Illivium blockchain game
Background
Illivium is an online RPG with fully three-dimensional graphics that uses a Play-to-Earn model powered by the Ethereum blockchain.
The game's tokenomics are fairly standard for Play-to-Earn projects. The main currency of the game is the Illuvium token (ILV). It is used:
- as a premium currency in the game,
- in DAO voting,
- for trading on the in-game marketplace,
- for betting on in-game battles.
Players can receive tokens as rewards for battles and quests (although there are some nuances) and exchange tokens for ETH on cryptocurrency exchanges. All game characters and artefacts are represented as NFTs traded on the built-in marketplace.
The key difference between Illivium and most of its competitors lies in graphics and gameplay — it is on these aspects that most of the developers' resources were focused. In addition, considerable attention has been paid to optimizing the game itself and its associated blockchain transactions. Illivium uses a proprietary Layer-2 scaling solution based on rollup technology.
The scale of the project, by the standards of blockchain games, is outstanding: the development team includes more than 75 full-time specialists from all over the world. Notably, the game was supposed to be released in 2021, but the release was postponed because the developers lacked the resources and manpower to realize all their ideas in time.
At the same time, the developers focused solely on the PC version of the game. According to their statements, the release of the mobile version is not planned at the moment.
Gameplay
The player acts as the commander of an interstellar transport ship stuck in an unfamiliar part of the universe. The player travels between planets, star systems and galaxies, mines shards and crystals, captures illuvials (the main creatures/units of the game), and unlocks new regions and abilities.
Each illuvial represented as an NFT has unique properties, including rarity, class, and element. Multiple illuvials can also combine to form rarer forms.
The bulk of the gameplay is turn-based PvP battles involving illuvials and characters from both players. The loser loses some of his assets; the winner, on the contrary - earns. There are also PvE quests in the form of battles with bots, for which players can get rewards, as well as the ability to watch the battles of other players and make bets.
An exciting feature is the ability to choose the currency in which the player is rewarded. Two options are available: ILV and sILV tokens:
- ILV rewards will be frozen for a year after receiving them (this is to prevent a possible drop in value due to the tokens being dumped on the market).
- The sILV reward can be used immediately, but it is exclusively an in-game currency — sILV cannot be exchanged for ETH or otherwise used outside of the game. And even the in-game functionality of sILVs is limited — they can be used to buy in-game valuables but cannot be used for betting.
High-quality, eye-pleasing, albeit somewhat "cartoonish" three-dimensional graphics are one of the main advantages of the game. Marketing statements that the graphics are "close to AAA projects" significantly embellish the situation. Still, by the standards of the indie scene of "traditional" games, Illuvium looks more than worthy.
Illuvium token (ILV)
ILV token is one of the largest "gaming" tokens on the market in terms of capitalisation — it exceeds $400 million. ILV is 107th in the ranking of cryptocurrencies by this indicator, overtaking many more "serious" currencies.
The Illuvium exchange rate at writing is about $114 per token. This is significantly lower than the peak values of autumn 2022 (even before the game's release) — then the value of ILV exceeded $1800. However, the initial price of the token when it hit the market was only $47. Moreover, the cost of ILV has been stable for the last year and fluctuates between $100 and $120 per token.
However, it should be considered that out of the total ILV issue of 10 million tokens, only a little over 7% are in circulation. It is difficult to predict what will happen to the exchange rate when the mass unfreezing of rewards earned by players begins. A sharp fall will likely be avoided as the bonuses are unfrozen according to the time of receipt; the process will be stretched over time. However, such a scenario, catastrophic for the ILV rate, remains a genuine possibility.
So, it is challenging to recommend ILV as an investment asset for making money on token growth. Perhaps its main investment prospect comes down to its use in the liquidity pool on the Illuvium platform. But even in this case, making a severe bet on this asset is too risky.