Yield Guild Games presented in the middle of this month its latest report on its “Sponsor-A-Scholar” program with the aim of show the impact of its sponsored scholarship system, in play to earn games.
The program Sponsor A Scholar created in May 2021, It consists of a campaign that allows both organizations and individuals to help increase the positive impact of “play to earn” games, with the contribution of funds to cover the cost of the assets needed to play.
Currently, the program has sponsors such as Coinbase, FTX, Flying Falcon, Leaping Corgi, and also more than 200 scholarship holders from different countries such as Brazil, India, Indonesia, Peru, the Philippines and Venezuela. In this way, the report presented by YGG reflects the responses of a sample of 230 fellows of these countries that have benefited and were surveyed between September and December 2021.
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According to the report, play-to-earn games such as Axie Infinity have been seen to offer new income-generating opportunities to people around the world, particularly in emerging markets where economies are still recovering from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, due to the increasing cost of the NFTs required to play these games, some players are left out. “It is understandable that not all people are willing to invest – or in a position to invest – in buying their own NFTs in advance, especially if they are not familiar with NFT games,” they note.
With the aim of incorporating thousands of people into this new type of game, YGG took care to make “play to earn” games more accessible, through its scholarship model. Under this model, YGG purchases the NFTs needed to play and then lends them to new players under a revenue-sharing agreement. “YGG Scholarships have proven to be extremely popular. In fact, the demand for scholarships far outstrips the supply and availability of gaming assets.”, they stated.
According to YGG, seeing the positive impact on fellows, who found themselves able to start playing and earn money without the need to fork out start-up capital, some outside benefactors approached YGG to ask how they could help. Thus, with this initiative, YGG prioritized the allocation of scholarships in emerging economies, where job opportunities are scarce and government aid is limited. “Most of the fellows are from the Philippines (63%), followed by Indonesia (11%) and India (11%). In turn, most of the respondents are Filipino scholarship holders, mostly male and between 18 and 24 years of age.”, they recounted in the report.
YGG Scholarship Manager Kookoo had this to say, “Play to earn games like Axie Infinity can be accessed easily through a smartphone, giving scholarship holders the flexibility to play whenever they have time. Scholars don’t need to play all day, and it only takes them a few hours a day to generate this additional income.” Likewise, he also pointed out that according to the results of the survey at that time, an intern took home an average of 2919 SLP (“Smooth Love Potion”, for its acronym in English, the reward token that users of the Axie Infinity game) per month.
On the other hand, they point out that in terms of capacity to generate income, nearly half (46%) of interns said play to earn games are a supplement to their regular earnings. That said, they pointed to the case of a young Indian intern named Naushad, who works as a tailor and plays Axie Infinity during his breaks or free time while waiting for new clients. “Such flexible work is hard to find otherwise in his hometown,” they commented.
Another interesting piece of information from the survey is that the 42% of those surveyed confirmed that they are currently studying. Furthermore, of the 230 respondents, 75 fellows are parents with dependent childrenor, and narrated the case of Johana, a YGG scholarship recipient in Venezuela, who is the mother of two children, and stated about her “play to earn” scholarship that helped improve her family’s economic situation.
“Usually, 48% of respondents stated that they consider playing Axie Infinity their full-time job. Abim, an intern from Indonesia, was forced to leave his factory job as a result of the difficulties they had to face due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, playing Axie is his full-time job and he says it has allowed him to learn how to plan his finances and manage his time more effectively. He also helped him increase his exposure to invest in cryptocurrencies and participate in more advanced operations, such as those involving DeFi “they added.
In this sense, several fellows have taken advantage of the profits generated through the scholarship program in different ways, exploring other opportunities to generate more income, how to start a business, or invest and participate in the aforementioned activities that are related to cryptocurrencies and DeFi.
“This shows that YGG is presented as a way to incorporate the mainstream public to Web3 through “play to earn” games, given that a total of 86% of the respondents stated that participating in blockchain games and earning rewards in cryptocurrencies through the “Sponsor-A-Scholar” program was his first experience in the crypto industry”they commented.
“YGG has created a truly unique way for new audiences to get into crypto through gaming,” said a representative from FTX, the show’s sponsor.
“Seeing first-time crypto users increase and how the program offers those most in need the opportunity to change their lives is something that aligns with our own goal of effective altruism,” he added.
It should also be noted that survey results showed that 56% of scholars use centralized cryptocurrency exchanges to convert SLP to fiat. “Another 18% of scholars responded that they prefer to make group withdrawals together with other players. In the case of a group withdrawal, the fellows pool their cryptocurrency winnings from the game and send the funds to a single person, who takes responsibility for exchanging their cryptocurrency for fiat. Then, the group distributes the profits among all”, they pointed out.
“This second option is often chosen by scholars who do not yet feel safe interacting with off-ramps and who want to save on the high transaction fees associated with exchanging small amounts of SLP,” they explained.
Another interesting issue, they mentioned among the respondents, is that 14% sell their SLPs to friends and family, in p2p operations, particularly when SLP buyers are engaged in breeding Axies.
They report that When asked what they spend their earnings on, 23% of scholarship recipients said their priorities were buying food and supplies. This is corroborated by a later question in the survey, in which 21% of scholarship recipients stated that they could now cover basic, daily, personal and family needs.
“Medications were the fourth most popular response from interns when asked what they spent their earnings on”they added.
“Maria, a Filipino scholarship recipient battling ovarian cancer, received an FTX scholarship in August 2021. Thanks to her income, she was able to purchase medication and pay hospital bills to maintain her treatment. With the intervention of Shanks, YGG’s scholarship manager, the guild also helped raise additional funds to pay for her surgery. Unfortunately, María passed away in 2021. María’s scholarship was inherited by her nephew, so that he could continue playing and earning money for her family, ”they reported in reference to this information in the report.
Lastly, YGG said that with the recent changes to Axie’s game tokenomics, managers are adapting to empower their interns and help them up their game. “We educate our interns on the general economy of the game”said Shanks, scholarship program manager.
“The way we have adapted is that we are now more focused on developing the battle skills of the players, to make them more competitive, and we also offer training sessions to interns who need additional help in the game”he added, while commenting that some interns are also taking a step forward to help improve the performance of other colleagues with less experience.
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