Blockchain Game Research Report, November 2024
Author: Stella L (stella@footprint.network)
Data Source: Footprint Analytics Blockchain Game Research Page
The Web3 gaming industry saw significant market growth in November 2024, but large-scale adoption strategies are still evolving. With BTC reaching a new all-time high and approaching the $100,000 milestone, the gaming sector's market capitalization surged 79.1% to $35.1 billion. Although traditional metrics performed well, with 5.5 million daily active users, the industry still faces some challenges in blockchain integration and mass adoption.
Macro Market Overview
November saw a historic performance in the cryptocurrency market, with BTC skyrocketing 39.0% from $69,386 to $96,427. ETH closely followed, rising 47.8% from $2,511 to $3,711. BTC's exceptional performance pushed its market cap beyond silver and Saudi Aramco, ranking it 7th among global assets as it approached the $100,000 mark on November 23.
Data Source: BTC and ETH Price Trends
The US election results became a catalyst for crypto market growth, potentially impacting comprehensive crypto legislation and regulatory oversight. The market reacted positively, particularly in sectors like memecoins, decentralized artificial intelligence (deAI) projects, and decentralized science (DeSci).
The broader financial markets also performed strongly. The finance sector led the stock market rally on expectations of US tax reform and deregulation. However, international markets experienced some volatility, with the CNY under pressure due to concerns about potential US tariff increases, while gold prices fell as election-related uncertainties subsided.
Blockchain Gaming Market Overview
In November, blockchain gaming tokens saw significant growth in the crypto market bull run, with their market capitalization surging from $19.6 billion to $35.1 billion.
Data Source: Blockchain Game Token Market Cap and BTC Market Cap
The sector's daily trading volume exhibited a similar trend, growing 79.4% to $11.9 million.
Data Source: Blockchain Game Daily Trading Volume
Daily active users (DAU) reached a new high in November, with an average of 5.5 million, a 15.7% increase from October. This growth was primarily driven by sustained user activity on opBNB and the robust performance of the Ronin ecosystem.
Data Source: Blockchain Game Daily Active Users
Transaction metrics, however, exhibited complexity. While the daily average transaction volume reached 15.3 million (up 3.3% from October), the daily average transactions per user declined from 3.131 to 2.810. The monthly total transaction volume remained stable at 460.4 million, indicating a decreasing usage intensity of blockchain features by new users.
Data Source: Blockchain Game Daily Transactions
Games like Off The Grid, which adopt a blockchain technology integration approach that positions them as traditional games with optional blockchain elements rather than "Non-Fungible Token (NFT) games", may represent a key inflection point for the industry. This "blockchain-optional and invisible" strategy can help overcome initial player resistance to cryptocurrencies, reducing friction, but also raises fundamental questions about the role of blockchain in gaming.
The technical challenges facing full-chain games remain significant. Existing blockchain infrastructure struggles to meet the real-time gameplay, matchmaking, and high throughput requirements of modern games. While Layer 2 solutions and dedicated gaming blockchains are emerging, the gap between traditional gaming performance expectations and blockchain capabilities continues to impact development strategies.
Although the current bull market provides favorable conditions for growth, the Web3 gaming sector has yet to produce a defining breakthrough moment. The industry appears to be at a crossroads, balancing the need to maintain crypto-native appeal and achieve mass adoption, requiring projects to carefully navigate these two aspects while ensuring that the technological infrastructure can keep up with their ambitions.
Overview of Blockchain Gaming Public Chains
The number of active games on blockchain networks reached 1,696 in November, an increase of 4.6% from October. In terms of game distribution, the market leaders are still BNB Chain, Polygon and Ethereum, with market shares of 20.9%, 15.4% and 13.4% respectively.
Data source: Daily active users of each public chain
OPBNB's growth momentum continued, with an average DAU increase of 46.1% from October. This growth was mainly driven by its flagship games SERAPH: In The Darkness and MEET48, and the platform also benefited from projects migrating from the BNB Chain.
Ronin showed a significant recovery, with November DAU doubling from 600,000 to 1.2 million, thanks to new partnerships, the introduction of multiple game studios, the launch of the new game Fableborne, and the renewed growth of the existing game Lumiterra.
The TON gaming ecosystem faced challenges, with DAU declining 41.9% to 116,400, highlighting the on-chain retention challenges of Telegram-based games. However, the industry has some exceptions. The average November DAU of Sui was 233,300, an increase of 23.1% from the previous month. The Telegram game BIRDS contributed most of the user base, with an average DAU of 224,900, and its weekly new user retention rate can be said to be a benchmark for the current blockchain gaming industry.
Data source: Weekly user retention rate of the BIRDS game
The Web3 gaming industry still coexists with challenges and opportunities. More industry participants are getting involved in the blockchain gaming infrastructure, and more gaming public chains are emerging. As one of the largest Web3 gaming guilds, Yield Guild Games (YGG) has launched its Studio Chain, building its own gaming infrastructure.
Meanwhile, B3 has launched an Open Gaming Layer, with Prime Chain being the first blockchain it has launched. Developed by the Echelon Prime Foundation, Prime Chain will provide infrastructure and development momentum for the ambitious sci-fi card game Parallel.
Overview of Blockchain Games
As of the end of November, the industry had a total of 3,602 blockchain games, of which 1,361 remained active. Among these games, 298 have attracted over 1,000 monthly active users (MAU), accounting for 21.9% of the active games.
Data source: Monthly active blockchain games
Analyzing the Telegram game metrics, we can see a significant gap between platform users and blockchain engagement. As of November 30, Hamster Kombat ranked second in monthly active Telegram games with 26.16 million MAU, but its on-chain users were only 736. Even for MemeFi, which achieved the highest conversion rate among the top 10 games, its user on-chain participation rate was only 7.96%, with 1.36 million TON users.
Data source: MAU of popular Telegram games and their corresponding TON chain MAU
Despite these conversion challenges, the success of the Telegram gaming ecosystem is driving the wider emulation of social media platforms. As a leading instant messaging platform in Japan, Taiwan, Thailand and Indonesia, Line has announced plans to launch 30 mini dApps by the end of January, and expand to 150 by the end of the first quarter of 2025. These mini dApps will be built on the Kaia blockchain, with games being the largest component, along with social and DeFi applications.
Meanwhile, the Solana-based project Sonic X has broken through 1 million KYC-verified users through its TikTok integration. The platform's success stems from its seamless onboarding process. Users can access the game directly through their TikTok accounts, with Solana wallets automatically created in the background. This achievement demonstrates the potential of TikTok as a Web3 gaming entry point.
Blockchain Gaming Investment and Financing
In November, Web3 games received 18 financing rounds, totaling $73.6 million. Although the number of events was five more than in October, the total amount decreased by 22.3%. Additionally, eight events did not disclose the specific financing amount.
Blockchain gaming investment and financing events in November 2024 (source: crypto-fundraising.info)
Monkey Tilt led the month's financing with a $30 million Series A round led by Pantera Capital. The platform combines gaming, entertainment and betting features, and has achieved a monthly betting volume of $200 million since its launch in March. The platform includes in-game chat and user-to-user tipping features, but due to regulatory reasons, it is still unavailable in major markets such as the US, UK and Australia. Despite regulatory challenges, the betting sector continues to attract attention, with FanDuel, BRKT and BoxBet also receiving financing.
Other notable financing news includes Animoca Brands adding an additional $10 million investment in Mocaverse, on top of the previous $31.88 million investment. This investment includes warrants to acquire MOCA Coin tokens at a fully diluted valuation of $1 billion, supporting Mocaverse's further development of interoperable infrastructure for mainstream cryptocurrency adoption.
The data in this report is sourced from the Games Research page of Footprint Analytics, which is a real-time data dashboard providing comprehensive and reliable Web3 game statistics. If you find any chains or games are not included and you would like to have them added to the dataset, please contact us. You can also self-submit contracts through this link.
The content of this article is for industry research and communication purposes only and does not constitute any investment advice. The market has risks, and investments require caution.
___________________
About Footprint Analytics
Footprint Analytics is a comprehensive blockchain data analysis platform that simplifies complex analysis for enterprises and projects in the Web3 ecosystem. It provides customized solutions, eliminating the need for extensive expertise and infrastructure maintenance. The platform offers tools aimed at helping establish and manage long-term community growth, emphasizing sustainable growth and user loyalty. By combining powerful analytics tools and community management tools, Footprint Analytics enables projects to effectively leverage blockchain data for decision-making and growth strategies, covering areas such as GameFi, Non-Fungible Token, and DeFi.
