By Footprint Analytics
Translation: Blockchain in Vernacular
In April 2024, the Web3 gaming industry saw a noticeable shift after setting a record in March. Bitcoin pulled back from its all-time high, ending the month down 10.4%. Meanwhile, the market capitalization of blockchain gaming tokens fell 30.5%. However, the number of daily active users (wallets) reached an all-time high of 3 million, highlighting increased user engagement amid broader market challenges.
The data for this report comes from Footprintâs GameFi research report. This intuitive and easy-to-use dashboard is updated in real time and provides key statistics and metrics needed to understand the Web3 gaming industry.
1. Monthly market review
In April 2024, after hitting a new all-time high of $73,068 in March, Bitcoin experienced a correction, falling from $71,229 on April 1 to $63,839 on April 30, a drop of 10.4%. Similarly, Ethereum fell from $3,643 at the beginning of the month and closed at $3,215 on April 30, a drop of 11.7%.
Bitcoin (BTC) price and Ethereum (ETH) price
Overall, industry trends remained positive in April. The Bitcoin halving event on April 20 reduced the network's issuance rate, while US senators introduced a bipartisan bill on stablecoin regulation, indicating that clear guidance may emerge in the regulatory environment. In addition, during the month, former Binance (BN) CEO Changpeng Zhao was sentenced to four months in federal prison for money laundering violations, showing that regulations in the centralized exchange industry are becoming more clear.
Bitcoin prices fell in April despite recent better quarterly earnings. Ethereum also lagged behind Bitcoin, likely due to investor uncertainty about Ethereumâs chances of getting ETF approval in the U.S. market.
This reflects a general decline in market sentiment. Public statements from Federal Reserve officials indicate a diminished outlook for rate cuts, consistent with strong economic indicators such as wages, employment and the consumer price index. In addition, Uniswap Labs and Consensys received Wells notices from the SEC, highlighting the upcoming regulatory challenges facing decentralized finance projects.
2. Overall Web3 Game Market
In April, the market value of blockchain game tokens fell to $16.6 billion, a decrease of 30.5%. This decline was mainly affected by the overall trend of the crypto market and the performance of Bitcoin.
GameFiâs Market Cap and Bitcoinâs Market Cap
The average daily transaction volume of blockchain games was 8.6 million, a decrease of 16.7% from March and far below the peak level of about 25 million in the third quarter of 2022.
Daily transaction volume of Web3 games
In contrast, average daily active users (wallets/players) reached 3 million in April, an increase of 16.9% from March and a new all-time high.
Number of daily active users of blockchain games
3. Web3 Game Chain
In April, a total of 1,572 games were active on various blockchains, with BNB Chain, Polygon, and Wax leading with 25.8%, 19.5%, and 15.6% market shares, respectively.
Number of daily active games on each chain
In terms of average daily active users (wallets/players) in April, Ronin, Polygon, and Near led the industry. Ronin maintained its lead, increasing its market share from 25.9% to 29.2%. Near's share grew from 6.4% to 11.3%, and Klaytn's share rose from 2.9% to 6.2%.
In contrast, BNB Chainâs share dropped from 9.1% to 7.4%. In addition, Lineaâs share dropped from 7.8% to 0.15% due to the closure of its Web3 gaming event âLinea Parkâ.
Daily active users of each chain
In the last month, more chains have joined the initiative, spurred by the efforts of Arbitrum and the Starknet Foundation to support the Web3 gaming ecosystem. Immutable announced a $50 million Web3 gaming bounty program and revealed that its ecosystem is currently developing more than 270 gaming projects, including high-profile projects like Illuvium and MetalCore.
4. Overview of Web3 Games
In April, the total number of games reached 3,118, of which 1,319 were active. Among them, 261 games accounted for 8.4% and attracted more than 1,000 monthly users.
Monthly active users of blockchain games
The stability of these figures has been going on for some time, and people are looking forward to the increase of popular Web3 games. However, it is a time-consuming process for game studios to develop high-quality games. In addition, bridging the gap between partially on-chain and fully on-chain games is an important challenge. Creating an ideal fully on-chain game requires seamless integration of on-chain elements with the rich user experience of traditional games.
Despite the challenges, some games performed well in April.
Several popular games experienced significant user growth on their respective platforms: Pixels gained 1.1 million new users on Ronin, Matr1x Fire attracted 598,200 users on Polygon, and Lifeform gained 112,500 users on BNB Chain.
Additionally, Another World, built on Klaytn, became one of the most popular games. It had an average of 130,800 daily active users throughout April, growing from 2.1K on April 1 to 172,900 on April 30, a significant increase from less than 50 users per day previously. This surge in popularity helped drive Klaytnâs share of daily active users from 2.9% to 6.2%.
5. Game investment and financing
In April, the Web3 game industry conducted a total of 17 financing activities, with a total investment amount of US$78.7 million, a significant decrease of 47.9% from the financing amount in March.
Funding rounds for Web3 gaming industry in April 2024 (Source: crypto-fundraising.info)
During the month of April, Animoca Brands showed significant activity on five Web3 gaming projects. These investments include Anichess, Puffverse, Gomble Games, Iskra and Planet Mojo.
In April, Web3 gaming platform Gomble Games received $10 million in funding from well-known cryptocurrency and gaming investors including Spartan, Animoca Brands, BN Labs, and IOSG Ventures.
Similarly, NFT game Puffverse received $3 million in funding from investors including Animoca Brands, Spartan, and Sky Mavis. Notably, Puffverse announced plans to fully migrate its main products and assets to the Ronin Network in May.
Latest News:
Hytopia is about to launch Beta following an $8 million node sale.
The NFT card game Parallel is coming to the Epic Games Store.
AltLayer Partners with Xterio Games to Launch Gaming-Focused Restaked Rollup
Sui Gaming Handheld focuses on Steam Deck and supports running PC and encrypted games.
Axie Infinity brings new updates to its ecosystem, including Axie experience points and widget evolutions.
Yuga Labs, the founder of Bored Ape, has just transferred the NFT game to others in order to focus more on Otherside.
Final Fantasy maker Square Enix has partnered with Animoca to launch an Ethereum-based NFT game.
