players may compete for leaderboard rewards, and even have rare chances of earning $GOLDY.

Over the coming months, the developer of DeFi Land plans to start testing multichain integration, as well as launching an alpha mobile version of the game in Q3 2022. DeFi Land recently also collaborated with another popular Solana-based project, Stepn.