Author: stella@footprint.network
Data source: GameFi research page
In April 2024, the Web3 gaming space experienced significant volatility after a record performance in March. Bitcoin has retreated from its all-time high, with a monthly decline of 10.4%. At the same time, the market capitalization of blockchain gaming tokens also fell by 30.5%. However, against this backdrop, the number of daily active users (wallets) climbed to a historic high of 3 million, highlighting the continued growth of user engagement despite market challenges.
The data for this report comes from Footprint Analytics’ Web3 Games research page. This is an easy-to-use dashboard that contains the most important statistics and metrics for understanding the Web3 Games industry, updated in real time.
Macro Market Review
In April 2024, Bitcoin fell back after hitting an all-time high of $73,068 in March. Starting at $71,229 on April 1, it fell to $63,839 on April 30, a drop of 10.4%. Ethereum experienced a similar situation, opening at $3,643 at the beginning of the month and falling to $3,215 at the end of the month, a drop of 11.7%.
Data source: Bitcoin and Ethereum prices
Overall, there were many positive events in the industry in April. On April 20, Bitcoin successfully completed its halving. U.S. senators proposed a proposal for stablecoin regulation, indicating that the regulatory environment may usher in a clearer situation. In addition, this month, former Binance CEO Zhao Changpeng was sentenced to four months in prison for anti-money laundering violations. The "Binance incident" came to an end, which also marked that the regulatory thinking of the centralized exchange industry is becoming increasingly clear.
Despite months of growth, Bitcoin prices fell in April. Ethereum continued to lag behind Bitcoin, likely due to investor uncertainty about the prospects of an Ethereum ETF being approved in the U.S. market.
This reflects the general downturn in market sentiment. Public statements from U.S. Federal Reserve officials show that the likelihood of rate cuts is decreasing, which coincides with rising economic indicators such as employment and the Consumer Price Index (CPI). In addition, Uniswap Labs and Consensys have successively received Wells Notices from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and decentralized financial projects are facing regulatory challenges.
Overview of the blockchain game market
The market capitalization of blockchain gaming tokens fell 30.5% to $16.6 billion in April. This trend was largely influenced by the overall trend of the cryptocurrency market and the performance of Bitcoin.
Data source: Blockchain games and Bitcoin market value
The average daily transaction volume for blockchain games reached 8.6 million, down 16.7% from March and well below the peak of about 25 million in the third quarter of 2022.
Data source: Daily transaction count of blockchain games
However, average daily active users (wallets/players) reached 3 million in April, up 16.9% from March, setting a new all-time high.
Data source: Number of daily active users of blockchain games
Blockchain Game Public Chain
In April, the number of active games on various blockchains reached 1,572, with BNB Chain, Polygon, and Wax leading with 25.8%, 19.5%, and 15.6% market shares, respectively.
Data source: Daily number of active blockchain game users on each public chain
(Author's note: Some games are deployed on multiple chains, so when calculating the total number of games, the chains will be distinguished and calculated multiple times.)
With 3 million daily active users, Ronin, Polygon and Near are at the top. Ronin continued to lead, with its market share growing from 25.9% at the beginning of the month to 29.2% at the end of the month. Near's market share also increased significantly, jumping from 6.4% to 11.3%, while Klaytn's market share increased from 2.9% to 6.2%.
In contrast, the share of the BNB chain slipped from 9.1% to 7.4%. In addition, Linea’s share plummeted from 7.8% to 0.15% as its Web3 gaming event “LineaPark” ended in April.
Data source: Daily number of active blockchain game users on each public chain
Following Arbitrum and the Starknet Foundation’s initiatives to support the Web3 gaming ecosystem last month, more blockchain platforms have joined the ranks. Immutable announced the launch of a $50 million Web3 gaming bounty program and revealed that its ecosystem is currently working on more than 270 games, including high-profile projects such as Illuvium and MetalCore.
Blockchain Game Project
In April, the total number of games reached 3,118, of which 1,319 were active. Of these active games, 261 games attracted more than 1,000 monthly users, accounting for 8.4%.
Data source: Monthly number of blockchain games
These figures have been going on for some time. It is widely expected that the number of popular Web3 games will increase further. However, for game studios, developing high-quality games is a time-consuming process. In addition, they also face a major challenge, which is how to bridge the gap between partially on-chain and fully on-chain games. In order to create an ideal fully on-chain game, it is necessary to achieve a seamless integration of on-chain elements with the rich user experience in traditional games.
Despite the challenges, some games still performed well in April.
On their respective platforms, some popular games experienced significant user growth: Pixels attracted 1.1 million new users on Ronin, Matr1x Fire attracted 598,000 new users on Polygon, and Lifeform attracted 113,000 new users on the BNB chain user.
Additionally, Another World on Klaytn became one of the most popular games. In April, its average daily active users reached 131,000, up from 2,000 on April 1 to 173,000 on April 30, a significant increase from the previous daily average of less than 50. This surge in popularity helped increase Klaytn’s active user share from 2.9% to 6.2%.
Blockchain game investment and financing
In April, the blockchain gaming industry had 17 financing events with a total investment of US$78.7 million, a decrease of 47.9% from the investment in March.
Investment and financing events in the blockchain gaming sector in April 2024 (Source: crypto-fundraising.info)
Animoca Brands remained active in April, investing in five blockchain gaming projects, including Anichess, Puffverse, Gomble Games, Iskra, and Planet Mojo.
Blockchain gaming platform Gomble Games has secured $10 million in funding from prominent cryptocurrency and gaming investors, including Spartan, Animoca Brands, Binance Labs, and IOSG Ventures.
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 chain in May.
This month's highlights
Hytopia is heading for a Beta launch following an $8 million node sale.
NFT card game Parallel is coming to the Epic Games Store.
AltLayer partners with Xterio Games to launch gaming-centric Restaked Rollup.
Sui gaming handheld targets Steam Deck, runs PC and encrypted games.
Axie Infinity brings new updates to its ecosystem, Experience Points and Part Evolution.
Final Fantasy maker Square Enix is partnering with Animoca to develop Ethereum NFT games.
