DappRadar Games Report for February 2024, powered by the Blockchain Game Alliance
In February 2024 we’ve seen an increase of 20% month-over-month when it comes to the number of wallets interacting with blockchain-powered games. With rising crypto prices, successful launches in Web3 gaming, and traditional gamers warming up to new tech, the outlook is positive for blockchain games. These are exciting times for both blockchain and gaming communities, and we’re eager to dive into what’s driving this optimism.
Key Takeaways
- Blockchain gaming hit an average of 1.9 million daily unique active wallets (dUAW), commanding 28% of February’s total dapp industry activity.
- Polygon became the leading blockchain ecosystem for gaming activity with 407,933 dUAW.
- Racing game MotoDEX remains the most used gaming dapp, surpassing 220,000 dUAW.
- The metaverse market saw a 12% increase in trading volume to $51 million, but a 5% drop in NFT sales, totaling 325,509 sold items.
- Web3 gaming investments reached $42 million, a 53% drop from January 2023.
Table of Contents
- Blockchain gaming overview
- February gaming leaders
- Metaverse trading volume roses to $61 million
- GALA and BEAM tokens surge
- $42 million in Web3 gaming investments
- Closing words
1. Blockchain gaming overview
In our latest February Dapp Industry Report, we highlighted that the dapp industry hit a record with 6.7 million daily unique active wallets (dUAW) using blockchain applications. Like many previous months, gaming holds the top spot as the most active product category. 28% of all active wallets interact with gaming dapps, and this February the total number of daily active wallets increased 20% to 1.9 million dUAW.
The play-to-airdrop trend is still pushing more people towards blockchain gaming. It’s not just this trend that’s boosting the market; gaming tokens are also doing well as Bitcoin reached new highs. We’ll get into more details later.
Shifting our attention to the performance of the blockchain games this month, some things changed.
Polygon is the leading blockchain for gaming right now, with an average of 407,933 dUAW. This spike is mostly thanks to the mobile shooter Matr1x Fire, of which the testing period attracted more than 1 million registered players. Moreover, the project’s play-to-airdrop campaign also involves minting 3 keys every day, which boosts the on-chain activity measured by DappRadar. Other games on the Polygon blockchain have caught the attention of players and airdrop farmers as well, such the magic-infused chess game Anichess. In addition, Kratos Studios attracts many participants through its games network filled with quests and earning opportunities.
Thanks to various partnerships, SKALE Network has been top of mind in February. Fiat on-ramp Transak now supports the networks of chains, while the company also announced a partnership with FusionWave AI. However, when it comes to games there’s one project that stands out: MotoDEX. This racing game has been at the top of the charts for a few months, and February has been its best month to date. With football and betting game 5TARS, and the online shooter StrayShot, the SKALE ecosystem has two other gaming projects attracting big numbers.
zkSync-Era has seen a 128% increase in gaming activity from last month. It’s a newer chain but has launched some games that caught the community’s eye, like gaming platform Tevaera. This project has mini-games like Teva Run, and ultimately wants to host a selection of games on its own Teva Chain. They want to build this network on top of zkSync as a L3 gaming HyperChain, with its own DEX, NFT marketplace and powered by an EVM-compatible framework for on-chain games. In general, zkSync has gone through quite some growth, which we highlighted in our recent report.
This is just a quick update on this month’s gaming scene. There’s a lot more happening with various chains and updates. Now let’s dive deeper into the top games and what else is new in Web3 gaming.
2. February gaming leaders
In the ever-evolving world of Web3 gaming, tracking the most active games by unique active wallets remains key. This month however, the top games have mostly stayed the same, showing stability at the top of our charts.
Leading the pack, the mobile shooter Matr1x Fire has made a significant impact since its debut, as highlighted earlier. In addition, the farming social MMO Pixels on the Ronin Network has also been a notable performer, continuing to draw in more players and reaching a valuation of over $4.4 billion. The PIXEL token is now priced at $0.89, marking a 78% increase since its launch on 19 February.
Aside from these industry leaders, there have been other noteworthy developments in the gaming scene as a whole. Here are some of the highlights:
- Heroes of Mavia had a standout February with a highly successful play-to-airdrop campaign, distributing MAVIA tokens to over 50,000 wallets in one of the largest airdrops in Web3 gaming history. They also launched a player-run DAO and announced plans to adopt Base as their Layer-2 scaling solution, with their first DAO proposal already up for voting.
- The much-anticipated Gods Unchained mobile app is now available, allowing players to collect, battle, and earn on the go. With support for both iOS and Android devices, Gods Unchained is now more accessible than ever. The trading card game already had some of the most active NFT trading communities, powered by Immutable X.
- Various projects announced their transition to new chains, and particularly interest in Immutable zkEVM stands out. This collaboration between Polygon and Immutable already attracted BoomLand’s Heroes On-Chain and the upcoming mobile RPG Guild of Guardians. These projects join the mobile MMO Treeverse, online action game MetalCore, and dozens of other games.
- The rise of on-chain gaming should also be noted. Amidst the rise of Layer-2 and even Layer-3 networks, transactions become so cheap that it paves the way for game mechanics to utilize blockchain technology. Every crafted item, killed enemy or gathered resource can involve a transaction. The space economy game Influence launched on StarkNet, while Pirate Nation has gained lots of traction on Arbitrum. Moreover, Treasure DAO has plans to launch their own L3 network on top of Arbitrum, similar to for example XAI Games and Hytopia’s Hychain network.
As we look ahead, we expect more exciting updates and new game launches in the coming months.
3. Metaverse trading volume rose to $61 million
Nearly two months following the release of the Apple Vision Pro headset, interest in the metaverse has reignited. An analysis of the trading volume reveals a 12% uptick, albeit accompanied by a slight 5% drop in the number of sales.
This aligns with the broader trend we’ve observed: in the past couple of months, the value of NFTs and cryptocurrency tokens has been predominantly on the rise. However, this can’t be seen separately from the price increase seen in the broader crypto market.
Farm Land by Pixels leads the pack in terms of NFT trading volume, which can’t be seen separately from recent developments. Pixels has seen increased player numbers, while the value of the newly launched PIXEL token performed well in the market. Add to that that NFT land holders can earn PIXEL through participation in the game’s activities, and these trends make a lot of sense.
Mocaverse is also noteworthy for its activities over the past month, particularly its partnerships. On 16 February Mocaverse announced strategic collaborations with leading Web3 wallets—OKX Wallet, Crypto.com DeFi Wallet, and Halo Wallet—to meld centralized finance (CeFi) with the on-chain cultural economy. Through the Moca Foundation they will launch a MOCA token in the near future, while more partner activation happen across the board. On 28 February, they revealed partnerships aimed at expanding the Mocaverse Partner Network in South Korea, focusing on fusing and promoting Korean Web3 culture across various domains, including K-pop, digital IP, GameFi, and beyond.
Both Pixels and Mocaverse are part of the Animoca Brands portfolio. Animoca Brands proves instrumental in fostering the development of the metaverse and the broader Web3 gaming ecosystem.
4. GALA and BEAM tokens surge
With the market showing an uptrend since the start of the year, we’re zooming in on gaming tokens that have seen significant price movements over the last 30 days, up to 4 March 2024.
Immutable X (IMX) takes the lead, following the early access launch of its Polygon-powered zkEVM mainnet at January’s end. This development has led several games to migrate and embrace the new zero-knowledge network. Immutable has also reached a milestone with over 200,000 unique gamers using its Web3 onboarding platform, Immutable Passport.
Beam (BEAM), the native token of the Beam network and a product of the Merit Circle DAO’s gaming ecosystem, stands in second place. This network fosters a collaborative environment for gamers and developers to drive the future of gaming. BEAM powers its own Avalanche subnet, while it also provides Web3 gaming tools for developers. Their partnership with Polygon CDK and Immutable highlights the position of this relative newcomer.
Gala Games (GALA) announced the launch of GalaSwap, a new decentralized exchange (DEX) on its GalaChain, on 27 February. Boasting the capacity for over 2 million transactions per second and supported by over 43,000 user-operated nodes, GalaSwap aims to offer lower transaction fees compared to DEXs on platforms like Ethereum and Solana. Moreover, Gala has seen a strong performance thanks to improved communication surrounding the unique features of their ecosystem, which includes token burns on NFT purchases and hosting 30% of the decentralized IPFS web traffic.
Lastly, The Sandbox (SAND) has shown commendable recovery, with increases in its market cap and NFT trading activities. The Sandbox has been part of crypto for a couple of years, and even though the metaverse hasn’t come to full fruition yet, The Sandbox keeps delivering. Ongoing initiatives to onboard local and international communities through cultural events and fan engagement, have done the platform well. Moreover, users can now create games on their own piece of land, creating an environment where activity results in engagement. In February they had a Mocaverse Game Jam, avatars based on Diego Maradona, and new games like Aavegotchi, Cuddle Citadel, Habbo Hotel, and Shadows Untold. A music festival with Steva Aoki, Warner Music, Notorious Big and Elvis Presley, highlighted how The Sandbox taps into fan culture and engages new communities into their game world.
5. $42 million in Web3 gaming investments
Despite the general market optimism and the return of enthusiasm, the investment landscape in the gaming sector portrays a more cautious stance from investors. This month, the gaming sector has managed to raise $42 million, witnessing a 53% decrease compared to last month.
Of the total investments, $24 million (57%) was directed towards gaming infrastructure, with the remainder funneling into Web3 games.
A standout investment was made in Overworld, a multiplayer RPG powered by Xterio, which secured a seed funding round of $10 million. Overworld is developing a third-person 3D action role-playing game using Unreal Engine 5. The game aims to immerse players in a high fantasy world enriched with anime aesthetics, alongside a storyline that skillfully blends epic quests with the nuances of everyday interactions. Their Supporter Keys already attracted $1.5 million in trading volume.
However, it seems that a more vibrant market upturn is needed to match the investment levels seen in previous bullish periods.
6. Closing words
It’s clear that the markets are on an upswing, with green shoots visible across the board, signaling a bullish outlook on Web3. This resurgence of optimism is particularly pronounced in the gaming sector, which stands at the forefront of adoption and innovation in the blockchain space.
We are poised on the brink of new possibilities and eagerly anticipate what the future holds for blockchain gaming. With the landscape continuously evolving, the next chapter promises to be even more thrilling.
