What were the key industry headlines in blockchain games this year?
Let our review of the top 10 most read stories reveal all.
10. Polygon-based Hytopia migrates L2 chain to Arbitrum
Web3 game and creator platform Hytopia announced the migration of its L2 Hytopia Chain from Polygon to Arbitrum. Following two years of building and undergoing a complete rebranding from previously called NFT Worlds, Hytopia launched mainnet on Polygon in October 2023, only to unveil its move to Arbitrum less than three months later. In that regard, the move was a surprise, but ecosystem migrations have now become an everyday feature in the industry.
9. L1 blockchain Saga reveals play-to-airdrop game portfolio
Also news dating back to January, the then newcomer L1 blockchain Saga revealed the list of games participating in its play-to-airdrop season 2 campaign. Suffice to say, this was the start of 2024’s airdrop hysteria, which accumulated in line with the growing token sentiment, and just as quickly fell flat when the tide turned.
8. READYgg rebrands to PLAY, hoping to onboard billions of players to web3
If we were got a token allocation each time a press release includes a quote of “billions of players in web3”, we’d be retired. Will 2025 be the year the industry takes heart and this vision materialises?
More to the point, READYgg has had a busy year, not only rebranding but also appointing a new CEO in Christina Macedo. Additionally, the company’s PLAY token launched on 10th December.
7. Animoca Brands’ assets worth at least $2.7 billion
In April, Animoca Brands released its latest financial update, showing the company has assets worth at least $2.7 billion. Continuing to promote its web3 vision and establish itself as an industry leader, throughout 2024 Animoca has deepened its strategic partnership with Telegram and TON, seen the launch of Mocaverse’s MOCA coin, expanded its vast portfolio of partner games and IP, and most recently announced an investment into Pudgy Penguins‘ parent company Igloo.
6. Off The Grid drops early access via PS5 and Epic Games Store
After nine months of not seeing many signs of that boom always predicted at the beginning of a new year, Gunzilla Games sparked a glimmer of hope by launching its long anticipated high-end shooter Off The Grid. Not only is it the first web3 game to land on console via PlayStation5 and Xbox, its early reception seems to have proven it’s possible to break through the resistance and attract otherwise crypto sceptic web2 gamers.
5. Wild Forest launching first NFTs on Ronin from 22nd February
While it’s generally been a poor year in terms of NFT trading performance, the opposite is true when it comes to Zillion Whales’ mobile/PC RTS Wild Forest. Always intentional in its choice of deploying on Ronin, the network’s loyal community has certainly contributed to Wild Forest‘s growing momentum. Alongside the likes of Pixels and Lumiterra, Wild Forest has attracted a daily active player base exceeding 100,000, much thanks to its WF token pre-launch campaign.
4. Blockchain Game Investment List
Although the total of sector investment during 2024 is likely to be lower than 2023, which was lower than 2022, that doesn’t mean that there hasn’t been significant individual funding rounds, with The Sandbox’s $20 million and Parallel Studios’ $35 million being two of the highlights.
3. Top 10 fully onchain games
You either love the concept of fully onchain games, or you don’t. The same can be said for the “degens” playing said games. Whichever camp you’re in, some of the games making it into our top 10 have arguably had a great year, especially Pirate Nation. Apart from the game itself, this year its developer Proof of Play built out its fully onchain infrastructure with the Boss chain, continuing to pioneer the sector.
Meanwhile, Dragginz launched its early alpha and Blockworld game editor, while Soccerverse is preparing for its imminent launch.
Another fully onchain game sure to be on everyone’s radar in 2025 is CCP Games’ EVE Frontier which ends this year by entering closed alpha.
2. Top 10 most anticipated blockchain games
One might be disappointed that we didn’t see web3 games go mainstream due to that big breakthrough title capturing everybody’s attention during 2024. Rather than individual games, it seems much of crypto gaming adoption has come from token-driven clicker games on Telegram.
However, that’s not to say that moment won’t come. Some even say it has already begun with aforementioned Off The Grid. This only time will be able to tell.
Out of the games mentioned in our top 10, it’s worth mentioning that Azra Games recently closed $42.7 million in series A funding for Project Legends. According to CEO Mark Otero, the team is thinking bigger than ever, which includes the introduction of R&D team Azra Labs, whose main focus is to accelerate content creation with the integration of AI.
Paul Bettner’s Playful Studios has also unveiled its bigger vision for Wildcard, including the development of web3 live streaming platform Thousands.
1. Top 50 blockchain game companies of 2024
It’s always good to start the year with an overview of the companies we think have performed the best and will continue to do so in the following year. We think our 2024 roundup has aged pretty well.
I wonder what 2025’s list will look like?!
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