Crypto gaming, aka GameFi, has been one of the biggest trends in the industry during the past few years. The last market cycle, in particular, was a strong one for the growth of decentralized gaming. As with all trends, the sector plateaued somewhat at the start of 2024 but as of March 2024, it’s quickly picking up steam again.
The latest statistics from the industry indicate that cryptocurrency gaming as a whole has increased by as much as 35% since January 2024. Interestingly, its growth spurt actually mirrors that of the universally popular Bitcoin (BTC), albeit at a smaller percentage. Meanwhile, according to CoinGecko, the total value of gaming tokens currently in operation stands at well over $28 billion.
Crypto Gaming Explained
As its name suggests, the crypto gaming segment is a fusion of digital gaming with decentralized currencies. Also known as GameFi (a portmanteau of gaming and finance), crypto gaming projects offer players new ways to participate in and profit from gaming experiences, while the integration of leading coins like BTC and ETH into existing genres has generated an array of crypto-friendly platforms offering everything from Bitcoin pokies to MOBAs and MMORPGs. At its core, crypto gaming makes use of blockchain tech to provide gamers with radical new in-game economies and governance systems.
In contrast to traditional gaming sectors, where in-game assets like character skins and loot boxes are controlled by centralized servers, in crypto gaming economies, players genuinely own their digital assets in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). These unique digital assets can then be sold and traded in decentralized marketplaces, providing real-world value and, in some cases, a tangible income.
Moreover, the presence of blockchain technology enhances the security of decentralized gaming projects. For instance, games built on the Ethereum chain or any of its level 2 chains will utilize smart contracts to both enforce gameplay rules and automate in-game transactions. Plus, the interoperability aspect of some blockchain ledgers can facilitate the use of digital assets across different games and platforms.
The Latest Developments in Crypto Gaming
For much of GameFi’s existence, the sector has been dominated by titles like Axie Infinity, the Ethereum chain gaming project from Sky Mavis studios. But there are at least 398 active blockchain games now in the market (based on 2022 statistics from Dapp Radar), suggesting that there’s robust interest in such innovations from both the investor side and the gaming community.
So far in 2024, a few emerging projects have broken ahead of the pack. MetaCene, a new Web3 MMORPG, has just finished private round-A funding, pulling in $10 million (including support from Animoca Ventures). MadWorld, a mobile NFT shooter, also picked up $11 million in its seed round, with backing from VC firm Andreessen Horowitz.
On March 13th, RON, the native token for the Ethereum scaling network focused on gaming, Ronin, hit a new all-time high of $4.56. Ronin is most known for the 2022 flagship game, Axie Infinity, but here in 2024, a new blockchain game is behind its resurgence. The arrival of Pixels, an NFT and token-driven farming game, onto the chain from Polygon has caused a flurry of interest. Although Pixels is defined by single-token Tokenomics, unlike Axie Infinity’s double-token mechanics, its governing coin PIXEL was nevertheless distributed through airdrop based on the total value of RON staked.
Not only that, but a few days later March 13th, Kaidro, another Ronin game, underwent its first minting. As an incentive, new users could mint a free NFT for 24 hours, undoubtedly contributing to yet another surge in interest in both Ronin and its native token.
Another coin doing well this spring is GALA, the native cryptocurrency for the Gala Games NFT platform. Now truly in a bull run, the coin underwent a 100% price increase in a span of just two days. Within one week, the increased market capitalization added over $1 billion to its cap, reaching as high as $2.072 billion. As a result, the coin has become a standout performer in the top 100 cryptocurrencies of 2024.
The Ethereum-based project has also just achieved a golden cross, with its 30-day moving average crossing above its 200-day stats. This is despite its current value sitting way below its recorded all-time high of $0.8248 (November 2021), indicating the potential for a strong upward trend as crypto gaming continues to pick up traction.
New Gaming Projects to Look Out For
In addition to the standout GameFi projects discussed above, several other coins on the horizon are showing significant promise for growth and stabilization during 2024:
- Sponge V2 (SPONGEV2) — this upgraded, tokenized version of the existing Sponge ecosystem is currently generating a lot of interest for its high-yield staking capacity. Last year, the project’s market cap swelled to an impressive $100 million from $1 million, and staking yields for SPONGEV2 are set at 212%.
- 5th Scape (5SCAPE) — a metaverse project, 5th Scape defines itself as the “world’s first AR and VR crypto gaming ecosystem”. Still in the presale stage, so far, it’s already raised over $1.5 million.