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Crypto market volatility increased in August, with Bitcoin prices fluctuating between $23,664 and $30,057. In comparison, the gaming space remains relatively flat, but from a macro perspective, perceptions of Web3 gaming are changing.
Many institutions and industry players are gradually realizing that the essence of Web3 games is not just to exploit users in a Ponzi scheme, but to provide entertainment around the gameplay itself. While the temptation to amass wealth quickly is still there, we are seeing a diminishing focus on speculation in the Web3 gaming space.
With the integration of games, NFTs and the metaverse, some of Web2's big IPs brought surprises to the market during the bear market. Zynga
Well-known game giants such as Sony and Sony are investing resources to provide users with a more complete gaming experience and attract mainstream players to join Web3. This trend is becoming more and more obvious, highlighting the long-term potential and development direction of Web3 games.
However, this emerging field still faces risks and uncertainties. As the speculative craze fades, Web3 games are maturing, and various players are beginning to change their views and put entertainment over speculation.
The data in this report comes from Footprint's Web3 Game research page. This is an easy-to-use dashboard containing the most important statistics and metrics for understanding the Web3 gaming industry, updated in real time. You can click here for the latest information on pricing, projects, financing and more.
Key takeaways
Crypto Market Overview
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The value of Bitcoin fluctuated significantly in August, fluctuating between $23,664 and $30,057 during the month.
Web3 game market overview
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Games with more than 1,000 monthly active users are still relatively rare, accounting for only about 9% of the total number of games.
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The market is currently dominated by projects led by large enterprises. Instead, smaller companies and startups are proceeding cautiously, trying to survive the long downturn in the Web3 gaming market.
Web3 game public chain data
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Statistics on games with more than 1,000 monthly active users on the BNB chain account for 5.3% of the total games, Ethereum accounts for 1.6%, and Polygon leads with 10.2%.
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Despite the technical advantages of the SUI chain, this has yet to translate into sustained adoption.
Web3 Game Project Overview
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In August, the CryptoTycoon token performed well, receiving a price increase of 200.23%.
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NFT Worlds, the currency price increased by 68.23% this month and 578.31% since the beginning of the year.
Web3 game investment and financing situation
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The integration of esports and Web3 projects is also booming in the market
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The popularity of artificial intelligence (AI) is still affecting this market, and many large companies are exploring the synergy between AI and Web3 technology.
Market trends this month
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Footprint Analytics and COMBO join forces to drive data-driven revolution in GameFi and Web3
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Mahjong Meta receives US$12 million in strategic investment
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Game engagement platform developer Conductive.ai completes seed round financing
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Singapore-based Web3 entertainment company Digital Entertainment Asset (DEA) receives funding from Global Brain Corporation’s KDDI Open Innovation Fund III
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Hungri Games closes $1.9 million in funding at $23 million valuation
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Irreverent Labs, an AIGC company backed by a16z, completes a new round of financing
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Roblox is using artificial intelligence to generate "richer, more dynamic" games
Crypto Market Overview
The value of Bitcoin fluctuated significantly in August, fluctuating between $23,664 and $30,057 during the month. On August 1, the submission of 5 Ethereum ETH triggered a brief surge in the value of Bitcoin, reaching $30,000. However, BTC and ETH prices quickly fell back due to market weakness following the U.S. government's credit rating downgrade.
Market Cap: GameFi Tokens vs BTC
On August 8, Bitcoin once again exceeded the $30,000 mark, possibly due to the impact of PayPal's launch of a new stable currency, PayPal USD (PYUSD). Then it took a sharp turn, falling to nearly $25,000. The decline was driven by a series of negative events, including reports that SpaceX had sold off a large amount of BTC, the China Evergrande crisis, and a massive liquidation of $1 billion in a single day in the crypto derivatives market.
At the end of August, a U.S. appeals court ruled in favor of Grayscale in its lawsuit against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, causing the price of Bitcoin to surge from $26,000 to $28,000 before eventually stabilizing around $26,000.
Web3 game market overview
The Web3 games market is booming. This month, the number of games increased from 2,471 to 2,540, and the market has seen significant growth in the construction of new games. However, games with more than 1,000 monthly active users are still relatively rare, accounting for only about 9% of the total number of games . In the current downturn in the Web3 game market, user acquisition remains a big challenge.
For Web2 gamers, managing private keys and using wallets can be a bit difficult. Therefore, Web3 games should prioritize providing a seamless user experience so that players do not need to distinguish between Web2 and Web3. de Tychey, the French chairman of Ethereum , said that the focus of making games should be on the game experience.
Carrom Blitz and Trickshot Blitz changed the trend of active users this month. It can be seen that the market's active users will increase by 110,000 people every Friday, reaching 15% of the overall number, but then decline slightly. Both games are developed by Joyride on the Flow blockchain. However, other metrics such as transactions and volume do not show similar cyclical growth, suggesting that while these games are great at driving user engagement, they may have little impact on users earning money or interacting with contracts.
The market is currently dominated by projects led by large companies, such as the collaboration between Animoca Brands and Yuga Labs . nWay game developer, owned by Animoca Brands, is launching a new fighting game under license from Yuga Labs. This trend also extends to gaming giant Bandai Namco, which is launching an AI virtual pet NFT game.
There are a lot of big companies coming into the Web3 gaming space. Many industry giants, including Zynga and Sony, have entered the field, using their extensive experience in game design and architecture to help the industry grow. As they fully realize the potential of blockchain technology, they are likely to make significant moves.
Instead, smaller companies and startups are proceeding cautiously, trying to survive the long downturn in the Web3 gaming market.
Web3 game public chain data
The distribution of the number of games on each blockchain remains basically unchanged, with the BNB chain having the largest number, followed by Ethereum and Polygon. Statistics on games with more than a thousand monthly active users on the BNB chain account for 5.3% of the total games, Ethereum accounts for 1.6%, and Polygon leads with a 10.2% share.
Sui Network
According to SuiVision, the Sui blockchain experienced a sharp decline in transaction volume after reaching an all-time high of 65.84 million transactions on July 27. By August 2, Sui's daily transaction volume had dropped to approximately 1.479 million transactions, which was only 2.2% of the peak. There has been a similarly sharp drop in daily active users.
This decline is related to MystenLabs’ Bullshark event that ended on July 28, which brought a large number of users to the game SUI 8192, thereby increasing the popularity of the SUI blockchain, but struggled to establish lasting user habits and high retention. Rate.
Despite the technical advantages of the SUI chain, this has yet to translate into sustained adoption. As the buzz wanes, monitoring operating models that don’t rely on incentives will be critical to assessing blockchain’s true appeal and market fit.
Layer2 public chains, such as opBNB and Starknet, have also attracted attention in the gaming field. However, current data do not show clear trends in them.
Web3 Game Project Overview
CryptoTycoon
CryptoTycoon is a lightweight DeFi gaming platform built on the BNB chain. In August, tokens in the project performed well, receiving a price increase of 200.23%. The token has increased in value by 76.59% since the beginning of the year. In a market where speculation is rife, tokens that can sustain growth deserve attention.
Game Token Price Changes in August
There are also other projects with long-term token growth, such as NFT Worlds, which has seen a price increase of 68.23% this month and 578.31% since the beginning of the year. Another project worth mentioning is Fabwelt, which has seen a price increase of 25.76% this month and a value increase of 466.78% year-to-date. The continued growth highlights the potential of these projects and their ability to attract investor interest in the crypto world.
Web3 game investment and financing situation
Investment continues to pour into the Web3 gaming space, with five major funding rounds attracting considerable attention, including investments in Mahjong Meta ($12 million), Conductive.ai (undisclosed), Digital Entertainment Asset (undisclosed), Hungri Games (undisclosed) ($1.9 million) and Irreverent Labs (undisclosed), among others.
Mahjong Meta
The integration of e-sports and Web3 projects is also booming in the market, and projects such as Sorare fully reflect this trend. This month, Mahjong Meta received US$12 million in financing, becoming a bright spot in the market. The integration of traditional games such as Mahjong with the cutting-edge world of Web3 games has attracted increasing attention.
MechaFightClub
The popularity of artificial intelligence (AI) continues to influence this market. Many large companies are exploring the synergy between AI and Web3 technologies, and Irreverent Labs is at the forefront. As a Metaverse game developer, Irreverent Labs recently received a new round of financing led by Samsung Next, indicating that investors continue to pay attention to AI-based projects. Irreverent Labs, which sees its game MechaFightClub as a large-scale machine learning model (LLM), also plans to allow users to create videos using various input methods such as images, text, and audio by the end of the year, once again showing the power of AI in the technology and gaming industries continued importance.
This article was contributed by the Footprint Analytics community.
The Footprint Community is a global, mutually supportive data community where members use visual data to work together to create communicable insights. In the Footprint community, you can get help, build links, and communicate about blockchain-related learning and research on Web 3, Metaverse, GameFi and DeFi. With many active, diverse, and highly engaged members inspiring and supporting each other through the community, a worldwide user base has been established to contribute data, share insights, and drive community development.
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