Crypto Gaming Booms Amid Metaverse Hype

Timothy Craig

Nov. 5, 2021

1.19 million unique active wallets connected to crypto gaming dapps over the last month.

Shutterstock cover by EKKAPHAN CHIMPALEE

Key Takeaways

October saw blockchain games make up the majority of activity in the dapp industry.
55% of unique active wallets interacted with gaming dapps such as Axie Infinity and Splinterlands.
Mobile crypto games have also seen increased adoption on the Ethereum sidechain Polygon.

Data from analytics platforms DappRadar and Token Terminal shows a boom in crypto gaming. In October, 55% of all unique active wallets connected to blockchain games, marking the third consecutive month that more wallets connected to gaming dapps than DeFi protocols.

Crypto Gaming at All-Time Highs

October was a good month for blockchain gaming.

According to DappRadar, a leading decentralized application analytics platform, October saw blockchain games make up the majority of activity in the dapp industry. 55% of unique active wallets (UAW) totaling 1.19 million users interacted with gaming dapps over the past month.

The data signals the growing dominance of blockchain games, with October marking the third consecutive month that more unique active wallets connected to gaming dapps than DeFi protocols.

Established blockchain games such as Sky Mavis’ Axie Infinity made up more than half of all blockchain gaming users. On-chain activity soared in October, thanks in part to the game’s newly released AXS token staking feature. Over the past month, 647,000 UAW connected to Axie, up 27% from September.

Additionally, data from Token Terminal show that transactions on Axie Infinity have also reached new highs. As of Nov. 4, transaction volume on the game’s marketplace hit a daily record of $38.2 million.

Splinterlands, a play-to-earn collectible card game, has also been making waves. Despite running on the relatively unknown Hive blockchain, Splinterlands has grown its user base 3,260% over the past year thanks to the addition of the SPS token, which users can earn through playing the game.

Polygon has seen the biggest shift towards gaming, with over 70% of unique active wallets on the network playing blockchain games, compared to less than 15% in August. Mobile gaming dapps such as Animoca brand’s Arc8 are largely responsible for the sudden surge in gaming on the Ethereum sidechain. At the start of October, daily active addresses on Polygon hit an all-time high of 531,831.

Metaverse gaming has also taken off, driven by Facebook’s recent rebrand to “Meta.” Metaverse platforms such as Decentraland and The Sandbox have seen their native tokens soar is value, while trading volumes for in-game land parcel NFTs skyrocketed on OpenSea. Additionally, The Sandbox recently closed a $93 million a Series B funding round led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2.

As crypto games demonstrate their ability to attract users, other blockchains are also looking to develop their own gaming ecosystems. Solana Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and FTX have just announced a joint $100 million initiative to develop gaming on Solana, saying that the network’s high-speed, low-cost capabilities will allow crypto gaming to thrive.

Disclosure: At the time of writing this feature, the author owned ETH, SOL, and several other cryptocurrencies.

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