Get Paid for Being Good at Games with Haste Arcade

Monetizing someone’s skill isn’t a new thing. It is pretty much how all organized sports, the entire entertainment industry, and every other company operates. We gain a skill, market that skill (by applying for jobs), and get paid to use that skill. Well, some people are good at games. And if they have other skills, they can go on Twitch and get paid for it. But what if they just want to be good? Haste has proposed a way for those that are good at games to get paid through their arcade app. How? Bitcoin of course.

What is Haste Arcade?

If you’ve ever played an old-school arcade game, you’ve seen a leaderboard. If you are as old as I am, you know the feeling of seeing your three initials up there as one of the best at the game (at least since the last time it was unplugged). Haste Arcade is essentially this, but paying you for keeping that top spot at the game.

How Does it Work

Normally, you’d buy a game, play the game, get bored of the game, and buy a new game. With Haste Arcade, all that changes. You don’t buy the game. Like a standalone arcade game, you need to pay to play. In this case, they use a currency called a Duro. What is a Duro? Well, that’s complicated. It is basically a fraction of a Bitcoin. Since Bitcoin varies in price, it is hard to lock down exactly what it is worth until you try to spend (or buy) it. But, according to this article, 100 Duro is about 10 cents. So 1 Duro is about a tenth of a cent. So…not a lot.

To play a game on the Haste Arcade, you’d spend a number of Duro (it changes, we’ll get to that). If you get on the leaderboard, you can earn Duro back. How much depends on your place. In general, however, if you are in first place, you get 10% of whatever anyone spends trying to unseat you. So if, for example, a bunch of people on Haste Arcade tries and pay a total of 10,000 Duro, you’d get paid 1,000 Duro for being good at the game. Simple, right? Hold on there buddy!

Enter the Math!

As you might imagine, different places on the leaderboard of the Haste Arcade pay out different percentages. But it is more than that. There are actually different leaderboards! In order to get good at a game on the Haste Arcade to get paid the big bucks, you’d start in the Practice level. This level costs the least per play and therefore pays out the least. But, once you get good, you can bump up to one of the higher levels. See below:

As you can see, there are many levels that cost significantly different amounts to play. Practice only costs 4 Duro while the High Roller division costs 200,000 Duro per play. The time you can stay on the leaderboard also changes by division. If you are very good at a Haste Arcade game, you can try and secure the top spot on the High Roller division and get paid forever. But each play isn’t cheap. You better be good or you are going to be out $200 a pop!

Wait…Is This a Pyramid Scheme?

Not really. You don’t have to recruit other people, per se, but you are reliant on others playing. And right now, that’s Haste Arcade’s problem. They have, as of this writing, seven games on their service. Most of the leaderboards have fewer than a handful of scores. The most was 13. Clearly, they are using CES 2022 (and these games) as a “proof of concept” to market this service to the big game companies. Because when microtransactions become more widely illegal, big game manufacturers are going to look for new revenue streams.

Our Take

If the conversion rate is correct, it costs a fraction of a cent to play a game in the Practice division. That makes Haste Arcade extremely accessible to just about anyone. The problem, obviously, is having a game that someone wants to play. They need to find that killer arcade experience that goes viral. If they do that, enough people will spend enough time (and money) trying to get good at the game that everyone on the Haste Arcade leaderboard will get paid.

If we may make a suggestion: There is a large speedrunning community out there. They love to get good at games and will pay (Haste Arcade or whoever) to have access. Many modern games have been tied to online servers. When the player base dries up too much, those servers are shut down and the game is essentially unplayable. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t ANYONE wanting to play that game. If Haste Arcade were able to secure some of those games and host them, they may find a community more than willing to pay to play their games. Just a thought.

For more information, visit HasteArcade.com.