Splinterlands Overview
Splinterlands started in 2018 with the idea to develop a game that allows players to collect and battle with their digital trading cards much like the physical games of the past like Magic The Gathering and Pokemon. However, leveraging Blockchain technology allowed them to have these cards completely owned by the players given the ability to make each one a Non-Fungible Token (NFT). This allows players to buy, sell, and trade cards as they build their Collections for battle with other players in the ecosystem. This approach quickly evolved into the “Play to Earn” segment of the industry which was made popular by the game, Axie Infinity.
While it depends on how success is measured, the game has now evolved into a full Play to Earn game which has attracted over 1 million accounts to sign up. While Daily Active Users (DAU) were in the hundreds when it started, it remains consistently above 350k players at the moment. It has been able to develop a number of features which have mostly come from their close interactions with the Community. We now see millions of battles on a daily basis across the player base. Given the estimated over 2 billion gamers in the world which contribute to over $175 billion in revenues, the space to grow is large in terms of market share.
The project has been able to sell about 10 million packs of cards across six editions. The most recent edition, Chaos Legion, has already sold about 7 million packs. The interesting aspect of the card packs is, like other cryptocurrencies, they are of limited availability. For example, prior to Chaos Legion, the game sold a fixed number of packs and stop as soon as they were sold out. They were essentially out of print.
What makes it more interesting is that the cards themselves become more scarce over time given the mechanics of the leveling in the gameplay. Each pack has always come with 5 cards. In addition, like other projects, the developers often provide AirDrops to players that have previously purchased packs. Aside from Reward edition cards, there is no additional source of cards. Instead, cards need to be combined in order to level up and achieve more power via improved statistics and/or abilities. This means that cards are more scarce as time passes, even those that are gifted to players.
We saw the impact of this mechanic last Summer when the game began to attract more players. The previous pack edition, Untamed, sold out within weeks of the influx of new players. Given the demand for cards, the value of each dramatically increased given the limited supply. Since there is an incentive to play in higher levels, the demand outpaced the supply which made prices increase. These prices for these prior editions have remained higher than there initially releases as shown by the price of packs now being offered in secondary markets (from previous buyers that have unopened packs which themselves are also NFTs).
Therefore, there are a number of ways to obtain cards which fluctuate in popularity over time given the in game economics of supply and demand. Card Booster packs are sold directly from the Company on the website. While players can resell them on secondary markets, it is not a popular source of cards until the packs become sold out on the primary website. Other players prefer to build their Collection by purchasing individual cards from the various marketplaces. All marketplaces use the Splinterlands API to transact but provide different User Interfaces which have created preferences around the community. My personal favorite is PeakMonsters.
Given the increase in prices in the past, access to cards was often limited for new players without the funds to purchase cards. Two solutions were developed for these players which I believe create a great potential for the future growth of the game. First, every player can now complete Daily Quests in the game. These quests require you to win an amount of games with certain teams. If successful, you can open chests that will unlock the opportunity to receive Reward cards. These cards are then for the player to play, trade or sell as they are also NFTs. The game also has Seasons every two weeks which create a competitive leaderboard for more rewards, including additional chests to open at Season End. In addition to Reward cards, players can win additional items to help them on their journey to build a Collection.
The alternative to purchasing and winning cards, is the updated rental card system that the developers have created. Leveraging the technology of the Blockchain, cards can be delegated to other players without losing its ownership. Owners can reverse the delegation at any time with some limitations given the rental market. Given this concept, thousands of cards are available on the market to rent for 24 hour contracts which cannot be broken. These cards are often found at only a fraction of the cost to purchase them. When rented, the player has the benefits of ownership of the card in terms of using it in battle, its statistics and ability as well as its Collection Power which determines the Division you compete in. This market is also determined by the Community as it is between the players that this supply and demand is created.
In order to provide a true Play to Earn experience, the developers created an in game currency called Dark Energy Crystals (DEC). These are programmed to be issued at established rates on a daily basis to be distributed to battle winners. In order to avoid too much issuance, the potential to earn is reduce after every match (win or lose). However, it regenerates as time passes. DEC is also a cryptocurrency which allows the players to use it how they like. They can use it to buy additional packs, cards, and other assets within the ecosystem that have been created over time. You can also transfer them to an exchange to cash out if wanted.
My experience with the value being created in the project has been great given how demand for the assets within the ecosystem has outpaced the supply given the increase in players. However, the project continues to expand as the developers continue to add to their roadmap. They have continually executed on prior roadmap items (although often late given the growth challenges) which has given them a good reputation with a vibrant community. For example, they have developed a guild system which allows players to team up and compete in tournaments with each other.
They also have a number of projects on their roadmap which will continually evolve the game into much more. For example, they are developing land to integrate into both gameplay and the economy which could provide a different way to interact with your NFTs as they themselves will also be NFTs. They have also spoken about introducing a PvE component to the game as it is currently all PvP. What I consider promising is the fact that they have weekly Town Halls with the Community to provide updates and work on feedback for existing and development features.
In the true spirit of decentralization, the developers have also started to develop a Blockchain system to allow the ecosystem to be governed by the players. However, instead of issuing tokens to their complete benefit, they have determined that players and those with assets in the ecosystem will be the majority stakeholders of the future governance system. They determined to AirDrop these tokens called Splintershards (SPS) to players over a year-long daily distribution.
This is an example of the development team’s effort to accrue value in the hands of the Community instead of themselves. In transparency, most of the Founders are heavily invested in the assets as well so they also benefit. How is this sustainable? 100% of the sales from card packs have gone to the Company which develop the ecosystem. In addition, the marketplaces they have built to allow the buying and selling of cards also provide them a fee per transaction. Given the growth and increased volumes, it has allowed the project to become self sustainable without the need to issue more tokens to capitalize and fund the project.
This overview is not intended to go deep into the overall complex economics within the ecosystem but just demonstrate the decentralized nature of the achievements so far. It is important to emphasis how the economy has been developed to help players as they progress within the game. It feels as it is a game itself as the experience of each player varies based on the approach they individually decide to focus on. Given my background, the strategies behind the economy and the gameplay have been the factor that has kept me engage for over 3 years now.
How can I summarize my journey so far? My focus was initially as a Collector in trying to get a complete set of cards for each edition. It continues to be very fun and gratifying to open packs and discover its contents given how many unique cards are issued in each edition. However, I quickly learned how fun the actual gameplay was given its focus on strategy. Therefore, my focus quickly shifted to also get a full Collection of cards to complete at the highest levels.
As the project continued to expand, I found myself becoming more of an investor as I saw the value being created with the addition of many players. In fact, I have been able to benefit from a source of passive income given the game from a number of sources that continue to grow. First, I am able to collect DEC from my wins in ranked play. It is free to play once you have an account and cards purchased so no expenses to consider. Second, given the extra cards I have gotten from the game (mostly reward cards given by playing), I now rent them to players that try the game before committing to buy. In addition, some of the early cards have become very expensive to purchase so the interest in renting them has been high which has provided some passive income. Lastly, I have been benefiting from the SPS AirDrop which has allow me accumulate a large amount of these tokens. However, given my thoughts of the potential of the project, I continue to hold them for what is to come as it seems it will be a key aspect to the future economy of the ecosystem.
The onboarding to the game has substantially improved as the Community has grown to attract many content creators to help those starting. Even the interface on the website has improved and getting started has never been easier. Many of the challenging aspects of blockchain are hidden behind a good onboarding on the site. Added to this is that you can try some early battles for free after just signing up with your email. However, before you begin to earn and get the ability to own cards, you will need to buy a Summoners Spellbook which costs $10. This provides you with Starter Cards which are not yours but enable you to play to earn more. PayPal is now also available which has been a great addition.
If interested in giving it a try, please use my affiliate code which provides me 5% for any pack purchases you make. If you do and purchase at least 5 packs, I will send you a free Chaos Legion pack. In addition, if you remain growing the account, I will help in providing you delegated Collection Power (CP) which is needed to improve earnings as you increase in Division in ranked play at Season End. My affiliate link is: https://splinterlands.io/?ref=newageinv
I am in no way the best at this across the ecosystem. However, many members of the Community have great guides to help you through the journey. The rest of this blog will be a reference guide to help as well. Feel free to reach out and ask questions or provide feedback as the community continues to grow and welcome new ideas and thoughts.
References
Splinterlands Discord: https://discord.com/invite/CAFJRjY
Wiki Page: https://splinterlands.fandom.com/wiki/Splinterlands_Wiki
Splintercards Website: https://www.splintercards.com/index.html
PeakMonsters Marketplace and Collection Organizer: https://peakmonsters.com/
Splintershards (SPS) Whitepaper: https://sps.splinterlands.com/
Splintershards (SPS) CoinGecko Link: https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/splinterlands
Dark Energy Crystals (DEC) Whitepaper: https://docs.splinterlands.com/dark-energy-crystals
Dark Energy Crystals (DEC) CoinGecko Link: https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/dark-energy-crystals
HIVE Engine Decentralized Exchange: https://hive-engine.com/#
YouTube Channels:
https://www.youtube.com/c/SplinterlandsOfficial
https://www.youtube.com/c/AfterSoundGaming
https://www.youtube.com/c/LukePlaysToEarn
https://www.youtube.com/c/DwayneCunningham
https://www.youtube.com/c/Bulldog1205
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEG5107_73wZKKPQQeNooJA
https://www.youtube.com/c/CryptoLlama
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