Recently, the 3A blockchain game BigTime has suddenly become popular, and even the invitation code for the preseason has appeared on the second-hand e-commerce platform Xianyu.
The catalyst for BigTime's sudden popularity is the astonishing increase in its game token, BIGTIME.
On October 11th, BIGTIME successively landed on cryptocurrency exchanges such as OKX, Bitget, and Coinbase, with an opening price of $0.01, creating a 265% increase within a week. This stands in stark contrast to the overall cryptocurrency market, which only grew by 2% from October 12th to October 16th.
While the overall market remained stagnant, the performance of BIGTIME stood out, drawing market attention to the game it supports.
The gameplay of BigTime is similar to "World of Warcraft" and "Diablo," where different characters can team up to fight. The difference from traditional games lies in the economic nature of blockchain games, where in-game assets can be cashed out through a public trading market after being obtained in the game. The in-game token BIGTIME is one of the assets that can be monetized.
Seeing the surge in BIGTIME, some people started rushing into the game.
Some veteran blockchain game players pointed out that while BigTime has implemented some safeguards for a stable economic system, it still has not broken away from the traditional "buy NFT-complete tasks-obtain tokens" mining and selling model. It is highly likely that in the future, the dominance of the BIGTIME seller's market may lead to a decrease in player profits or even losses.
BigTime Goes Viral, Entry Threshold Rises
BigTime has become popular, but it is not a new blockchain game. It was launched as early as April 2021. Although not a new game, the preseason of BigTime started on October 11th, and participating players first need an invitation code.
In a short period of time, this game has caused a frenzy of "difficult to obtain invitation codes," and players have been inquiring about information on Twitter and Discord communities. On the second-hand e-commerce platform Xianyu in China, many sellers are offering BigTime invitation codes, with prices ranging from 99 yuan to 150 yuan.
From a gameplay perspective, BigTime's gameplay is similar to "World of Warcraft" and "Diablo," with a time-travel theme. Unlike traditional games, it is an MMORPG game that connects to the Ethereum blockchain network through an economic system.
The game features four professions: warrior, mage, priest, and shadow blade, supporting up to 6-player teams. Players can team up with warriors of other professions to fight and kill monsters in the game to obtain valuable loot.
The entire game project was created by Ari Meilich, the co-founder of the well-known Web3.0 metaverse Decentraland. He has assembled an all-star team for Big Time, with development members coming from top game companies such as Epic Games, Blizzard, EA, and Riot, who have worked on titles like "Fortnite," "Grand Theft Auto," "Call of Duty," and "Overwatch."
It is worth mentioning that the official game team pays great attention to Chinese players, with over 10,000 members in the WeChat group and recent organization of a Chinese online AMA. They even held offline gatherings last year.
With strong development capabilities, Big Time has maintained the quality of Web2 3A games, featuring exquisite graphics and smooth gameplay, making it a high-quality game in the blockchain gaming space. Coupled with the surge in the game token BIGTIME, its appeal has expanded from the gaming community to the cryptocurrency trading community.
After the preseason started, many people came for the opportunity to earn money, but they also found that the entry threshold for Big Time is quite high.
One player said, "Now, the cost of a new account is about $900, and the hourglass recharge costs $200 per day. Working 24 hours a day in 3 shifts, (you can earn) $120 a day. Today (October 16th), the drop rate and rules were adjusted again, and you can earn 520 in a day by killing 2000 BIGTIME. Excluding hardware, it takes at least 5 days to break even… and the price must not drop."
A player on Twitter bluntly stated, "The game is too grindy, grinding for 18 hours a day," and the entry threshold is at least $2000, and it may take a dozen or twenty days to break even. This player believes that newcomers who have not entered the game are not recommended to do so.
Not long ago, the withdrawal rules for Big Time game assets added a KYC threshold. Some players found that KYC verification takes 3 to 7 days, and some players believe that after Big Time became popular, it resorted to "hungry marketing."
Although the official team later improved the speed of KYC withdrawals, there are rumors in the player community that the drop rate of important items was adjusted again, "it took one day to break even at the beginning, now it takes four to five days."
In addition, some players have uploaded videos showing that shortly after Big Time went online, there were instances of map hacking. Some people have reported that there are numerous bugs in the game, such as being unable to enter personal metaverses, losing hourglasses produced by timekeepers, and losing time crystals when opening slots, and so on.
However, judging from the online demand for "invitation codes," there are quite a few players rushing into the game due to the skyrocketing price of BIGTIME. But can this game really be played without much thought?
Two Market Makers Control 80% of BIGTIME's Circulation
The game token BIGTIME is the main target for gold farmers. The total supply of this token is 5 billion, and theoretically, it will be entirely generated in-game through gameplay, rather than through traditional token issuance. Currently, only 5% of the total supply of BIGTIME has been airdropped to players and is traded on the open market.
According to the rules, in the game, players need five items to start gold farming: timekeeper, hourglass, slot, time crystal, and metaverse Space.
After purchasing these five items, players can equip the "timekeeper" in their personal metaverse Space, then use "time crystals" to make "hourglasses," and once made, place them in the slot and continue to use "time crystals" to charge the "hourglasses" in order to generate BIGTIME tokens.
Of course, if you don't want to "whale," in Big Time, you can also team up with other players to kill monsters and sell the skin materials dropped when completing dungeon tasks. After completing tasks, players may receive randomly dropped NFTs, which can also be sold.
However, the randomness of these NFT assets determines that their return rate is far lower than that of BIGTIME.
The mechanism for generating BIGTIME determines that its supply will be related to the distribution of the five in-game items for most of the time. In theory, the official team can control the drop rate to limit the speed of BIGTIME production, to a certain extent ensuring its stability and elasticity.
Even with limited speed, production is always production. Aiko, a member of Folius Ventures, pointed out when analyzing the economic model of Big Time that the official team has only designed a faucet for BIGTIME, but there is no demand for a sink in the game. "Basically, it's all about using cash to buy NFTs to earn BIGTIME, and then selling them off in the secondary market to recoup the investment. BIGTIME has no strong consumption scenario, and is only 'mined and sold' as a mining coin."
GameFi industry analysts have pointed out that for a long time, blockchain games have been stuck in a cycle where the strong financial nature caused by gold farming (buying NFTs-doing tasks-obtaining tokens) has objectively and subjectively weakened the playability of the games. This has led to players excessively focusing on coin generation and selling, forming the so-called "mining and selling" cycle, and "Big Time has not escaped this cycle."
For a blockchain game that combines economic benefits, if there is no more attractive game token consumption design, it will ultimately lead to the game having only one channel for realizing value through selling coins, "directly leading to strong selling pressure on the main game assets. In the secondary market, there are only sellers and no buyers, and when the liquidity of an asset dries up, it will eventually collapse."
In the secondary circulation market, there is indeed considerable risk associated with BIGTIME.
According to data from CoinMarketCap, the current circulating supply of BIGTIME in the market is 158 million, and the two potential market makers, Amber Group and FBG Capital, hold almost 80% of the total market circulation. They have significant bargaining power and operating space in the market.
Therefore, new players preparing to enter the game for the gold farming opportunity will not only face the high costs caused by player competition but also potential risks, namely the decline of BIGTIME.
Some veteran blockchain game players have warned that if the seller's market for BIGTIME becomes too strong, it will lead to a decrease in player profits or even losses. "So before entering the game, it is essential to carefully calculate the input-output ratio, otherwise it's better not to play."
(Disclaimer: Readers are strictly advised to comply with local laws and regulations. This article does not represent any investment advice.)
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