Remember STEPN?
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 has become a major fashion trend in the currency circle and even the technology circle.
Two years have passed and StepN has launched a new version 2.0 - STEPN GO, which is also the third game from game developer FSL after StepN and Gas Hero. Although this new version is still in the testing stage 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 a veteran player of StepN and is now an early participant in STEPN GO. In his experience, the income from GGT tokens has been good. With level 19 running shoes, he can earn about $300 a day. He also mentioned that "the payback cycle is now about 30-40 days." Although there is still uncertainty, this is already a pretty good result for veteran players.
STEPN GO game interface
In this article, BlockBeats will delve into the "upgrades" of STEPN GO, the entry barriers for new users, and the revenue and payback cycle that players are most concerned about. It should be noted that STEPN GO is still in the testing phase, so specific data may change as the game is updated.
What upgrades are there in StepN2.0?
GGT: new GST
StepN uses GST and GMT as the main tokens, while in STEPN GO, GGT (Go Game Token) is newly 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 1 hour after going live, the price surged by 2120% before quickly falling back to around $6. However, after a period of shock adjustment, the price of GGT has shown a steady upward trend in the past week. As of writing on September 12, GGT’s price has climbed back to $10.
GGT is obtained mainly by completing daily outdoor sports tasks. When users use NFT sneakers to 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) generally receive more GGT than jogging shoes (Jogger).
STEPN GO also implements a daily profit cap and token burning mechanism. Users initially have a daily GGT cap of 5/5, which can reach a maximum of 300/300. By upgrading sneakers or destroying gems, users can increase this limit. 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 Circulation in the market maintains the balance of the ecosystem and controls token inflation.
Shoe level and customization system
In StepN, the level cap for shoes is 20, but in STEPN GO, the level cap is increased to 60. In addition, new attributes have been added: Charm and Karma. These attributes not only affect the performance in the game, but also affect the players' social interaction and competition.
The charm value can help players obtain more clothing fragments in the game, while the karma value affects the performance of the PvP rankings. The higher the karma value, the more rewards the user will receive.
Users can improve these attributes by upgrading their shoes. During the upgrade process, users will consume a certain amount of GGT, and some high-level stages also need to consume GMT. Shoes of different qualities will gain additional attribute points after each upgrade, and users can allocate these points freely.
A new way to rent shoes: Use 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 envisaged in version 1.0, it was not finally launched, 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 implements this long-awaited feature with the launch of 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 shoe owners, renting shoes means that even if they don’t have time to exercise, they can still earn extra income through leasing. The shoes thus become more like a financial management tool (but if 2 energy is not consumed every day, the renter will gain not the income provided by the tenant). For renters, the cost of buying two pairs of shoes is higher, about $8,000 at current prices. However, STEPN GO’s The Haus system provides a low-cost entry way. Users can start experiencing StepN GO and earn GGT or other rewards without purchasing NFT sneakers.
In addition to the above three important functional upgrades, STEPN GO also enhances social interaction, reward mechanism and anti-cheating system. In STEPN GO, users can view nearby runners via an interactive map or compete with players from around the world via PvP leaderboards. This design breaks the previous single individual sports model and adds more social elements.
In addition, STEPN GO also adds diverse reward options. Users can not only earn GGT through sports, but also find treasure chests and unlock clothing fragments. To ensure game fairness, the platform has introduced a more advanced SMAC-7 anti-cheat system.
When running shoes step into the "narrow door", 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 box opening interface
In the early days, STEPN GO had very strict control over invitation codes. Mother shoes purchased from the Mooar Market cannot be run directly, only shoes with an activation code can 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 initially to about 50 today.
In Amin’s view, STEPN GO’s control over the entry threshold for new users will last for a long time.
Amin obtained the running shoes by participating in the lottery after staking GMT on STEPN GO. "Of course, this is also criticized by many people. The GMT duration of the pledge is 4 years. Who knows what will happen after 4 years?" Speaking of this , Ah Ming obviously complained.
In addition, the only ways to obtain invitation codes are by giving them away and renting shoes. "Of course, the official will also conduct event draws and the like through various channels, and it is estimated that they will be liberalized appropriately in the future." Amin also revealed to BlockBeats that there will also be a small number of invitation codes being traded outside some venues.
It is almost impossible to be given away for free. There is still a chance for rental shoes from The Haus system, but there is still a lot of money. "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 "interested in renting shoes."
In the current market, the profit distribution between successfully matched "shoe owners" and "tenants" mostly follows a 9:1 or 8:2 split, and the lease period is generally based on two weeks. But for shoe owners, if they encounter a tenant who "fishes for three days and shows nets for two days", 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, and most people still choose to burn their shoes to obtain energy, or rent their shoes to family or friends instead of strangers.
High risk, high reward? What is the income and payback period?
Amin currently has level 19 shoes. Since he has raised the upper limit once, he can consume 3 energy points and obtain 26 GGT every day. At the current GGT price of $11, he would be making about $300 a day.
"It's a bit difficult to calculate the payback period, because the upper limit of daily energy consumption and income in the novice stage and the later stage are actually different, so we can only estimate it." When asked about the payback period, Amin said.
If the special effects of the shoes are not taken into account, Amin expects the payback period to be around 30-40 days. According to his cost calculation, if you stake GMT in a lottery to get a pair of running shoes, it would cost you 4,000 knives to buy a pair of shoes in the market to burn energy, and the cost would be around 5,000 knives.
Earn 22 GGT per day. However, since upgrading shoes will consume part of 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 users can run for 45 days continuously. In an ideal world, after the 20th day of repayment, the remaining 25 days would result in net profit.
"Of course, this estimate ignores many influencing factors, such as the daily energy consumption limit may increase to 3 points in the future, the bonus of special effects of shoes, the fluctuation of GGT price, the user growth rate, and other revenue methods, such as shoe production and Renting shoes." Amin added that these factors will have a certain impact on revenue.
Currently, the estimated payback period for most users on the market is approximately 30 days, which is a generally recognized time period. Another player, Max, has also participated in internal testing for a long time. He recalled that the early StepN payback period was only 7-14 days, but now the payback period of STEPN GO has been extended by 2-3 times.
Max believes that the current factor that has the greatest impact on STEPN GO’s revenue and payback cycle is the price of GGT. He pointed out that "GGT is actually the new GST, but its production cost is higher." Amin also expressed similar views 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 of GGT and GMT is not so friendly to new players who have not yet entered the market. Because the increase in GMT also pushed up the price of running shoes, which surged to 63,300 GMT from 35,000 GMT a few days ago.
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 growth rate of users remains at 0.5-0.75%, the current price structure can be maintained, which will further support the market demand for shoes and make floor prices healthier.
Overall, version 2.0 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 more strategic entry barriers. For early players, this is undoubtedly a new opportunity, but its potential risks and benefits also need to be carefully evaluated.
Considering the game is currently in beta, some mechanics and benefits may be adjusted over time. As Amin said: "Although the threshold has been raised, it also means that the returns may be more generous. If you can enter the market early, the returns on STEPN GO are still considerable."
This article is reproduced in cooperation with: Shenchao
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