👇👇👇👇👇
Somewhere Tuesday evening I was reading through @Pixels documentation and caught myself scrolling the same page twice. Not because it was hard — something just didn't line up with what I already "knew" about the project.
I thought I understood how it worked. Turns out I didn't.
Two layers I had mixed up
Pixels has two assets: PIXEL and BERRY. For a long time I assumed it was just "premium currency" vs "regular currency" — like in mobile games. The actual mechanic is diffrent.
PIXEL is the external token. You need it to buy a Battle Pass, access certain zones, participate in governance. It trades on exchanges, you can buy it with crypto. It's the entry point.
BERRY is the internal currency you earn by playing. Farm land, complete quests, craft items — you get BERRY. You spend it inside the game on upgrades and resources.
Sounds logical. On paper.
Where I got stuck
Here's the part I re-read several times: BERRY could be withdrawn through a DEX. Meaning players earned it in-game — and immediately sold it for real money.
My first reaction was: "okay,that's P2E, that's the point." But then I understood why it's a problem. If everyone playing is selling what they earn, that's constant downward sell presure with no organic demand from inside. The balance doesn't hold.
The Pixels team figured this out too. Just not right away.
Chapter 2 — not an update, but a logic restart
In Chapter 2, BERRY gets removed entirely. One currency remains — PIXEL. Plus they introduce "Stacked": part of rewards paid in USDC, not in token. That's a direct response to inflationary pressure.
Will it work? Honestly I'm not sure. Simpler economy is easier to balance — true. But BERRY gave players the feeling they were "earning right now, from the act of playing." Without it, farming motivation might drop.
I don't have the answer. But I'm watching.
What I'm leaving open: if you remove the inflationary token and replace it with one — does Pixel start looking more like a regular game where people play for fun, not profit? And is that good or bad for the token?