Blockchain Gaming June Monthly Report Market Analysis, Opportunities, and Challenges

Blockchain Gaming June Report Market Analysis, Opportunities, Challenges

In June, the cryptocurrency market showed signs of recovery, with Bitcoin reaching a new high within 12 months, breaking through the $30,000 mark for the first time. Although there are over 1,000 blockchain games active in the market, the development in the gaming sector has not met expectations compared to the overall market recovery, and the data performance is not optimistic.

The market value of the blockchain gaming sector has dropped from a peak of $6.38 billion to $5.5 billion, reaching a low point of $4.7 billion, reflecting a possible imbalance between the supply of game tokens and the demand from players. Currently, only 19 games in the market are able to attract more than 10,000 daily active users, further revealing the difficulties in attracting and retaining users in blockchain games.

However, well-known NFT brands like Yuga Labs are steadily entering the blockchain gaming sector, bringing rich intellectual property and innovative power to the field. Although blockchain games are still in the early stages of development, with the gradual improvement of infrastructure and continuous innovation in gameplay, it may be able to drive the sector into the next stage of growth. However, how to improve user retention and how to make the integration of blockchain games with mainstream games more seamless remain the main challenges for blockchain games.

The data in this report comes from the GameFi Research page of Footprint Analytics. This page provides an easy-to-use data dashboard that includes the key data indicators that the GameFi industry needs to pay attention to and updates them in real-time. You can click here to find the latest information on GameFi related prices, individual projects, funding rounds, and more.

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Key Points

Cryptocurrency Market Overview

• In June 2023, Bitcoin experienced ups and downs, reaching a 12-month high of $31,200 on June 22. In the volatile cryptocurrency market, the price of Bitcoin maintained a continuous upward trend.

• On June 22, Bitcoin unexpectedly broke through the $30,000 mark. By the end of June, the closing price of Bitcoin was $30.4k, indicating that $30,000 has become a solid support level.

Blockchain Gaming Market Overview

• The market value of game tokens dropped from $6.38 billion to $5.5 billion, with a minimum decline to $4.7 billion.

• Although there were approximately 1,021 active games in the market in June, only 19 games had more than 10,000 daily active users.

Development of Blockchain Gaming Public Chains

• The BNB chain launched its Layer 2 solution opBNB testnet on June 19, 2023.

• The public chain Flow saw a significant increase in transactions and user numbers at the end of the month, mainly driven by the game Carrom Blitz developed by Joyride Games.

Overview of Blockchain Gaming Projects

• In June, StepN’s token price ranked first with a 377.43% increase.

• Yuga Labs, the parent company of “Bored Ape Yacht Club” (BAYC), is actively entering the blockchain gaming industry and has launched the first season of the highly anticipated HV-MTL Forge game.

Investment Situation in the Blockchain Gaming Industry

• The total investment amount in the blockchain gaming industry this month has significantly decreased compared to the previous month, with a total of $29 million raised in 6 rounds of financing.

Cryptocurrency Market Overview

In June 2023, Bitcoin experienced ups and downs, reaching a 12-month high of $31,200 on June 22. In the volatile cryptocurrency market, the price of Bitcoin has maintained a continuous upward trend.

BTC Price & ETH Price

In early June, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) increased regulatory efforts and filed lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase, the two largest cryptocurrency exchanges globally. As a result of these regulatory actions, the price of Bitcoin declined to $24.7k.

However, on June 22, Bitcoin broke through the $30,000 mark. By the end of June, the closing price of Bitcoin was $30.4k, indicating that $30,000 has become a solid support level. This outstanding performance may have been driven by positive news in the cryptocurrency field, such as Blackrock’s resubmitted application for a Bitcoin spot ETF, which may have boosted market optimism.

The cryptocurrency market seems to be entering a consolidation phase and gradually becoming better prepared for regulatory trends and market fluctuations.

Overview of the Blockchain Gaming Market

In June, the market performance of Bitcoin and blockchain gaming tokens showed a sharp contrast. While Bitcoin reached a 12-month high of $31,200, the market value of gaming tokens decreased from $6.38 billion to $5.5 billion, with a minimum decline to $4.7 billion.

GameFi Tokens Market Cap vs. BTC

As a more stable asset, “digital gold” Bitcoin remained strong this month, demonstrating that gaming tokens may be more sensitive to market fluctuations and sentiment changes.

The decline in the market value of gaming tokens also reflects a shift in investor preferences. During market volatility, investors may tend to seek more stable assets for investment.

Active Games

Although there were approximately 1,021 active games in the market in June (games in which users interacted with game contracts during the month), data shows that only 19 games had more than 10,000 daily active users. Even well-known games like Axie Infinity had only 8,569 daily active users on June 30.

Most blockchain games are facing the problem of low user engagement. Even mature games like Axie Infinity are not exempt. At the same time, active users are highly concentrated in a few games, which may indicate that players tend to choose certain specific types or more well-known games.

In addition, this also reveals another significant problem with blockchain games: they emphasize the application of blockchain technology too much, but fail to provide a high-quality gaming experience.

Daily Active Users

The daily active users of blockchain games this month fluctuate between 700,000 and 1 million. However, on June 23, the number of active users increased to 166,000, with Walken contributing significantly to this growth by adding 47,459 users compared to the previous day. This sharp increase in data reflects the relatively small user base of cryptocurrency games, where the growth of a single game can affect the overall market data.

Walken Daily Active Users

The key problem facing blockchain games is how to continuously attract and maintain player interest. This industry urgently needs innovation, which can be achieved by attracting engaging gameplay, captivating storylines, and unique game elements, combined with blockchain technology. We should focus more on how to build a sustainable game economy and a thriving community, rather than solely relying on the term “blockchain” and cryptocurrency rewards to attract users.

Development of Public Chains for Blockchain Games

Game Projects Shared by Chain

The distribution of game projects on various public chains remains relatively stable, with no single chain dominating the market. BNB chain hosts the most game projects, followed by Ethereum and Polygon, which together account for 71% of the market share of game projects.

In the context of competition among public chains, the launch of BNB chain’s Layer 2 solution, opBNB, on June 19, 2023, is undoubtedly a strategic deployment. Based on Optimism, opBNB aims to solve scalability issues and is compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), greatly simplifying the process for developers to create and run applications, as well as facilitating the migration and expansion of applications from the Ethereum chain to the BNB chain. This makes opBNB an optimal solution for game developers. We look forward to seeing a large number of high-quality blockchain games entering the BNB chain, leveraging its outstanding performance and compatibility with Ethereum, to drive innovation and development in the blockchain gaming industry.

Most newly launched blockchain games usually choose to release on the three major public chains: BNB chain, Ethereum, and Polygon. However, in terms of active users and transaction volume, the WAX chain occupies a leading position, accounting for approximately 85% of the total transaction volume and 35% of the active users. Despite having a large user base and transaction volume, the share of WAX chain in the total transaction amount is relatively small. This phenomenon reveals the unique technical architecture features of the WAX chain, which require users to conduct more transactions on the WAX chain.

Top Games on Ethereum on June 30

It is worth noting that the highest-ranked Ethereum game has only 153 active players, which seems relatively weak compared to Ethereum’s important position in the blockchain field.

Daily Txn & Active User on Flow

The other public chain, Flow, has seen a significant increase in transactions and user numbers at the end of the month, mainly driven by the game Carrom Blitz developed by Joyride Games.

Overview of Blockchain Gaming Projects

Blockchain networks specifically designed for gaming, such as WAX and Ronin, have stronger adaptability to games and better meet the needs of game users. In terms of overall game project rankings, Alien Worlds on WAX has the highest number of active users, while Axie Infinity on Ronin ranks first in transaction volume, further confirming our observations.

Top Games by Active Users

In June, StepN’s token price ranked first with a growth rate of 377.43%, followed closely by Zodium and Nakamoto Games, which also showed significant growth in their token prices.

Game Token Increase in June

Projects that are currently performing well in terms of token price growth are still mature projects that have been deeply involved in and accumulated rich experience in the gaming field. This indicates that success in the blockchain gaming field often comes as a result of long-term and persistent efforts. Game projects need long-term cultivation to establish a robust ecosystem and build a strong community.

Despite the overall market value decline and the concentration of users in a few top games, there are still some positive signals this month.

The parent company of “Bored Ape Yacht Club” (BAYC), Yuga Labs, is actively entering the blockchain gaming field and has launched the first season of the highly anticipated game HV-MTL Forge. HV-MTL Forge is a space construction game centered around Yuga Labs’ new mech NFT series HV-MTL. Players who hold HV-MTL are eligible to participate in the game, create or customize their own unique space, and upgrade their HV-MTL NFTs to new forms through in-game activities.

This game is part of Yuga Labs’ annual plan, as they plan to release four to five games this year. We expect high participation rates among NFT holders in this game, as 97% of NFT holders participated in their previous game, Dookey Dash.

In addition to well-known NFT IPs entering the blockchain gaming field, AAA-level games have also made some progress this month. Another notable game is Gods Unchained, a blockchain-based trading card game developed by Immutable Games, which recently launched on the Epic Games Store (EGS). With the launch of this game, the native token GODS has increased by 50%.

Champions Tactics

In addition, Ubisoft, a well-known game developer, has officially launched their first blockchain game, “Champions Tactics: Grimoria Chronicles”. Although there is still controversy surrounding the application of blockchain and NFTs in games, Ubisoft is one of the first AAA game studios to fully embrace this field. The game industry is gradually accepting the trend of blockchain, and other major companies like Square Enix and Sega are also incorporating blockchain technology into their future projects. Despite the cautious attitude of industry giants towards blockchain games, they are still persistently exploring their future potential.

Blockchain Game Financing Situation

The total investment in the blockchain game sector this month has decreased significantly compared to last month, with a total of 29 million US dollars raised in 6 rounds of financing. In contrast, last month’s financing activities were more vibrant, raising a total of 79.1 million US dollars through 8 rounds of financing.

Web3 Game Funding in June

Web3 game launch platform and multi-chain game aggregator store HyperPlay successfully raised $12 million in Series A financing, making it the largest funding in the same category this month.

HyperPlay

HyperPlay was established in November 2022 to address interoperability issues in the blockchain game field. The company has proposed an innovative solution that allows developers to work independently without being restricted by centralized entities such as Apple, Google, and Steam. The platform allows players to use the same wallet containing their NFTs, tokens, and achievements to deeply understand each game they play, thereby achieving full interoperability of blockchain games. Currently, their game store has 33 games available.

In addition, Web3 game studio Argus Labs has completed a $10 million seed round of financing, led by cryptocurrency investment firm Haun Ventures. Argus Labs plans to use the new funds to expand its development team and establish its studio and tool infrastructure. In the bear market of Web3, the active development of blockchain infrastructure will inject vitality into the market construction.

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