Quick Take
- Risk-to-earn games shift earnings from token inflation to player-funded, seasonal prize pools
- Cambria and RavenIdle use high-stakes loops tied to real spending and on-chain rewards
- Developers are adopting circular systems to avoid unsustainable treasury drain
Cambria didn’t follow the typical Web3 gaming rollout. There was no token launch, no hype cycle built around future promises. Instead, it dropped players straight into the world and let them find their way. The rules were simple. If you wanted to earn, you had to take risks.
The game’s seasonal loop revolves around exploration. Players gather materials, craft weapons and armor, and push into dangerous zones. These areas are high-stakes for a reason. Dying in the wild doesn’t reset your entire progression, but you can lose hard-earned items you brought with you. Other players can kill you and take your loot. Unbanked gear is always at risk.
In Cambria, danger zones come with real consequences. Entering these areas puts your items at risk, especially if another player kills you. Anything not stored in the bank can be lost. This creates a loop where players constantly weigh how far to push and when to retreat. The deeper the zone, the better the potential loot, including rare artifacts that influence rewards and leaderboard placement.
To access the earning layer, players needed a Royal Charter. These could be minted directly or borrowed from Viceroys, who often sponsored active players as part of their guild structure. Charters allowed players to convert in-game progress into Royal Favor, which feeds into rewards, bribes, and airdrops. Early adopters who held a Founder NFT had lifetime access to all future seasons and received additional perks like in-game pets and a small boost to airdrop potential.
In Season 2, over 20,000 players joined the event. The prize pool reached $1.5 million in ETH, entirely funded by in-game spending. There was no inflation and no outside capital injection. The loop fed itself, with real value flowing in from players who were willing to risk their time, items, and strategy.
That same structure is now being used in other genres. RavenIdle, a new idle RPG from the team behind RavenQuest, launches July 4 on Immutable. It opens with a $70,000 prize pool funded by Battle Pass sales, which may scale the pool up to $570,000. Players manage units that move through dungeon floors, gather resources, complete daily tasks, and craft gear. The game runs even when offline, but the outcome depends on the routes players choose and how they build over time.
Battle Pass sales fund the prize pool directly. There’s no token emission model and no promise of future liquidity. The risk comes from participation. The more time and effort a player invests, the higher their share of the final payout. The result is a system that mirrors the stakes of Cambria but with different mechanics.
A system ideal for both gamers and degens looking to play with purpose.
Ronin Network is applying the same philosophy at a platform level. Jin’s Fortune Spin, a gacha-style capsule mechanic, recorded $318,000 in player spend during its first three days. Of that, $222,000 worth of NFTs were sold back into the system. Trading volume passed $540,000, with players flipping rare pulls like Origin Axies and more from other projects under the network.
There’s no new token here either. Just fixed-cost spins and provable onchain drop rates. The economy is closed-loop, driven by demand, scarcity, and engagement. Rather than having assets go straight into a sink, they’re either recycled, resold, or held. The loop continues without the need for inflation or treasury excessive depletion.
This is why studios are pivoting. Too many games promised long-term sustainability while giving away value with nothing to back it. Now that treasuries are shrinking and funding is scarce, developers need structures that hold.
Risk-to-earn offers a path forward. Players fund the game. Some win, some lose, but the pool stays intact. That’s more than most games onchain can claim. Especially in a market where players won’t stick around unless there’s real upside. Steam has over 100,000 titles. Epic adds thousands more. Many are free, polished, and deeply replayable. Web3 games don’t need gameplay. They need purpose.
Cambria and RavenIdle are early examples. Ronin’s spin system shows that the model works across formats. If more games follow this path, risk-to-earn could become a default structure for onchain economies. A way to earn and another reason to keep playing.
