Web3 gaming has a problem—rewards that fizzle out too soon. Play-to-Earn (P2E) promised a future where gamers could generate income through their passion. Many P2E games, however, proved unsuccessful because poorly designed mechanics prevented long-term success.

These projects often distributed free crypto without a sustainable business model, leading to inflation and diminishing crypto value. As players exploited these mechanisms by farming and quickly selling crypto, developers found it difficult to maintain sustained interest, resulting in a rapid decline in active user bases.

This focus on short-term perks can frustrate players and developers when the thrill wears off. Far from building a strong community of long-term holders, short-term airdrop hunters pollute the real community with constant “Wen TGE?” requests, rushing developers to launch a token without having any real plan to sustain its value. Long-term engagement tends to take a backseat, and the financial perks often go little further than a single event or a handful of drops.

What is Play2Win?

Play2Win is an emerging movement in TON’s GameFi landscape that features multiplayer tournaments where players compete against each other to earn crypto. If players enjoy the game, more players join, increasing the size of the prize pool. As more players join the tournament, the more asymmetric the win can become. Most of the prize pool goes to the winners, and a portion is distributed to the game developer, creating a sustainable revenue source for games. Crucially, this revenue source doesn’t rely on giving away free money or speculation on a crypto asset. Just that players enjoy playing the game and winning against their friends.

How Play2Win works

1. Multiplayer tournaments – Players enter tournaments or challenges that they find fun. Entry fees and engagement activities contribute to the prize pools, with each contest increasing the overall reward potential.
2. User-funded prize pools – Players who top the leaderboard win crypto. Winnings come from user demand to play the game.
3. Viral referral links – More competition results in larger prize pools and consistent rewards, viral referral links that invite more players to join tournaments keep tournaments growing and players coming back for more fun.

This new model shows signs of sustainability, but will it succeed? Let’s explore additional insights before examining how Play2Win is unfolding on TON.

The growing force of skill-based gaming – $34 billion and counting

Skill-based gaming draws an enthusiastic crowd. It boasts a $34 billion valuation and a growth rate (CAGR) of 13.50%, far beyond standard mobile titles of 5.57%. Thanks to strong monetization and compelling gameplay, skill-based gaming has the potential to expand at six times the pace of traditional gaming.

Many games rely on centralized revenue collection, yet placing them on-chain will spark fresh opportunities. Players benefit from transparent mechanics and creative reward structures, often driving strong adoption.

Traditional models tend to keep profits locked within closed systems, so a blockchain-based approach can invite broader participation and unique incentives. Skill-focused contests appear headed for unstoppable momentum, and forecasts indicate sustained demand for experiences that reward reflexes and cunning strategy.

Telegram and TON’s unique advantage – worldwide distribution

Telegram-based projects demonstrate the power of chat-driven growth, rapidly attracting millions of users. Tap2Earn games like Hamster Kombat and Notcoin proved Telegram’s reach, but their free-to-play models led to repetitive engagement driven mainly by airdrop speculation. With over 40 million subscribers in Hamster Kombat alone, these projects highlight the vast potential for onboarding users. However, without sustainable mechanics, they fail to retain players long-term.

By contrast, Play2Win shifts toward a pay-to-play, skill-based multiplayer format that prioritizes competition and immediate rewards over passive grinding. This model could help sustain engagement while capitalizing on Telegram’s massive audience.

The question is: can Play2Win generate the kind of trading activity seen in Solana’s memecoin markets? Memecoins accounted for an estimated 30% of all decentralized exchange volume in 2024, so averaged $15 billion in monthly trades. Matching that would require attracting 150 million users willing to spend $100 per month on tournaments.

Some TON-based apps have already reached impressive user numbers. Tonkeeper boasts over 70 million monthly active users, and Wallet has approximately 100 million active users, proving that large-scale adoption is achievable. However, converting this scale into paying participants remains the primary challenge. While existing Tap2Earn models struggled to monetize their reach, Play2Win’s focus on skill-based incentives and viral engagement could encourage more consistent spending.

The real test is whether improved game quality and meaningful rewards can replicate the hyper-engagement of memecoin speculation. Telegram’s distribution power is unmatched, enabling projects to achieve in weeks what others take years to build. Play2Win games could create a sustainable, high-volume gaming economy rivaling memecoin market volume, but bettering them with transparent, consistent rewards instead of hype-fueled speculation.

Play2Win on TON

Onton x Elympics

Over the past week, Onton x Elympics announced its new Play2Win model.

Onton x Elympics recently launched ‘Play2Win’, a mini-game tournament ecosystem that lives directly in Onton. Play2Win is a live stream of multiplayer tournaments that anyone can join to win crypto by playing casual games. This integration is powered by Elympics’ plug-and-play infrastructure that turns any Web2 game into a Web3 game with crypto prize pools, multiplayer tournaments, and viral referral links.

• Play – Join skill-based contests hosted on Onton, TON’s largest events platform. Compete in multiplayer tournaments where performance—not financial input—determines success.
• Win Crypto – Elympics ensures provable fairness through on-chain protocols. Players can win crypto rewards from prize pools while developers integrate better monetization models.
• Repeat – Use NFT-based ticketing by Onton to enter new tournaments, track rankings on on-chain leaderboards, and keep playing to climb the standings and claim more rewards.

MIOMI Game

MIOMI Game is a Web3 eSports arena. The platform lets you create and fund tournaments in Toncoin to play some of the world's most successful competitive games. Counter Strike, DOTA, Call of Duty, and FIFA are all games you can now play against friends to win Toncoin. There are already some impressive early results, signalling how big this space can be:

• $84M+ in prize pools created by users and $1.68M+ in platform revenue
• 3.28M+ matches played
• 600K registered users, 150K new wallets on TON generated, with 70K monthly active wallets

Getting started is simple: go to the website or mini app, set up a tournament, fund it and begin playing. Once the game is finished, return to the site and have both sides agree to the result to release the winnings.

Get in the game

Play2Win focuses on creating fun competition with user funded prize pools. Tournaments and matches drive rewards, creating an experience that remains attractive over time. The system recycles earnings through buybacks and prize pools, giving players consistent payouts while encouraging developers to build games that attract and retain an active community.

Web3 gaming has been crying out for sustainable revenue models. Can this be it?

Pay to play, Play to win.