While on-chain gaming activity decreased slightly in March, games still make up a significant portion of the dapp industry activity. DappRadar’s latest on-chain data analysis for the month of March offers an encouraging glimpse into the industry’s potential for growth and development, highlighting the pivotal role of gaming in driving innovation and progress.
Key Takeaways
- On-chain gaming activity decreased by 3.33% in March to 741,567 daily Unique Active Wallets (dUAW); still, games make up 45.6% of the dapp industry activity in Q1 2023.
- Polygon soars to become the second-largest gaming chain, boasting an impressive 53% growth in dUAW from the previous month.
- Q1 2023’s top games are Alien Worlds, dominating 66% of WAX activity with 223,945 avg. dUAW, and Splinterlands, claiming 99% of Hive activity with 127,242 avg. dUAW.
- In March 2023, Iskra and Hunters On-Chain by BoomLand were the best performing games, boasting remarkable monthly on-chain usage growth of 708% and 15,497%, respectively.
- The trade count for virtual worlds reached a new high of 67,165 in March, closing the quarter with 143,735 land sales and $350 million trading volume.
- Yuga Labs experienced impressive growth this month with their gaming NFTs (Sewer Pass, Mechas, Otherside), generating a substantial $153 million in trading volume.
- Investments in blockchain games and metaverse projects totaled $434 million in March; bringing the total for Q1 to $739 million.
Table of Contents
- Blockchain Gaming Overview
- March’s blockchain gaming leaders
- Yuga Labs emerges as a major player in the gaming industry
- Virtual land sales hit unmatched heights, setting records in Q1 2023
- From investments to acquisitions: how Animoca Brands is dominating the blockchain gaming industry
- $434 million poured into Web3 gaming projects
- Bullish signs for the blockchain gaming industry: a look at recently released Alpha and Beta games
- Conclusion
1. Blockchain Gaming Overview
Blockchain gaming is rapidly evolving. Following the dapp industry trend, this sector has been experiencing some fluctuations in its on-chain activity measured by unique active wallets (UAW). According to our data, the average daily unique active wallets connecting to blockchain gaming dapps in March were 741,567, representing a 3.33% decrease from the previous month.
Despite the slight decrease, blockchain gaming remains the most dominant sector, with a 44.37% dominance in the industry’s unique active wallets. However, in Q1 2023, blockchain gaming has shown a bullish sign of growth, with an increase in dominance from 42.87% in Q4 of 2022 to 45.60% in Q1 of 2023. It’s worth noting that Social dapp activity showed significant growth, as highlighted in our Q1 industry report.
According to the data, Wax emerged as the most active gaming blockchain, with an average of 314,976 daily unique active wallets (dUAW) in March. This represented an 8.11% decrease from the previous month. The data also revealed that Alien Worlds dominated the Wax activity by 66%.
Polygon, a blockchain previously known for DeFi dapps, overtook Hive this month and secured the second spot. This is a positive sign for Polygon, as it is now gaining recognition as a gaming blockchain. Polygon recorded 138,081 dUAW, which represents a significant 53% increase from the previous month, driven by the success of Hunters On-Chain by BoomLand.
Moreover, the analysis of blockchain dominance showed that Planet IX dominated the on-chain activity on Polygon with 43% in Q1. On the other hand, Hive is on a downward trend this quarter, reaching 84,926 dUAW, which represents a decrease of 27.37% from the previous month. However, Splinterlands continues to dominate the gaming blockchain’s activity by 99%.
Lastly, the fourth place is occupied by BNB Chain with 80,774 dUAW, a decrease of 5.38% from the previous month. Second Live is the gaming dapp that dominates the blockchain’s activity by 17.37%. The gap with other gaming protocols is still wide, but chains like Klaytn and Planetarium keep climbing our rankings.
2. March’s blockchain gaming leaders
March saw interesting moves across the top 10 blockchain games. In this section, we’ll take a closer look at these games based on their monthly unique active wallets (mUAW) and provide insight into their latest updates and developments.
Alien Worlds remain the leading Web3 game with 580,000 mUAW in March, the Wax-based dapp grew its on-chain activity by 4% from the previous month.
In the world of blockchain gaming, Splinterlands has long been one of the most popular games. However, the game’s on-chain numbers decreased this quarter after the game is employing strict measures to limit bot activity. While Splinterlands’ 23% decrease from the previous quarter might be a sign of concern, the game will enable its first stage of land gameplay, where we will learn the real size of Splinterlands’ player base.
On the other hand, mobile gaming is starting to take the forefront of web3 games, with Benji Bananas seeing a resurgence in popularity. Additionally, two new mobile games, Iskra and Yuliverse, have climbed the charts, showing that the future of web3 gaming may be in the hands of mobile game developers.
Iskra, in particular, has been making waves, coming in second place with 319,000 mUAW, which represents a 708% increase from last month. Iskra has just launched its first game, 3 Kingdoms Multiverse (3KM), a mobile play-and-earn strategy RPG that’s free to play. The game offers players an exciting web3 gaming experience through thrilling PvP and PvE battles, various NFT utilities, and multiple earning modes.
To build anticipation for the game’s official launch, Iskra allowed players to build their own army of 3KM characters early through the 3KM Mystery Box NFTs, which have been available for purchase on the Iskra Market since early this year. This move has helped create a strong and loyal player base before the game’s official launch.
Hunters, a popular web2 game, is also developing its blockchain version, including NFTs and game tokens. Though still running on a testnet, Hunters On-Chain has already developed quite a bit of buzz and a seemingly strong player base. This month, they had 134,000 mUAW, which represents an increase of 15,497% from last month.
Yuliverse is in ninth place this month with 91,000 mUAW, showing an increase of 2,656% from the previous month. This role-playing game spans both the metaverse and the real world, offering players the chance to engage in the game while moving around in the real world.
Sky Mavis, the creator of the popular blockchain-based game Axie Infinity, has announced four new games on the Ronin blockchain network. The company will partner with several studios to develop these games and leverage their expertise in the gaming industry. This announcement marks a significant milestone for Ronin, demonstrating the potential of blockchain technology to support emerging gaming studios and creators.
Axie Infinity has seen a surge in popularity this month, with its trading volume reaching $93 million, up by 72.16% from the previous month.
Overall, the performance of these top 10 blockchain games in March 2023 is a testament to the growing popularity of blockchain gaming. With unique features and exciting gameplay, these games continue to attract more players and offer exciting opportunities for the future of gaming.
3. Yuga Labs emerges as a major player in the gaming industry
Yuga Labs is a rising star in the gaming industry, with a footprint that continues to grow day by day. In the past few months, Yuga Labs has made some exciting moves, with new releases and partnerships that have caught the attention of many in the industry.
One of the latest developments from Yuga Labs was the release of Sewer Passes, a new NFT project within the Bored Ape Yacht Club ecosystem. The Sewer Passes were quickly met with high demand, yielding over 4,000 ETH (over $6 million) in total sales volume within hours of release. This new project is centered around a skill-based game called Dookey Dash, where Sewer Pass holders could play the game from 19 January to 8 February. The game was a hit, with 25,525 pass holders clocking a cumulative total of 7,487,850 runs and 706,436 hours.
In March, Yuga Labs also launched their newest NFT collection, HV-MTL, through a “summoning” process. Owners of Sewer Pass NFTs could burn them in exchange for robots described as Mechs. HV-MTL is a collection of 30,000 “Evo 1” Mechs that grant access to future games and content. The floor price for the HV-MTL NFTs reached 1.94 ETH, around $3,708 each, on OpenSea. The collection has already crossed 18,028 ETH on the secondary market, around $34.46 million.
Yuga Labs also held the Otherdeeds for Otherside second trip in March, which saw about 7,200 players attend the 90-minute trial run. Holders of the Otherdeed NFTs, also known as Voyagers, were invited to join the experience, along with one guest each. The experience was a hit and led to the announcement of Legends of the Mara, a collection-based 2D strategy game with its own companion collection. Each Otherdeed holder can claim one Vessel and forge their path in the game.
Yuga Labs has also made significant strides in the fashion world, partnering with luxury fashion house Gucci. The debut collaboration between the two, Koda Pendant, is the first Otherside Relic by Gucci, featuring physical and digital activations in Otherside: Legends of the Mara. To participate, Voyagers with a Koda inhabiting their Otherdeeds must complete the Koda decoupling and Vessel claims. These steps are prerequisites to purchase a limited-edition KodaPendant, which includes metadata updates for buyers’ Koda and Vessel NFTs, cosmetic options in Otherside, and a redemption of a physical Gucci pendant.
Yuga Labs continues to be a force to be reckoned with in the gaming industry, with exciting releases and partnerships that are sure to keep the industry on its toes. As the company continues to grow and expand, it’s clear that it will continue to be a major player in the gaming and NFT space.
4.Virtual land sales hit unmatched heights, setting records in Q1 2023
In March 2023, the virtual worlds market experienced impressive growth, with trading volume reaching $160 million, a 9.60% increase from the previous month, and closing the quarter with a robust $350 million. This marked the best quarter since Q2 2022. Land sales continued to break records, tallying 67,165 sales in March and concluding the quarter with a remarkable 143,735 total sales.
The MG Land collection, launched on 13 January, quickly gained traction with 45,633 total sales. Interestingly, only 4,247 of these sales were unique NFTs, indicating that each NFT was traded 10.74 times on average. With 7,387 unique traders, the average trader conducted 12.35 transactions involving MG Land NFTs. Sales were initially split between Blur and OpenSea, but by March, Blur accounted for 70.36% of sales, while OpenSea contributed 29.57%. This shift demonstrates that MG Land has become a popular choice for NFT whales farming on Blur.
Decentraland experienced significant growth in March, with trading volume increasing by 9% to nearly half a million and land sales surging by 33.10%. This growth is attributed to the successful Metaverse Fashion Week hosted within Decentraland, as detailed in our metaverse quarterly report.
Additionally, NFT Worlds V2 maintained its upward trajectory for the third consecutive month. In March, trading volume rose by 21.39% to $1.1 million, and land sales increased by 29.38% to 568.
For more in-depth information on the virtual worlds market performance in Q1 2023, check out our comprehensive metaverse quarterly report.
5. From investments to acquisitions: how Animoca Brands is dominating the blockchain gaming industry
Animoca Brands has established itself as a major player in the blockchain gaming industry, with a diverse portfolio of direct subsidiaries and investments in numerous other projects. Since August 2021, the company has invested in over 50 blockchain gaming projects, and in the first quarter of 2023, they invested in 8 projects for a total of approximately $68 million.
On December 15, 2022, Animoca Brands announced the launch of its official PFP NFT collection, Mocaverse. The collection released in Q1 2023, and in the first 48 hours, the company saw 3,552 ETH ($5.5 million) in sales volume.
Animoca Brands is already finding ways to push value and utility into this new project. The mint allowed participants to generate two Moca NFTs for the price of one, with a final cost of a little over $100 per NFT. Now, the floor price for Mocas sits at nearly $1,480 . On 17 March, the Mocas were revealed, and in the past 30 days they had a trading volume of $11.52 million.
One of the ways Animoca Brands gives more utility to the Mocaverse community is by acquiring APE tokens. They purchased 1.5 million APE with a value of over $6 million, giving the Mocaverse community a vote in the ApeCoin DAO and the Yuga Labs ecosystem. Once the system is set up, owners will be able to use their Mocas on a consensus proxy vote for whatever proposals are up for DAO-based voting in the BAYC ecosystem. Animoca is also an investor in Yuga Labs, therefore aligning the benefits of their community with their business direction.
The Mocaverse also introduced an experience system for Mocas, with a soft staking program allowing holders to earn experience points by simply holding the NFT in their wallet. The points accumulated factor into future whitelist draws and end-of-the-season reward boxes, which can contain tokens and NFTs from partners and projects within the Animoca portfolio.
The fact that Animoca Brands is very quickly providing utility and value for this Mocaverse project is a bullish sign for the company’s future in the blockchain gaming industry. As they continue to make connections between their various projects and expand their portfolio, it’s clear that they are committed to staying at the forefront of the web3 gaming scene.
6. $434 million poured into Web3 gaming projects
In March 2023, the blockchain gaming industry continued its upward trend, with a total of $434 million raised, bringing the total for Q1 to $739 million. This significant investment is a clear indication of the growing interest in blockchain gaming and the potential it holds for the future.
One notable investment this month is The Believer Company, a new game studio from Los Angeles. Despite having just 12 people, the company managed to raise $55 million, thanks to the impressive backgrounds of its founders. Michael Chow, the CEO of The Believer Company, is a former Riot Games veteran who served as executive producer for League of Legends: Wild Rift, and he was also co-founder of Words With Friends developer Newtoy. With such an experienced team, The Believer Company is poised to create innovative games that will further push the boundaries of blockchain gaming.
Another exciting development this month is the South Korean government’s investment of 24 billion Korean won ($18.1 million) to create a fund of more than 40 billion Korean won ($30.2 million) dedicated to driving metaverse initiatives in the country. The Metaverse Fund will support the mergers and acquisitions of various firms in the metaverse ecosystem, with the aim of further developing this nascent technology. With major tech companies showing a keen interest in the metaverse, the South Korean government’s investment is a positive sign for the future of this technology.
WinZO, an Indian social gaming startup, announced a $50 million fourth fund to invest in the global gaming ecosystem. WinZO’s majority stake in Upskillz has allowed it to integrate blockchain and web3 features into its platform, making it a leader in the blockchain gaming space. With this new fund, WinZO aims to further expand its reach and bring innovative blockchain gaming experiences to players around the world.
Finally, the announcement of CCP Games raising $40 million to develop a new blockchain game set in the EVE universe has been making waves in the gaming industry. As one of the most engaged audiences in gaming, the EVE Online community is known for their passion and dedication. With this new Web3 game, CCP is hoping to expand the EVE universe and provide a new experience for players.
The fact that the investment was led by Andreessen Horowitz, along with the participation of other well-known investors like Nexon and BITKRAFT, is a testament to the potential of blockchain games and their future in the gaming industry.
7. Bullish signs for the blockchain gaming industry: a look at recently released alpha and beta tests
Blockchain gaming has been gaining momentum since the inception of blockchain technology, and 2022 was a year of remarkable development in the industry. The blockchain gaming developers kept building on the technology, and in 2023, we can anticipate the release of more alpha and beta tests for various blockchain games.
One notable trend in the blockchain gaming industry is the increasing mainstream popularity of blockchain games on mobile devices. According to a report by Newzoo, a market intelligence company, the global mobile gaming market is forecast to generate $98 billion in revenue in 2023, with over 1.7 billion mobile gamers worldwide.
As the number of mobile gamers continues to rise, blockchain gaming developers have recognized the importance of catering to this demographic. This has led to an increase in the number of blockchain games being developed for mobile devices, and we can expect to see more of this trend in the future.
Several alpha and beta tests for blockchain games have been launched recently. Imposters is a thrilling new blockchain game that takes inspiration from the popular social deduction game, Among Us. The game is a multiplayer, social experience that encourages players to interact and stream their gameplay. On 31 March, the game opened up a short playtest for NFT holders, allowing players to get a sneak peek of the game before its official release. The playtest also offered content creators a chance to showcase their creativity and earn over $3,000 in prizes for their contributions.
Deadrop is a highly anticipated first-person shooter game developed by Guy “Dr. Disrespect” Beahm’s game studio, Midnight Society. The studio’s aim is to create a top-tier shooter called Deadrop. However, the game stirred controversy among crypto critics due to the release of 10,000 Polygon NFTs, called “Founders Passes,” for the game’s unreleased version. Nonetheless, the Founders Pass NFTs do not impact gameplay and instead function more as tickets to a membership club that offers a unique PFP, voting rights on game elements, access to events and game builds, and other perks. The current floor price for a Founders Pass is 0.48 ETH, which is about $917.
Deadrop is currently in its pre-alpha stage, and on 17 March, the game was publicly play-tested by esports stars Dr. Lupo, Scump, Zlaner, and other pro players. The playtest garnered much excitement and anticipation from fans of the genre, and the gameplay mechanics showcased in the test received favorable reviews.
Another exciting blockchain game has opened its alpha this month, and it’s called Parallel. This sci-fi-themed trading card game (TCG) boasts some unique and interesting mechanics that set it apart from other digital TCGs. In Parallel, two players build a deck of cards and then take turns drawing and playing these cards in a duel. The first player to reduce their opponent to zero life wins. Parallel has been steadily releasing new card packs every few months, and now collectors can see those cards in action during the early access, closed alpha.
Players interested in accessing Parallel’s closed alpha can apply for early access on their website. The Parallel team has announced that email invites will start going out on 22 February , with the planned alpha launch date on 28 February. While owning NFTs is not a requirement to join the alpha, those with large card collections may be given priority access.
One of the things that make Parallel stand out is its distinctive and dark art style, making it a must-have for collectors. Collectors can pick up Parallel cards on OpenSea for as cheap as $1.50 (USD). Interestingly, NFTs in Parallel do not include game stats, allowing the team to make changes and balances as needed. Additionally, the team opens a card “faucet” regularly, allowing players to receive a free NFT card by only paying the gas fees involved.
Furthermore, in the past month, several highly anticipated Web3 games from Gala Games Studio have also released their alpha and beta versions. For example, Echoes of Empire, The Walking Dead, Eternal Paradox, Legends Reborn, Grit, and Last Expedition are among the games that have been released as test versions.
The release of these blockchain games is a very bullish sign for the industry. It shows that more companies are recognizing the potential of blockchain technology in gaming and are investing in its development. This, in turn, will attract more players to the industry, leading to further growth and innovation.
2023 is expected to be a pivotal year for the blockchain gaming industry. With more blockchain games being developed and released, players can finally experience the full potential of blockchain technology in gaming.
8. Conclusion
The blockchain gaming industry continues to be a significant player in the dapp industry, comprising almost half of the daily unique active wallets in Q1 2023. Polygon’s remarkable growth in daily unique active wallets highlights the potential of gaming on this chain, and its rise to become the second-largest gaming chain is noteworthy.
Alien Worlds and Splinterlands continue to dominate the WAX and Hive activity, respectively, with their massive user base. Iskra and Hunters On-Chain by BoomLand’s impressive monthly on-chain usage growth shows that there is still room for new games to make their mark in this industry.
The virtual world trade count reached a new high in March, with an impressive volume of land sales. Yuga Labs’ gaming NFTs generated a substantial trading volume, indicating that the market for blockchain gaming NFTs is thriving.
Finally, the significant investment in blockchain gaming and metaverse projects in March and Q1 2023 showcases the industry’s potential and investor confidence in its future growth.
