As 2023 comes to a close, it was quite a year to review for web3 gaming, and the crypto space in general! Bitcoin Ordinals caused a stir, NFT and gaming platforms were hot, the SEC brought high profile charges against crypto companies and CEOs, and the cross between real life merchandise and NFT ownership began to grow. Amidst all of this, the web3 gaming scene continued to grow and adapt.
A lot of web3 games have fizzled or disappeared entirely in 2023. Some have withdrawn for retooling. And some are just barely getting by. But plenty of others have survived, and are thriving, building, and growing, even during the bear market.
The TCG genre has remained strong. Gods Unchained, Splinterlands, and Skyweaver have all built on their previous success, while Parallel, a relative newcomer, has caught the gaming community’s eye, winning the top accolades from the recent Gam3 Awards. FPSes haven’t managed to make as much headway. Though we do have a number of eSport contenders such as My Pet Hooligan, Citizen Conflict, and Boss Fighters, and heavily anticipated titles like Shrapnel and Deadrop.
In the world of web3 MMOs, Big Time seems to have the most attention at the moment. Though plenty of other competitors such as Moonfrost, Mirandus, and Cradles are quickly building towards releases as well.
Some of the old-timers are still going strong. Axie has already added several new layers of gameplay into their ecosystem and are continuing to create additional content and use cases for their NFTs. Alien Worlds keeps building on their Planetary DAO system. And as the Councils have better worked out how they manage their self-governance, we have begun to see a wider range of projects and community interactions.
Mobile Gaming, Sidechains, and Distribution Platforms
Mobile games made huge strides this year, with a number of apps building with NFTs or allowing their users to cash out rewards as blockchain tokens. On top of this we have a growing number of mobile apps building with web3 from the start such as Rogue Nation, Fableborne, and Heroes of Mavia.
The rise of gaming specific sidechains was another big story this year. Immutable X continues to grow. And with the ongoing integration of their new Immutable Passport, Immutable X is poised to expand even further over the coming years! Gala Games made big moves as well, officially migrating to their Gala Chain for most of their apps and NFTs. Axie’s sidechain, Ronin, has grown much more slowly. But they do have The Machines Arena and Pixels building on Ronin, aside from the various Axie-related apps. Topia should finally release to mainnet this coming year, bringing their 10,000 Minecraft style worlds online and available for owner customization.
Distribution platforms are getting in on the action as well, with Epic Games and Elixir Games leading the charge in the world of web3 game distribution
Web2 Gaming, Meet Web3
We’re also see the rise of web2 integrations throughout 2023. Whether this is a web2 company dipping their toes into the water, or Zynga diving in headfirst and creating a web3 specific gaming platform, the interest from mainstream gaming companies increased significantly. Along those same lines, we’ve seen a number of web3-first companies work to create versions of their game that would appeal to traditional gamers, and not require any use of NFTs or the the blockchain at all!
We also have Microsoft allowing web3 integrations with Minecraft, and even Roblox hinting that they might allow NFT integration in the future! 2023 was a big year for web3 gaming, but 2024 will be even bigger!
By: Phil Hall
www.playtoearn.online
