CoinmarketCap (CMC) and Footprint Analytics studied the performance of the emerging GameFi industry between January and July 2022. In the report, they examine GameFi coins, chains, tokens and games to watch in the second half of 2022. Here are the details…
GameFi coins and overall market performance
While crypto has experienced multiple ups and downs over the past decade, GameFi was established as a new market in late 2020. So the first half of 2022 was the first month cycle of the Blockchain gaming industry. In terms of volume, Ronin significantly surpassed BNB (formerly BSC) and Harmony. In the case of BNB, minimal transaction costs and ease of setup enabled a number of projects to participate. However, Ronin and Harmony depend on the most popular games in their ecosystem, Axie Infinity and DeFi Kingdoms, to increase volume.
WAX and Hive remained the top two gaming-focused chains in terms of transaction (Txn) and average user in the first half of 2022. Axie Infinity became the first crypto game to become a worldwide name due to widespread media reports. Now, it’s not even in the top 3 in terms of active users. The same goes for STEPN, which introduced the move-to-win concept. Alien Worlds and Splinterlands, two previously unknown games outside the GameFi realm, are now growing. Even after the price dropped, users continued to enjoy playing these projects.
Splinterlands dominated Alien Worlds, nearly doubling the number of active users in the first half of 2022. However, it experienced a significant decrease in the number of users in June. WAX and Hive, the two largest GameFi chains by volume, are heavily dependent on the performance of Alien Worlds and Splinterlands customers, which account for 54.55% and 99.85% of their total players, respectively. BNB is the third largest chain and does not have a direct dominance in the ecosystem.
Investments in the GameFi space
The image below shows that this year VCs are starting to focus more on investments in Web3, specifically GameFi and Metaverse. Also, GameFi and Metaverse hold a significantly larger portion of the investment pie. VC investment in these two industries increased from $874 million in 2021 to $2.4 billion in 2022. Epic Games received the largest funding with $2 billion from Sony Group Corporation and KIRKBI in April 2022.
In terms of the number of projects, Animoca Brands is the leader with 52 projects funded in a year covering GameFi, metaverse, guilds and the like. GameFi and Metaverse investments are still concentrated in the seed stage. These account for 48 percent of all deals, suggesting that the market is still in its early stages.
Games to watch in the second half of 2022
- Illuvium: The Illuvium game has not been released yet, but it has created a lot of excitement. This is because it claims to be the first major AAA game and says it has a big Blockchain and gaming team behind it.
- Phantom Galaxies: The collaboration between Animoca Brands and Blowfish Studios provides an insight into the future of game creation on the blockchain. It is a collaboration between studios experienced in traditional gaming and blockchain, with huge resources to bring projects to life.
- Big Time: Big Time is being developed by Big Time Studios, founded by Decentraland co-founder Ari Meilich. It provides a full AAA RPG experience as well as an easier platform through their own wallet.
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