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STEPN integrates Apple Pay, allowing you to buy shoes without cryptocurrency! But active users have dropped by over 90%.

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STEPN integrates Apple Pay, allowing you to buy shoes without cryptocurrency! But active users have dropped by over 90%.

The once-popular Move to Earn blockchain game STEPN, which gained popularity last year, announced on the 22nd that it has integrated with Apple Pay. This integration allows players to purchase sports shoe NFTs directly within the app even if they do not own any cryptocurrency, significantly lowering the barrier to entry for the game. However, since the collapse of STEPN's player base in the middle of last year, solely relying on this update to revive the number of players seems somewhat challenging.

STEPN Integrates Apple Pay, Introduces Spark Points System

With the latest update, STEPN has added a "Spark" points system to the game, where each Spark point is equivalent to 0.1 USD.

As shown by STEPN ambassador Col Jung in a demonstration image, the in-game store now features a "+ Spark" button, with sports shoes priced in Spark.

Upon clicking the button, users can choose the quantity of Spark points to purchase and proceed with payment using Apple Pay.

However, it is worth noting that due to Apple's in-app purchase tax policy, using Spark for purchases may result in higher costs compared to using cryptocurrency for payment.

Furthermore, this update also introduces a badge and achievement system, where users can collect badges and achieve different milestones through daily activities.

STEPN Sees Over 90% Drop in Monthly Active Users, No New Blood Injected

Although the integration of Apple Pay by STEPN has indeed lowered the entry barrier and somewhat enhanced the game's appeal.

For this type of financial game, it is not easy to make a comeback once the hype fades or prices spiral downward. It is regrettable that this feature was not introduced earlier.

According to data from Dune, in May last year, STEP's player base peaked with over 700,000 monthly active users. However, following the expulsion of Chinese users and a management dispute, the game tokens GMT and GST entered a downward spiral.

With economic incentives disappearing, the player base plummeted drastically, with monthly active users decreasing by over 90%, currently standing at less than 30,000.

Monthly Active Users

Furthermore, compared to the glory days of the first half of last year, the game is seeing very few new players joining, with mostly existing players continuing to support the game.

New Users vs. Existing Users

However, the good news of integrating Apple Pay has driven up the price of GMT, with a 14% increase in a single day.