Author: lesley@footprint.network
In June, the cryptocurrency market showed signs of recovery, with Bitcoin reaching a new 12-month high, breaking the $30,000 mark for the first time. Although there are over 1,000 blockchain games active in the market, the development of the gaming sector has not been as desired compared to the overall market recovery, and the data performance is not optimistic.
The market value of the blockchain gaming sector has dropped from a peak of $6.38 billion to $5.5 billion, with the lowest point reaching $4.7 billion, reflecting a possible imbalance between the supply of game tokens and the demand from players. Currently, only 19 games in the market are able to attract more than 10,000 daily active users, further revealing the difficulties of blockchain games in attracting and retaining users.
However, well-known NFT brands like Yuga Labs are steadily entering the blockchain gaming sector, bringing rich intellectual property and innovative power to the industry. Although blockchain games are still in the early stages of development, with the gradual improvement of infrastructure and continuous innovation of gameplay, they may be able to drive the industry into the next stage of growth. However, how to improve user retention and how to make the integration of blockchain games and mainstream games more seamless are still the major challenges faced by blockchain games.
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The data in this report comes from Footprint Analytics’ GameFi Research page. This page provides an easy-to-use data dashboard that includes key data indicators that the GameFi industry needs to pay attention to and is updated in real-time. You can find the latest information on GameFi-related prices, individual projects, funding rounds, etc. by clicking here.
Key Points
Cryptocurrency Market Overview
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In June 2023, Bitcoin experienced ups and downs, reaching a 12-month high of $31,200 on June 22. In the volatile cryptocurrency market, the price of Bitcoin maintained a continuous upward trend.
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On June 22, Bitcoin unexpectedly broke the $30,000 mark. By the end of June, the closing price of Bitcoin was $30.4k, indicating that $30,000 has become a solid support level.
Blockchain Gaming Market Overview
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The market value of game tokens dropped from $6.38 billion to $5.5 billion, with the lowest point falling to $4.7 billion.
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Although there were approximately 1,021 active games in the market in June, only 19 games had more than 10,000 daily active users.
Development of Blockchain Gaming Public Chains
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BNB Chain launched its Layer 2 solution, opBNB, on June 19, 2023, on its testnet.
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The public chain Flow saw a significant increase in transactions and user numbers at the end of the month, mainly driven by the game Carrom Blitz developed by Joyride Games.
Overview of Blockchain Gaming Projects
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In June, StepN’s token price ranked first with a 377.43% increase.
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Yuga Labs, the parent company of “Bored Ape Yacht Club” (BAYC), is actively entering the field of blockchain gaming and has launched the first season of the highly anticipated HV-MTL Forge game.
Investment and Financing Situation in the Blockchain Gaming Industry
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The total investment amount in the blockchain gaming industry this month has significantly decreased compared to last month, with 6 rounds of financing raising a total of $29 million.
Cryptocurrency Market Overview
In June 2023, Bitcoin experienced ups and downs, reaching its highest point in 12 months at $31,200 on June 22. In the volatile cryptocurrency market, the price of Bitcoin maintained a continuous upward trend.
BTC Price & ETH Price
In early June, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) increased regulatory efforts and filed lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase, the two largest cryptocurrency exchanges globally. As a result of these regulatory actions, the price of Bitcoin fell to $24.7k.
However, on June 22, Bitcoin broke through the $30,000 mark. By the end of June, the closing price of Bitcoin was $30.4k, indicating that $30,000 has become a solid support level. This outstanding performance may have been driven by positive news in the cryptocurrency field, such as the re-submission of the Bitcoin spot ETF application by Blackrock, which may have boosted market optimism.
The cryptocurrency market seems to be entering a consolidation phase, gradually better able to face regulatory trends and market turbulence.
Overview of the Blockchain Gaming Market
In June, the market performance of Bitcoin and blockchain gaming tokens showed a distinct contrast. While Bitcoin reached its highest point in 12 months at $31,200, the market value of gaming tokens decreased from $6.38 billion to $5.5 billion, with a lowest point of $4.7 billion.
GameFi Tokens Market Cap vs. BTC
As a more stable asset, “digital gold” Bitcoin remained strong this month, further highlighting the sensitivity of gaming tokens to market fluctuations and sentiment.
The decline in the market value of gaming tokens also reflects a shift in investor preferences. During market turbulence, investors may prefer to seek more stable assets for investment.
Active Games
Although there were approximately 1,021 active games (games in which users interacted with game contracts during the month) in the market in June, data shows that only 19 games had daily active users exceeding 10,000. Even well-known games like Axie Infinity had only 8,569 daily active users on June 30.
Most blockchain games are facing low user engagement. Even mature games like Axie Infinity are not immune. At the same time, active users are highly concentrated in a few games, which may indicate that players tend to choose certain specific types or more well-known games.
Furthermore, this also reveals another major problem with blockchain games: they emphasize too much on the application of blockchain technology, but fail to provide a quality gaming experience.
Daily Active Users
The number of daily active users in blockchain games fluctuates between 700,000 and 1 million this month. However, on June 23, the number of active users rose to 166,000, with Walken contributing significantly to the growth by adding 47,459 users compared to the previous day. This sharp increase in data reflects the relatively small user base of cryptocurrency games, where the growth of a single game can affect the overall market data.
Walken Daily Active Users
The key challenge for blockchain games is how to continuously attract and maintain player interest. This industry is in urgent need of innovation, which can be achieved by combining attractive gameplay, captivating storylines, unique game elements, and blockchain technology. We should pay more attention to building sustainable game economies and thriving communities, rather than solely relying on the terms “blockchain” and “cryptocurrency rewards” to attract users.
Development of Public Chains for Blockchain Games
Game Projects Shared by Chain
The distribution of game projects on various public chains remains relatively stable, with no single chain dominating the market. Binance Smart Chain (BNB) has the most game projects, followed by Ethereum and Polygon, which together account for 71% of the market share of game projects.
Against the backdrop of competition among public chains, the launch of the opBNB testnet by Binance Smart Chain on June 19, 2023, undoubtedly represents a strategic deployment. Built on Optimism, opBNB aims to address scalability issues and is compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), greatly simplifying the process for developers to create and run applications, while facilitating the migration and expansion of applications from the Ethereum chain to the BNB chain. This makes opBNB an optimal solution for game developers. We look forward to a large influx of high-quality blockchain games on the BNB chain, leveraging its outstanding performance and compatibility with Ethereum, to drive innovation and development in the field of blockchain games.
Most newly launched blockchain games usually choose to be released on three major public chains: BNB Chain, Ethereum, and Polygon. However, in terms of active users and transaction volume, the WAX Chain occupies a leading position, accounting for about 85% of the total transaction volume and 35% of active users. Despite having a large user base and transaction volume, the share of WAX Chain in the total transaction amount is relatively small. This phenomenon reveals the unique technical architecture characteristics of the WAX Chain, which requires users to conduct more transactions on the WAX Chain.
Top Games on Ethereum on June 30
It is worth noting that the highest-ranked Ethereum game has only 153 active players, which seems relatively weak compared to Ethereum’s important position in the blockchain field.
Daily Txn & Active User on Flow
Another public chain, Flow, has seen a significant increase in transactions and the number of users at the end of the month, mainly driven by the game Carrom Blitz developed by Joyride Games.
Overview of Blockchain Game Projects
Blockchain networks designed specifically for games, such as WAX and Ronin, have stronger adaptability to games and can better meet the needs of game users. In terms of the overall ranking of game projects, Alien Worlds on WAX ranks first in terms of active users, while Axie Infinity on Ronin ranks first in terms of transaction volume, further confirming our observations.
Top Games by Active Users
In June, StepN’s token price ranked first with a growth rate of 377.43%, followed by Zodium and Nakamoto Games, which also showed significant growth in their token prices.
Game Token Increase in June
Currently, the projects that perform well in terms of token price growth are still mature projects that have been deeply involved in the game field and have accumulated rich experience. This indicates that achieving success in the blockchain game field often requires long-term and persistent efforts. Game projects need to cultivate for a long time to establish a robust ecosystem and build a strong community.
Although the total market value has declined and users are mainly concentrated in a few top games, there are still some positive signals this month.
The parent company of “Bored Ape Yacht Club” (BAYC), Yuga Labs, is actively entering the blockchain gaming field and has launched the first season of the highly anticipated HV-MTL Forge game. HV-MTL Forge is a space construction game centered around Yuga Labs’ new mech NFT series, HV-MTL. Players who hold HV-MTL are eligible to participate in the game, where they can create or customize their unique space and upgrade their HV-MTL NFTs to new forms through in-game activities.
This game is part of Yuga Labs’ annual plan, as they plan to release four to five games this year. We expect high participation rates among NFT holders for this game, as 97% of NFT holders participated in their previous game, Dookey Dash.
In addition to well-known NFT IPs entering the blockchain gaming space, there has also been some progress with AAA-level games. Another game that has attracted attention this month is Gods Unchained, a blockchain-based trading card game developed by Immutable Games, which recently launched on the Epic Games Store (EGS). With the launch of this game, the native token GODS has increased by 50%.
Champions Tactics
In addition, renowned game developer Ubisoft has officially launched their first blockchain game, “Champions Tactics: Grimoria Chronicles”. While there is still controversy surrounding the application of blockchain and NFTs in games, Ubisoft is one of the AAA-level game studios that fully embraced this field early on. The gaming industry is gradually accepting the trend of blockchain, and other major companies such as Square Enix and Sega are also incorporating blockchain technology into their future projects. Despite the cautious attitude of industry giants towards blockchain games, they are still committed to exploring their future potential.
Investment and Financing Situation in the Blockchain Gaming Sector
The total investment amount in the blockchain gaming sector this month has significantly decreased compared to the previous month, with a total of $29 million raised through 6 rounds of financing. In contrast, the investment and financing activities in the previous month were more vibrant, raising a total of $79.1 million through 8 rounds of financing.
Web3 Game Funding in June
Web3 game launch platform and multi-chain game aggregation store HyperPlay successfully raised $12 million in Series A financing, making it the largest funding round in the same category this month.
HyperPlay
HyperPlay was founded in November 2022 with the aim of solving interoperability issues in the blockchain gaming sector. The company has proposed an innovative solution that allows developers to work independently without being limited by centralized entities such as Apple, Google, and Steam. The platform allows players to use the same wallet that contains their NFTs, tokens, and achievements to deeply understand each game they play, thus achieving complete interoperability of blockchain games. Currently, their game store has launched 33 games.
In addition, Web3 game studio Argus Labs completed a $10 million seed round of financing, led by crypto investment firm Haun Ventures. Argus Labs plans to use the new funding to expand its development team and establish its studio and tool infrastructure. Amidst the Web3 bear market, the active development of blockchain infrastructure will inject vitality into the market.
Hot Topics of the Month
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Web3 gaming giant Mythical Games completes $37 million Series C1 financing
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Flagship game Gods Unchained by Immutable Games lands on Epic Games Store
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Nike NFT enters EA Sports games, attracting millions of fans
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Anichess, a subsidiary of Animoca Brands, completes $1.5 million financing
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Large-scale blockchain game Illuvium receives another multi-million dollar investment from Framework Ventures
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