January Web3 Gaming Industry Overview: Market Growth

Author: lesley@footprint.network

In January this year, the blockchain gaming field ushered in explosive growth, and the number of active users increased significantly.

Blockchain games are constantly integrating AI technology, aiming to enhance player experience and expand their service scope, and the compatibility issues between public chains and games are also increasingly being paid attention to.Technological innovation is gradually changing the face of the blockchain gaming industry.

The continued rise of enthusiasm for blockchain gaming in the capital market shows the broad prospects in this field.But it should be pointed out that investors’ attitudes remain cautious.In order to attract potential investors, the gaming industry needs more real data performance.

This report data is from Footprint’s Web3 Game research page.This is an easy-to-use dashboard that contains the most important statistics and metrics in the Web3 gaming industry and is updated in real time.You can click here to learn the latest information about prices, projects, financing and more.

Market Review this month

In January 2024, Bitcoin and Ethereum continued to show an upward trend, although growth slowed down.Bitcoin started at $42,303, up 1.65% in the beginning of the month and ended up at $43,001, while Ethereum started at $2,283, up 2.77% to close at $2,346.

Market Cap: Game Tokens vs. BTC

In January 2024, the debut of U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs marked a critical moment in the crypto market, with daily trading volumes of up to $210 million quickly attracting investors’ attention, reflecting cryptocurrencies in the traditional financial ecosystemDeeper integration.Despite the high market excitement, the prices of Bitcoin and Ethereum remain relatively stable, indicating that traders remain cautious after ETF approval.

Meanwhile, the broader crypto market focus shifts to exploring the synergy between the crypto industry and AI.Against the backdrop of the Federal Reserve’s decision to maintain interest rates, the market value of stablecoins has risen steadily.This period marks a subtle evolution in the crypto field, which is reflected not only in the institutional adoption of Bitcoin ETF approval, but also in the balanced consideration of the continued expectation of macroeconomic and technological development.

Blockchain Game Market Overview

Blockchain Game Active Users

In January 2024, according to Footprint Analytics statistics, the average number of active users in the blockchain gaming field surged by 54.67% compared with the annual average in 2023, and the growth trend began to appear since November 2023.Meanwhile, the average number of active users in January increased by 14.42% month-on-month in December.However, despite the significant increase in user engagement and interest, the market is still affected by the previous bear market, and the transaction volume and transaction volume in January did not fully recover to the level of the same period last year.

The blockchain gaming industry is rapidly introducing artificial intelligence technology to generate images and enhance player experience.For example, Square Enix uses the AI ​​image generation tool Midjourney to design characters in its new games, helping the game environment become visually rich and interactive.Nvidia also mentioned that Ubisoft uses AI to create more realistic and immersive non-player control characters, which demonstrates the trend of the gaming industry’s efforts toward a deeper immersive experience.

The blockchain game industry is also committed to improving transaction processing capabilities to promote market growth and improve the quality and stability of games.Solana Network encountered congestion problems in the Jupiter airdrop incident, exposing shortcomings in transaction processing.Game Crypto Unicorns moved to Arbitrum’s Xai network due to the surge in fuel expenses on the Polygon network, resulting in higher operating costs and damaged player experience.

Blockchain game public chain data

Active Gamers Shared by Chain

According to the player’s activity ranking, Ronin, Near and BNB Chain have become the blockchain platforms with the largest number of active users, accounting for 29.9%, 10.2% and 9% of the total number respectively.BNB Chain, Ronin and Ethereum are among the top in terms of trading volume.

Ronin Daily Txn & Growth Rate

Ronin’s trading volume and active users grew sharply in January, with trading volume surged by 213.41% compared to December.This growth is driven by continuous improvements to the platform and the expansion of its ecosystem.Ronin’s gaming wallet has added support for mainstream blockchains such as Ethereum, Polygon and BNB Chain, and has also activated the platform’s activity this month through airdrops for projects such as Pixels and Apeiron.

As the gaming industry develops, new blockchain infrastructure is being designed to meet its specific needs.Key players in the industry are leading the development of innovative infrastructure.Among them, TreasureDAO is a compelling example. As a pioneer in blockchain focused on games, it is striving to develop its own public chain.Meanwhile, BNB Chain’s NFT marketplace Tabi is about to launch Tabi Chain, which is planned to be launched on Cosmos, focusing on the gaming field.

Blockchain game overview

Monthly Active Games

The total number of blockchain games grew from 2,081 in January 2023 to 2,877 in January 2024, but the percentage of games with more than 1,000 users (unique wallet/address) dropped from 11% to 8%.Data shows that despite the increase in the number of games, it has not been accompanied by the synchronous improvement in quality.

Jon Jordan’s large blockchain game list data reveals the high volatility of the blockchain gaming industry.In 2023, 31% of games (407 of 1,322) ceased operations due to financial pressure and market challenges.Regulatory uncertainty also complicates the situation.

Anichess

Despite the challenges, the blockchain gaming industry is still making progress.Animoca Brands has launched a decentralized chess game Anichess, bringing new vitality to traditional games.Azuki plans to enter the gaming industry later this year by launching a super casual mobile game featuring BEANZ.Yuga Labs is also preparing to release the Dookey Dash Unclogging game in early 2024.

The token value of Bomb Crypto, Singularity and Blockchain Brawlers three games soared by more than 200% this month, which not only demonstrates their long-term commitment to the development of the game field, but also demonstrates their ability to still retain users through the bear market.

Other games also performed exceptionally.StarryNift was the leader in attracting new and active users on the BNB chain in January, setting an all-time high for wallet transactions.Yuliverse and Smart Cats performed particularly well on the Polygon network last month.Meanwhile, Carv Wallet also reported an all-time high in transaction counts.

Investment and financing of blockchain games

• Web3 social gaming Forgotten Playland has completed a $7 million seed round.

• Arcade2Earn raised $4.8 million for its P2E platform in a financing round led by Crypto.com Capital.

• AOFverse raised $3 million from The Arbitrum Foundation.

• 3A gaming platform SkyArk Chronicles raised $15 million.

• Nebula Revelation raised $4.5 million on January 10, 2024.

• Web3 games monetization platform 3thix raised $8.5 million.

• Abyss World developer Metagame raised funds at a valuation of $100 million.

• Little Dragon completed the previous seed round.

• Ta-da completed a $3.5 million financing, ready to start.

• The game studio behind Matr1x Fire raised $10 million for its NFT mobile shooting game.

• Mon Studios undertook a $1.4 million round of financing.

The gaming industry is becoming increasingly popular, but investment is becoming more rational and no investment events with particularly high financing amounts have been seen.It is worth mentioning that AAA-level gaming platform SkyArk Chronicles successfully raised $15 million.Other notable investments include the upcoming Web3 social game Forgotten Playland and the space-themed open-world game Nebula Revelation.

Several gaming platforms and developers have received funding, including Arcade2Earn, Abyss World, ArenaX Labs, 3thix, 10n8 Little Dragon and Ta-da.Ta-da is an entertainment-based Web3 AI data market that received $3.5 million in financing.

Game developers such as AOFverse, Matr1x and Mon Studios have also received investments.These advances demonstrate that there is growing interest in the crypto industry in the application of blockchain technology and Web3 in the gaming sector.

News of this month

• Animoca Brands teamed up with iCandy to launch the Snaky Cat.

• Treeverse Studios Endless Clouds chose Immutable zkEVM as the basis for its NFT gaming.

• Animoca Brands announces the release of the chess game Anichess.

• GameStop (GME) is closing its NFT market.