In July, Web3 gaming saw mixed results with increased DAUs and trading volumes, but ongoing concerns about sustainability and game innovation.

【Key Words: GameFi, Web3 Game, Blockchain Game, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ronin, opBNB, Saakuru, Base, Pixels, MEET48, WAX】

July 2024 Web3 Gaming Report

August 2024, Stella L (stella@footprint.network)

Data Source: Footprint Analytics Games Research Page

In July, the crypto markets experienced significant fluctuations with mixed price performance. Bitcoin and Solana stood out, while Ethereum’s price declined after the launch of spot Ethereum ETPs in the US market.

Data for Web3 games was also mixed. Daily active users (DAUs) increased by 19.4% and daily trading volume rose by 23.1%. However, the market cap dropped by 6.1% and daily transactions decreased by 0.4%. Ronin, opBNB, and Saakuru Verse led the market in DAUs. Despite some growth areas, concerns remain: active games represent only a small portion of the total. Sustainable development and game breakthroughs are still highly anticipated.

Monthly Market Review

In July, the crypto markets experienced significant fluctuations. Bitcoin started the month at $63,381 and ended at $64,989, marking a 2.5% increase. It reached a low of $56,608 on July 5 and a high of $68,806 on July 27. Ether began at $3,438 and ended at $3,243, resulting in a 5.7% decrease. Ether hit a low of $2,939 on July 7 and a high of $3,542 on July 21.

Source: BTC Price & ETH Price

In July, volatility increased across broader financial markets. Large-cap tech stocks and AI-related equities, which had led the market in the first half of 2024, significantly underperformed. The crypto industry made notable strides with the launch of spot Ethereum exchange-traded products (ETPs) and a strong endorsement of Bitcoin from the Republican presidential candidate, former President Trump.

Price performance was mixed in July. In the second half of the month, Bitcoin’s price saw less impact from the German government’s selling, which concluded on July 13, and distributions from the bankruptcy estate Mt Gox had a limited effect. Besides Bitcoin, Solana was a standout performer, gaining 25% during the month.

In contrast, Ethereum’s price declined after the launch of spot Ethereum ETPs in the US market. While the anticipation of these ETPs had initially supported Ether’s price, the subsequent selling pressure led to a decrease.

Overall Web3 Game Market

In July, the market cap of blockchain game tokens declined from $19.7 billion to $18.5 billion, marking a 6.1% decrease. It mirrored the broader trend in the overall crypto market.

Source: GameFi & Bitcoin Market Cap

The average daily active users (DAUs), measured by unique wallets, increased to 3.9 million in July, up 19.4% from June. DAUs broke the 4 million milestone on July 17 and reached 5 million on July 29, continually setting new records and demonstrating the industry’s growing engagement and inspiring progress.

Source: Web3 Game Daily Active Users

However, data for July was mixed. Despite the inspiring increase in DAUs, the average daily transactions for blockchain games totaled 8.8 million, a slight 0.4% decrease from June, continuing a downward trend since last October.

Source: Web3 Game Daily Transactions

Meanwhile, excluding several abnormal data points (such as JEFE ZOMBIE on Fantom transferring 7.1 billion JEFE tokens among its own wallets), the daily trading volume for blockchain games reached 17.3 million, a 23.1% increase from June. This growth rate, however, has lagged behind the rate of DAU increases since last October.

Source: Web3 Game Daily Trading Volume

It’s challenging to determine whether Web3 gaming is developing in the right direction or sustainably. Interest in blockchain gaming has shifted in the current market environment, with emerging fields like meme coins, AI, RWA (Real-World Assets), and platforms like Telegram and TON gaining traction alongside Bitcoin. We’ll explore more data insights below in this report.

Web3 Game Chains

In July, a total of 1,588 games were active across various blockchain networks. BNB Chain, Polygon, and Ethereum dominated the market, holding shares of 21.7%, 19.0%, and 15.1%, respectively.

Ronin, opBNB, and Saakuru Verse led the market in DAUs among chains in July, with average DAUs of 1.1 million, 479.6K, and 354.5K, respectively. By the end of the month, their shares of DAUs were 32.6%, 18.7%, and 3.4%.

Source: Daily Active Users by Chain

Ronin’s DAU market share saw a significant increase from 18.6% on July 1 to 32.6% on July 31, driven by the recovery of Pixels data and the debut of new games Lumiterra and Fight League. Additionally, games on Ronin excelled in user retention, frequently appearing in the weekly new user retention rankings. For instance, five games were listed in the New User Retention Top 10 in the last week of July.

opBNB’s DAU share rose from 13.1% to 18.7% throughout the month, bolstered by the growing popularity of its games MEET48 and SERAPH: In The Darkness. Notably, SERAPH: In The Darkness, a dark-fantasy ARPG game that launched in mid-July, has gained substantial traction on opBNB.

SERAPH: In The Darkness

Oasys Layer 2 Saakuru Verse experienced a surge in DAUs in the last 10 days of June. However, its growth slowed in July, with its DAU market share decreasing from 14.1% to 3.4%. Despite this, Saakuru maintained the third highest average DAU among all chains. Saakuru’s unique delegate model, where the chain operator (AAG) absorbs transaction costs, allows users and developers to interact with the blockchain without the financial burden of gas fees, significantly reducing onboarding friction.

Base’s DAU increased dramatically from 8.2K to 222.5K over the month, with an average DAU of 101.6K, largely driven by the game BLOCKLORDS Dynasty.

Another chain worthy of attention is TON. Several Telegram games in the TON ecosystem have recently claimed to have more than 10 million active users. However, on-chain data shows that TON had an average DAU of 171.9K in July, holding a market share of 4.8% at month-end.

On the other hand, Wax, Ronin, and Near led the pack in the number of daily transactions.

Source: Daily Transactions by Chain

Web3 Games Overview

In July, there were a total of 3,362 blockchain games, with 1,322 actively engaged. Of these, 289 games attracted over 1,000 monthly active on-chain users (MAU), representing 8.6% of all games and 21.9% of active games.

Source: Monthly Active Web3 Games

Examining the history of 3,515 Web3 games from January 2022 to July 2024 reveals that 1,799 games had been inactive for at least three months (with zero active users), 1,493 games had been inactive for at least six months, and 1,153 had been inactive for at least twelve months. These statistics raise questions about the sustainable development of the Web3 gaming industry, highlighting the need for innovation.

One promising avenue for innovation is gaming content creation. MEET48, an immersive intelligent social metaverse, exemplifies this approach. It has become the second-largest game on opBNB in terms of DAUs. MEET48 offers a unique blend of AI and Web3 entertainment, allowing users to create, support, and interact with virtual idols or real-idol avatars. MEET48 is set to launch its first game, CoinFish, on TON in August.

MEET48

Launching a Web3 game successfully can also involve starting in the Web2 gaming space. As Rotten, VP of Ecosystem at double jump.tokyo, talked to Footprint Analytics in IVS Crypto 2024,

“Keep it simple at first, get your audience in, and then add all those extra steps.”

An example of this strategy is BLOCKLORDS, an off-chain medieval strategy game that has expanded with the full-chain web-experience extension BLOCKLORDS Dynasty on the Base network. Since its launch last month, Dynasty has gained impressive traction, reflecting its growing popularity and active player engagement. To celebrate its upcoming Token Generation Event (TGE), BLOCKLORDS launched a substantial 300,000 Gamedrop of its native token, $LRDS, on July 24, which significantly boosted on-chain activities on Base.

New Web3 gaming projects need solid data to attract VCs and exchanges. Work studios and guilds, similar to the plumbers of early-stage projects, boost user numbers and TVL. However, this approach is not sustainable in the long term. With its large user base, Telegram is becoming a key platform for user acquisition, similar to how TikTok transitioned to WeChat mini-games for the crypto crowd.

There is a growing trend in blockchain gaming towards lightweight, fast-paced games that are easy to play. Initial traction can be achieved through Telegram, leveraging its extensive user base. Social sharing will be crucial in driving in-game rewards and encouraging more user engagement. As these games grow, they are likely to expand to established blockchains like TON or others to offer deeper gameplay experiences. This transition explains why several Telegram games have a large user base, even though the on-chain data on TON is not yet substantial.

“Platforms like Footprint Analytics can create a unified data lake for user behavior, helping with segmentation and growth strategies. It’s all about that data-driven approach,” said Shelly W, Head of Marketing at Footprint Analytics.

Investment and Funding

In July, Web3 gaming secured $38.2 million across 11 funding events, marking an 11.3% decrease from June. Three of these events did not disclose their amounts.

Web3 Gaming Industry Funding Rounds in July 2024 (Source: crypto-fundraising.info）

NPC Labs, a Web3 gaming infrastructure startup co-founded by three former Coinbase employees, secured $18 million in seed round funding. The company plans to use the proceeds to act as a core contributor to B3.fun, an ecosystem designed to build Web3 games on Base. Their goal is to develop GameFi products that are accessible to non-crypto-native users. This funding event is another notable development for the Base gaming ecosystem, following the acquisition of the on-chain survival game Crypto: The Game by Uniswap Labs in June.

Telegram games are gaining traction, with three notable titles announcing successful funding rounds, including Pluto Studio, Akedo Games, and Pixelverse. Pluto Studio, the publisher of Catizen, a gaming bot on Telegram that seamlessly integrates with the TON blockchain, received investment from Binance Labs. Telegram CEO Pavel Durov revealed on July 24 that Catizen has over 26 million players. The game has already generated $16 million from in-app purchases, donating 1% of its earnings to rescue stray cats. This success suggests that users are willing to pay for Web3 games, indicating a player base beyond just airdrop hunters.

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About ABGA

ABGA is a groundbreaking club centered around Web3 games, supported by prominent institutions in the Web3 industry. By integrating the collective strength of the Asian gaming industry, ABGA is dedicated to shaping a promising future for the global Web3 gaming arena.

About Footprint Analytics

Footprint Analytics is a comprehensive blockchain data analytics platform that simplifies complex analysis for businesses and projects in the Web3 ecosystem. It offers tailored solutions that eliminate the need for extensive expertise and infrastructure maintenance. The platform provides long-term growth tools designed to help build and manage communities step by step, emphasizing sustainable growth and user loyalty. By combining powerful analytics with community management tools, Footprint Analytics enables projects to leverage blockchain data effectively for decision-making and growth strategies across various sectors including GameFi, NFT, and DeFi.