Working out can be good for your belt line and your bottom-line at the same time. That’s the proposition OliveX is offering to the players of its mobile blockchain games.
Gamers can earn DOSE tokens and NFTs by completing missions within OliveX’s adventure game that requires them to run varying distances in the real world with their smartphones in hand. The virtual rewards they accumulate can be used to level up games, or to be traded on crypto exchanges and NFT marketplaces.
“Move-to-earn is a game changer,” Keith Rumjahn, the 37-year-old founder and CEO of OliveX, said in a video interview. “For the first time ever, players have true digital ownership of their games, and game developers also earn more because there’s no middleman. So it’s a win-win.”
OliveX said its strategy enables it to tap into three booming industries by combining physical fitness with mobile video games that incorporate blockchain technology. The company’s longer-term aim is to build an ecosystem of fitness games integrated with Animoca Brands’ metaverse title the Sandbox, a virtual world where players can build, buy and sell their in-game assets as they interact with other users and brands.
As NFTs continue to attract a growing mainstream audience, Rumjahn’s strategy appears to be well-timed. His Australia-listed company raised A$8 million ($5.7 million) through a share placement in November that was used to develop Dustland Runner, its first move-to-earn blockchain title that was launched in late March. Players take on the role of “dust runners” who are hired on a freelance basis to retrieve and then deliver mysterious contraband in a post-apocalyptic desert inhabited by bandits and monsters.