Play-to-earn gaming is one of the hottest industry verticals in blockchain today. Empowering players and rewarding them for in-game progress is an appealing concept. Gaming guilds like Balthazar will change the game completely, as it provides many exciting opportunities.
What Is Balthazar Exactly?
The rise of gaming guilds in play-to-earn gaming has been well-documented in recent months. A gaming guild brings together players and developers under one roof to bring more people into the play-to-earn fold. Balthazar, as a P2e NFT gaming platform, lowers the entry barriers for those willing to explore blockchain games, invest in GameFi, or launch their upcoming NFT games.
Under the Balthazar banner, users can get their gaming and NFTs earnings in one convenient user interface. It is possible to leverage existing non-fungible tokens or purchase new ones through recommendations. Additionally, Balthazar enables over-the-counter NFT purchasing and helps track the performance of NFT earnings. All earnings are delivered automatically without unnecessary intermediaries.
Another crucial aspect of Balthazar is how it provides scholarship opportunities for top-tier play-to-earn games. A scholarship enables new players to access games that traditionally require an upfront investment. Rather than investing, new players can borrow assets provided by other players and investors. All earnings are shared between these parties, creating a revenue stream for idle in-game NFTs. Moreover, scholarships bring P2E blockchain games to many more players, fueling industry growth.
The Balthazar team intends to introduce more features under its banner, including a launchpad for Initial Gaming Offerings (IGOs). In addition, the team will release its token through a public sale. It is not uncommon to issue native tokens for gaming guilds, as token holders will unlock extra benefits and rewards. Furthermore, it is a way of getting players and investors to commit for the long term.
Which Games Does Balthazar Support?
As the concept of scholarship in play-to-earn gaming continues to build momentum, guilds need to provide access to various games, and Balthazar does a good job on that front. The team initially focused on the top industry game Axie Infinity, where over 1,500 Scholars represent today’s Balthazar guild. However, the team has begun exploring other games as well, including:
- Pegaxy
- Thetan Arena
- Heroes and Empires
- Guild of Guardians
- And more titles are to be announced!
Play-to-earn gaming is a booming industry spanning dozens of games today. Unfortunately, most of these titles are not free-to-play, forcing users to either invest in playing or pursue scholarship opportunities.
The provision of scholarships ensures more players can explore these games, regardless of which blockchain they are built on. As a result, Balthazar aims to become the “Airbnb” of blockchain gaming and build the largest group of Scholars – dubbed “Wizards” in the industry.
Various Revenue Streams
The concept of Balthazar is powerful and introduces multiple ways to generate revenue.
First, the users renting NFTs to scholars will earn a yield on their assets. Earnings by the scholar are split with the NFT owner, ensuring idle game NFTs create a steady income stream. It is an excellent way for blockchain game investors to maximize their assets’ potential even if they cannot play it themselves. A small portion of that yield will go to the Balthazar gaming guild to fund day-to-day operations.
Second, Balthazar introduces an option to borrow NFTs from lenders and deploy them into a player community to increase the total yield. Blockchain games need a growing user base to ensure they can sustain the in-game economies. More people playing the game leads to more success, a larger overall yield, and better sustainability. In addition, Balthazar helps games gain initial traction by introducing them to a community of over 50,000 enthusiasts.
Third, Balthazar will earn yield from NFT assets sold through its platform and from selling NFTs to investors directly. These latter non-fungible tokens can be rented to community members, generating more revenue for Balthazar. It is a self-sustaining model that will continue to grow and evolve as more players and investors explore the possibilities of play-to-earn gaming.
The Balthazar Token (BGG)
As mentioned earlier, Balthazar will soon launch its native token. The $BGG asset will have a total supply of 2 billion and provides various forms of utility. For instance, it can be sued for governance purposes, staking, earning a bonus for locking up tokens, it is a currency for future games, and has play-to-earn utility.
The token will be distributed as follows:
- 16.5% is held by the DAO Treasury
- 40% is set aside for community rewards
- Early investors share 17.5% of the tokens
- The public sale injects 7.5% of the total supply into the market
- 15% is held by the team members
- Balthazar advisors split 3.5% of the tokens
The Balthazar gaming guild raised $3.6 million and will close an $8.1 million round before the public token sale. Notable investors include Aninoca Brands, Fantom, Zed Run, Algorand, TPS Capital, Zip Co, etc.
Notable Achievements To Date
As more gaming guilds come to market, the play-to-earn blockchain gaming landscape will continue to grow and evolve. However, there is much work to do before such a goal can be reached. Balthazar was founded in September 2021, yet the project has checked off various milestones since then:
- Over 1,500 scholars live, with over 50,000 waiting to explore play-to-earn games
- Growing investor interest to lend their assets for P2E games and unlocking a passive revenue stream
- Earning over 1,300% on Pegaxy
- Launched a research report division and attracted key partners (Dogami, Tezos, etc.)
There is still much room for future progress, yet Balthazar seems to be on the right track. Gaming guilds will continue to make their mark on the play-to-earn industry and bring blockchain games to a broader audience.
