Since early 2024, Web3 gaming has underperformed compared to other crypto altcoin sectors, losing 33% of its market capitalization, while the altcoin market has declined by 14%.

Despite this, Web3 gaming remains a strong player, accounting for 30% of all dApp activity with 2.1 million daily active wallets.

Let’s delve into the key insights from the latest Delphi study on Web3 gaming.

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Key Highlights

• Web3 gaming funding peaked between February and March, with monthly investments ranging from $60 million to $100 million, totaling $673 million for 2024. However, this is just 41.35% of Q1 2022 volumes.
• In 2024, over 50 games were launched, with notable gainers like Xai, Pixels, and Notcoin.
• Xai raised $40 million in 3 months. Pixels reached a peak of $4.8B FDV and 1 million DAU within 3 weeks of launch. Notcoin attracted 35 million users and hit $1 billion in market capitalization without external funding.
• Portal dropped from $4B to $280M FDV, and Overworld Incarnas lost up to 75% of its value. Mavia and Pixelmon also collapsed by more than 60% post-TGE.
• Shooters remain the leading genre in Web3, with Off the Grid standing out due to $110 million in funding and partnerships with Sony and Microsoft.
• Among MMORPGs, the most anticipated release is MapleStory Universe, with $100 million in funding.
• Pirate Nation, a fully on-chain game, is growing with 100,000 active players and $1 million in revenue over the past 6 weeks.
• Mobile games like King of Destiny and Matr1x Fire are growing rapidly, attracting hundreds of thousands of users. Matr1x Fire has already surpassed 3.5 million downloads.
• The Ronin and TON ecosystems lead Web3 gaming. Ronin benefits from Axie Infinity’s success, while TON offers seamless integration with Telegram and access to 900 million users. The success of Notcoin and Hamster Kombat further confirms this.

This summary highlights key points from Delphi’s “Mid-Year Gaming Review” report. To read the full publication, click the button below.

Check report

Web3 games to watch: Summaries

Below, I’ve highlighted some recent games worth watching, most of which are not yet tracked on DappRadar. For stats on the most popular games, use this dashboard.

Source: DappRadar

Off the Grid [Shooter]

Description: Off The Grid is a cyberpunk-themed battle royale created by Gunzilla Games.

Chain: Avalanche

Investments: $101M

Facts: Off the Grid attracted over $110 million in funding, boasts a team of more than 380 people, and partners with Sony and Microsoft to release the game on PlayStation and Xbox, setting a new industry standard.

MapleStory Universe [MMORPG]

Description: MapleStory Universe expands Nexon’s renowned MapleStory IP into a virtual world ecosystem, hosting a variety of applications based on this beloved franchise.

Chain: MapleStory subnet, powered by Avalanche

Investments: $100M

Facts: In 2023, MapleStory Universe secured over $100 million in funding from Nexon. MapleStory Online has garnered more than 100 million lifetime players and remains a significant player in the MMORPG landscape.

From July 24th to August 2nd, NEXPACE invited over 1,000 players to participate in the MapleStory N Pioneer Test. Peak activity reached 714 simultaneous players, with 92% of participants returning multiple times during the testing period. The team reported a 79.97% retention rate after seven days.

EVE Frontier [MMORPG]

Description: EVE Frontier is a single-shard survival game set in a dark, dystopian part of space where humanity struggles to survive and rebuild a broken world. In March 2023, CCP announced it had raised $40 million for the game’s development.

Investments: $40M

Facts: Tapping into proven IPs will provide a significant advantage in user acquisition, allowing them to target the loyal fan bases of MapleStory and Eve Online.

MetaCene [MMORPG]

Description: MetaCene is crafting a blockchain-based MMORPG set in a surreal post-apocalyptic world. Players utilize various NFTs to redefine civilization. The game aims to create an accessible Web3 experience, focusing on player-centric entertainment, governance, and AIGC-powered creation.

Chain: Rangers, but Apostle NFT collection is on Ethereum

UAW (30 days): 38.32k

UAW ATH: 57.06k (March 25th, 2024)

Facts: MetaCene is founded by gaming experts with over 20 years of industry experience from Shanda Games, Blizzard, Perfect World, and others.

Its UAW significantly grew in the last 30 days from 898 to 37.1k, a +4,031.4% increase.

Avalon [MMORPG]

Description: Avalon is the world’s first multichain, true open-world MMORPG, built in Unreal Engine 5 and incorporating multiple blockchains. Set in a fantasy medieval kingdom, players use their NFTs to explore a world while competing for crypto and rare NFT rewards. The game setting is inspired by the legend of King Arthur and the alternate history of the Knights Templar.

Chain: ImmutableX, Base

Facts: Both MetaCene and Avalon are led by industry veterans who played pivotal roles in shaping EverQuest and Mir II, two games that defined the MMORPG genre.

Big Time [MMORPG]

Name: Big Time

Description: Big Time is a multiplayer action RPG for PC that combines fast-paced combat with an open game economy. Players actively generate and exchange game items. The game integrates Web3 elements seamlessly, ensuring they don’t hinder the entertainment experience, thereby appealing to a wider audience.

Chain: Ethereum

Facts: Big Time has revitalized the Web3 gaming landscape post-bear market, generating over $100M since their preseason and positioning themselves as a strong Web3 native contender.

Pirate Nation [Fully on-chain game]

Description: Pirate Nation is an innovative game by Proof of Play, a studio that combines gaming and blockchain technology. Players collect pirates and send them on adventures to gather crafting materials, treasures, and pirate gold. Through their many adventures, pirates gain experience and level up.

Chain: Ethereum, Apex Chain

Facts: Pirate Nation has experienced a remarkable 2,400% growth in just three months. This surge, along with an impressive $1 million in-game revenue over the past six weeks, highlights its strong position in the FOCG landscape.

Apex Chain, designed to support the Pirate Nation ecosystem, is one of the most active chains, processing over 2.5 million daily transactions. This places it second only to Base among EVM Layer 2 solutions in terms of transactions over the last month.

Infinigods [Mobile game studio]

Projects: Infinimerge, Immortal Siege, King of Destiny

Description: Infinigods is a Web3 gaming studio specializing in cross-platform experiences for web and mobile. Infinigods is committed to building an ecosystem of casual games, interconnected through its unique NFT collection and intellectual property, all inspired by ancient mythologies.

Chain: Ethereum

Facts: King of Destiny, a Web3 luck battle game by Infinigods, has been quietly growing its user base and is nearing 1 million downloads with over 250,000 monthly active users (MAU).

More games to watch:

• Capsule Heroes – free-to-play PvP brawler.
• Matr1x – an entertainment platform Web3, AI, and eSports with 24K unique wallets over the last month.
• Fableborne – an isometric play-to-own multiplayer game with 77K downloads.
• Treeverse – an MMORPG being built by the team over at Endless Clouds.
• The World of Dypians (WoD) – a multiplayer online role-playing game, currently boasting the highest number of 30d unique active wallets on DappRadar of 700K.

Source: DappRadar

According to Delphi, there are no clear signs that the current market—where meme coins and the Solana ecosystem have outperformed most other Web3 sectors—will favor gaming in Q4. Additionally, the expected influx of launches over the next six months is likely to increase competition and further fragment liquidity.

However, they are hopeful that games like Off The Grid, Maple Story Universe, and Fableborne will positively impact sentiment in both Web3 and Web2 markets. Such content should still be considered crypto’s best Trojan horse, and they believe there are reasons to be optimistic in the short to medium term.

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