Author: Jaleel Jialiu, BlockBeats

 

Speaking of the summer of 2022, many people still remember the popularity of StepN at that time. Buying a pair of running shoes and exercising every day to earn income became a major fashion trend in the cryptocurrency circle and even the technology circle.

Two years later, StepN has launched a new version 2.0, STEPN GO, which is the third game of game developer FSL after StepN and Gas Hero. Although this new version is still in the testing phase and the player base is still small, its improvements in revenue mechanism and design have attracted the attention of many new and old players.

Amin is an old player of StepN and is now an early participant of STEPN GO. In his experience, the income of GGT tokens has performed well. With level 19 running shoes, he can earn about $300 a day. He also mentioned that "the payback period is about 30-40 days now." Although there is still uncertainty, this is already a pretty good result for old players.

STEPN GO game interface

In this article, BlockBeats will take a deep look at the "upgrades" of STEPN GO, the entry barriers for new users, and the revenue and payback period that players are most concerned about. It should be noted that STEPN GO is still in the testing phase, so the specific data may change as the game is updated.

What upgrades does StepN2.0 have?

GGT: new GST

StepN uses GST and GMT as the main tokens, and in STEPN GO, a new GGT (Go Game Token) is added, which is deployed on the Polygon chain and has no limit on the number of tokens.

Since its launch on September 5, GGT's price has fluctuated quite dramatically. Just one hour after its launch, the price soared by 2120%, and then quickly fell back to around $6. However, after a period of oscillation and adjustment, GGT's price has shown a steady upward trend in the past week. As of the time of writing on September 12, the price of GGT has risen back to $10.

GGT is mainly obtained by completing daily outdoor sports tasks. When users use NFT sports shoes for exercise, they can choose to earn GGT. There are many factors that affect GGT income, including shoe type, grade, efficiency attribute value, shoe quality, etc. For example, running shoes (Runner) usually get more GGT than jogging shoes (Jogger).

STEPN GO also implements a daily revenue cap and token destruction mechanism. Users initially have a daily GGT cap of 5/5, up to 300/300. Users can increase this cap by upgrading sneakers or destroying gems. Users can burn GGT to mint and "breed" new sneakers, upgrade existing equipment, unlock slots, make clothing, and even initiate or participate in activities on the interactive map. The burned GGT will be permanently destroyed, reducing the circulation in the market, maintaining the balance of the ecosystem, and controlling token inflation.

Shoe Level and Customization System

In StepN, the upper limit of the shoe level is 20, but in STEPN GO, the upper limit is raised to 60. In addition, new attributes have been added: Charm and Karma, which not only affect the performance in the game, but also affect the social interaction and competition of players.

Charm value can help players get more clothing fragments in the game, while karma value affects the performance of PvP leaderboards. The higher the karma value, the more rewards the user will get.

Users can improve these properties by upgrading their shoes. During the upgrade process, users will consume a certain amount of GGT, and some high-level stages will also consume GMT. Shoes of different qualities will gain additional attribute points after each upgrade, and users can freely allocate these points.

A new way to rent shoes: using running shoes as a financial management tool?

In StepN, users can only participate in sports and earn income by purchasing and holding NFT sneakers. Although the shoe rental function was envisioned in version 1.0, it was not launched in the end, resulting in users being able to use the purchased shoes alone and unable to share them with others.

However, as version 2.0, STEPN GO has implemented this long-awaited feature and launched the The Haus system. This system is similar to a sharing economy platform, allowing users to list their unused shoes on the platform for others to rent.

For the shoe owner, renting shoes means that even if they don’t have time to exercise, they can earn extra income through renting, making the shoes more like a financial management tool (but if they don’t consume 2 energy every day, the renter will not get the income provided by the renter). For the renter, the cost of buying two pairs of shoes is high, about $8,000 at current prices. But STEPN GO’s The Haus system provides a low-cost entry point, where users can start experiencing StepN GO and earn GGT or other rewards without buying NFT sneakers.

In addition to the three important functional upgrades mentioned above, STEPN GO also enhances social interaction, reward mechanisms, and anti-cheating systems. In STEPN GO, users can view nearby runners through interactive maps, or compete with global players through PvP leaderboards. This design breaks the previous single individual sports model and adds more social elements.

In addition, STEPN GO has added a variety of reward options. Users can not only earn GGT through sports, but also find treasure chests and unlock clothing fragments. In order to ensure the fairness of the game, the platform has introduced a more advanced SMAC-7 anti-cheating system.

Running shoes have entered the "narrow gate", how high is the threshold?

"The design adjustments made by STEPN GO are very smart, and the team has obviously learned a lot of experience and lessons from StepN and Gashero." Amin is an old player who participated in StepN in early 2021, and now he is also an early player of STEPN GO. In his opinion, the design of STEPN GO has greatly improved the life cycle and sustainability of the game, which can make this experiment more viral.

STEPN GO unboxing interface

STEPN GO had very strict control over invitation codes in the early days. The mother shoes purchased from the Mooar market could not be used directly, and only the shoes with activation codes could start running. It seems that in STEPN GO's strategy, controlling the growth rate of new users is also one of the ways to maintain the life cycle of this mechanism.

This can also be seen in the data. In the past 30 days, the number of new users of STEPN GO has decreased from more than 400 at the beginning to about 50 today.

“StepN was too FOMO at the beginning, and the growth mechanism of running shoes was too aggressive, so the profits in the later period were suppressed. The total amount of the currency circle is here, and only by growing bit by bit like squeezing toothpaste can the entire running shoe ecosystem survive longer.” In Amin’s view, STEPN GO’s control over the threshold for new users to enter will continue for a long time.

Amin got the running shoes by participating in a lucky draw after staking GMT on STEPN GO. "Of course, this is also criticized by many people. The pledged GMT lasts for 4 years. Who knows what it will be like after 4 years?" At this point, Amin was obviously complaining.

In addition, there are only two ways to get an invitation code: being given one as a gift or renting shoes. "Of course, the official will also hold events and draws on various channels, and it is estimated that some of them will be released in due course," Amin also revealed to BlockBeats that a small number of invitation codes will be traded in some off-sites.

It is almost impossible to be given away for free. There is still a chance to rent shoes through The Haus system, but there are still more people than people. "Looking for owners, waiting online", in the community channel of STEPN GO, there are many users who want to participate at a low cost and are looking for "shoe owners who are willing to rent shoes".

In the current market, the profit distribution of successful matching "shoe owners" and "renters" is mostly based on a 9:1 or 8:2 split, and the rental period is generally two weeks. However, for shoe owners, if they encounter a "three-day fishing and two-day drying net" tenant, the opportunity cost and time cost of the shoes will be wasted, and the Haus system is a new thing.

Therefore, there are relatively few users willing to rent out their shoes, and most people choose to burn their shoes to obtain energy, or rent out their shoes to family or friends rather than strangers.

High risk, high return? What are the returns and payback periods?

Amin currently has level 19 shoes, and since he has upgraded his cap once, he can consume 3 energy points every day and get 26 GGT. At the current GGT price of $11, he can earn about $300 a day.

"The payback period is a little difficult to calculate because the daily energy consumption limit and income in the novice period and the later stage are actually different. We can only estimate it." Amin said this when asked about the payback period.

If the special effects of the shoes are not taken into account, Amin estimates that the payback period is about 30-40 days. According to his cost calculation, pledging GMT to win a pair of running shoes in the lottery costs around $5,000 to buy a pair of shoes in the market to burn as energy.

22 GGT can be obtained every day. However, since upgrading shoes will consume some GGT, the actual payback period is about 25 days. Amin mentioned that burning a pair of shoes can get 90 energy points, and the daily energy limit in the early stage is 2 points, which means that users can run continuously for 45 days. In an ideal state, after the 20th day of payback, the remaining 25 days can get pure profit.

“Of course, this estimate ignores many influencing factors, such as the daily energy consumption limit may increase to 3 points in the later stage, the bonus of special effects of shoes, the fluctuation of GGT prices, the user growth rate, and other revenue-generating gameplay, such as producing shoes and renting shoes.” Amin added that these factors will have a certain impact on revenue.

At present, the payback period of most users in the market is estimated to be about 30 days, which is a generally recognized period. Another player, Max, who has also participated in the internal test for a long time, recalled that the payback period of StepN in the early days was only 7-14 days, but now the payback period of STEPN GO has been extended by 2-3 times.

Max believes that the factor that currently has the greatest impact on STEPN GO's revenue and payback period is the price of GGT. He pointed out that "GGT is actually the new GST, but its production cost is higher." Amin also expressed a similar view in the interview.

Therefore, Amin is very concerned about the destruction and output data of GGT. From several data sources, we can see that the destruction of GGT has been greater than the output since September 10th, and it was similar in the previous few days. At the same time, in The trading volume of the $GGT/GMT trading pair in several DEXs has also increased significantly, which makes both Amin and Max remain optimistic about the short-term price trend of GGT.

The short-term rise in GGT and GMT is not so friendly to new players who have not yet entered the market. Because the rise in GMT also pushed up the price of running shoes, soaring from 35,000 GMT a few days ago to 63,300 GMT.

Max also mentioned that over time, the energy replenishment cost of STEPN GO is about 35% of the total value of the shoe, similar to the "repair" cost in version 1.0, but this cost is fixed at the time of initial investment. He believes that as long as the daily user growth rate remains at 0.5-0.75%, the current price structure can be maintained, which will further support the market demand for shoes and make the floor price healthier.

In general, the 2.0 version of STEPN GO has brought many innovations to the entire running shoe ecosystem, especially in the introduction of GGT tokens, the launch of the shoe rental system, and the design of a more strategic entry threshold. For early players, this is undoubtedly a new opportunity, but they also need to carefully evaluate their potential risks and benefits.

Considering that the game is still in the testing phase, some mechanisms and benefits may be adjusted over time. As Amin said: "Although the threshold has been raised, it also means that the rewards may be more generous. If you can enter the market early, the returns of STEPN GO are still considerable."

Thanks to: Mable, A-Ming, Max, Zijing