The $PLAY token

Introducing the PLAY governance and utility token

Thoughtfully integrating blockchain-based protocols into the existing PLAY infrastructure creates a fast-path to fulfilling some of the core tenets of the transition to Web 3. Specifically, by deploying a utility token with governance rights, affiliated to PLAY, many of the existing PLAY functions become geometrically more effective in fulfilling the core mission of democratizing access to game and game content creation.

In examining this opportunity to build a Web 3 aligned gaming ecosystem, PLAY concluded that:

• The issuance of a governance utility token is critically important to building a decentralized ecosystem with distributed governance and ownership rights. A utility token reduces technical complexity with regards to distributed transactions, while allowing trusted fast-scaling by aligning the efforts of all stakeholders. A purpose-built token incentivizes long-term thinking by rewarding stakeholders that patiently build towards fulfilling the vision.

• Existing PLAY technical IP is sui generis catalytic to the web 3 vision: when combined with a correctly designed token, it achieves the goal of a democratic, distributed, co-owned ecosystem of games at scale. This operating IP de-risks the overall effort, by removing key technical “unknowns” and providing immediately implementable “full stack” solutions to dev teams interested in participating in a Web 3 game economy. It provides a stable foundation for the effort.

The proposed token is named “PLAY” ($PLAY). The design of $PLAY privileges the interest of the ecosystem by emphasizing long-term growth, collaboration, and shared ownership:

• Fixed issuance: The total potential issuance of $PLAY is fixed at 1 billion tokens. Fixed issuance reduces the risk of inflation in the ecosystem.

• Governance rights: Through a staking mechanism, $PLAY holders receive the right to vote on issues germane to the future direction of the ecosystem.

• Rewarding early adoption: $PLAY can be strategically deployed in the first phase of ecosystem development, to reward devs (“dev to earn”), creators (“create to earn”) and players (“play to earn.”). $PLAY provides a potent method, combined with vesting, to incentive early building, and adoption, with an eye to long-term success.

• Supporting NFT minting at low cost and high scale: The utility of $PLAY includes enabling all the stakeholders involved to manufacture game content with persistent, tradeable ownership rights, at lower cost and higher efficiency.

• Reducing friction in transactions: Both the cost- down to microtransactions- and the “trust” are improved using a utility token to ensure a “fair trade.” This coupled with effective software to handle the user experience of minting an object reduces a significant barrier to mainstream adoption of token-backed objects as something you can “own” and not just “consume.”

• Tracking ownership across games: Token-backed content can freely move across games, and creates alignment between developers, creators, and players to recognize ownership rights. For developers, who have ultimate control over their game(s), recognizing ownership generates an immediate economic benefit, by working to increase the overall “GDP” of the gaming ecosystem and their revenues: when players and creators are confident that the rights to their assets are being recognized, they are more likely to a) spend on the acquisition of items, and b) spend more on each item.