When you hear play-to-earn crypto, a model where players earn cryptocurrency by playing blockchain-based games. Also known as P2E, it promises income just for logging in—but most of these games are gone, frozen, or outright scams. The idea sounds simple: play a game, earn tokens, cash out. But in 2025, the reality is harsh. Out of every 100 play-to-earn projects launched since 2021, fewer than 5 still have active players, real token value, or a working economy. The rest? Dead wallets, zero liquidity, and teams that vanished with investor funds.
Behind every blockchain gaming, games built on blockchains that use tokens and NFTs for in-game assets and rewards is a fragile system. It needs players, demand for tokens, and a way to spend those tokens—otherwise, the whole thing collapses. Games like Avaxtars and TigerMoon tried this, but their tokens had no real use outside the game, no exchange listings, and no buyers. Even when a game has NFTs or a token like AVXT or TIGERMOON, if you can’t trade it or use it meaningfully, it’s just digital wallpaper. And then there’s the crypto rewards, tokens given to users for completing tasks, playing, or staking in a game or platform model. Many projects trick users into thinking rewards are guaranteed income. But if the token price crashes, or the game shuts down, your "earnings" become worthless. The same goes for fake airdrops like LEOS or VLX—these aren’t free money, they’re phishing traps.
What separates the few surviving play-to-earn games from the rest? Real utility. If your token can buy upgrades, rare skins, or access to exclusive features—and if other players actually want to buy it—you might have something. But if it only exists to be traded on shady DEXs like NinjaSwap or IslandSwap, you’re gambling, not earning. The market has caught on. Players now check for audits, trading volume, and team activity before investing time. And with crypto exchanges like Libre Swap offering only one trading pair and zero security info, the risks are higher than ever.
So what’s left in 2025? A handful of games where the economy still turns, where players trade assets, and where tokens have real demand. But most of the hype is gone. The days of quitting your job to farm tokens are over. Now, it’s about finding the few projects with actual mechanics—not just marketing. Below, you’ll find real reviews of games, tokens, and exchanges that actually tried to make play-to-earn work. Some failed. A few barely survived. And none of them are what they promised.
Chumbi Valley (CHMB) is a play-to-earn crypto game that launched in 2021 with cute NFT creatures and big promises. Today, the game doesn't work, the website is broken, and the token trades for pennies. It's a cautionary tale of hype without execution.
