In May 2024, the performance of Ethereum was significantly boosted by the SEC’s approval of the preliminary application for a spot Ethereum ETF. The total market value of blockchain game tokens reached 201 billion US dollars, up 6.7% month-on-month. Despite the increase in market value, the industry experienced an interesting shift in user engagement, with a decrease in trading volume but a record high number of daily active users. Additionally, the increasing popularity of mini-games and game bots is gradually changing the landscape of the gaming industry.
The data in this report is sourced from the Blockchain Game Research page of Footprint Analytics. This is an easy-to-use dashboard containing the most important statistics and indicators for understanding the blockchain game industry and is updated in real-time.
In May 2024, Bitcoin rebounded strongly from its low point at the end of April, rising from $60,653 at the beginning of the month to $67,606 at the end of the month, an increase of 11.5%. Meanwhile, Ethereum also showed a strong recovery trend, with its price rising from $3,011 to $3,778 during the same period, a significant increase of 25.5%.
Market dynamics in May 2024 were significantly influenced by major regulatory developments, such as the approval by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the preliminary application for a spot Ethereum ETF. This milestone event not only helped Ethereum stand out in the broader cryptocurrency market but also signaled a shift in regulatory support for cryptocurrencies.
Furthermore, the political situation also affected market sentiment. The Trump campaign team announced that they would accept cryptocurrency donations, indicating that the upcoming U.S. presidential election could have a profound impact on the cryptocurrency market, comparable to changes in Federal Reserve monetary policy.
Conversely, the ongoing resolution process of the Mt. Gox exchange bankruptcy case has had a certain degree of restraint on Bitcoin prices. The exchange, which has been in bankruptcy for a decade, announced last September that creditor repayment work would begin in October 2024, sparking concerns in the market about the potential impact of a large-scale token sale.
In May, the market value of blockchain game tokens experienced fluctuations but stabilized at 201 billion US dollars by the end of the month, representing a 6.7% increase from before. The average daily transaction volume of blockchain games decreased by 7.3% compared to April, while the average daily active users (calculated by wallet count) increased to 3.3 million, a 9.6% month-on-month growth, setting a new record.
After observing the market dynamics in May, it was noted that an interesting phenomenon emerged in the blockchain gaming industry: while the daily transaction volume was declining, the daily active users were increasing. Since October 2023, the ratio of daily transaction volume to daily active users has gradually decreased from 17.2 to 2.3.
Several factors are believed to contribute to this trend. Firstly, the rise of the “play-to-airdrop” strategy has led to more users participating in games primarily to complete tasks rather than for entertainment, resulting in a decrease in interaction frequency. Secondly, many developers choose to partially onboard games or mini-games to balance seamless Web3 integration with engaging gameplay. These games often create user wallets or issue tokens on-chain, or even only have tokens on-chain, with most activities taking place off-chain.
Additionally, security incidents occurred in May. An unidentified hacker breached Gala Games’ internal controls and minted 5 billion new GALA tokens on May 20. The hacker then sold 600 million tokens on a decentralized exchange for nearly 6,000 ETH. Within hours of the attack, the Gala Games team detected the breach and took action, activating their blacklist feature to isolate the attacker’s address. Subsequently, the stolen funds were swiftly transferred from the hacker’s wallet to a wallet controlled by Gala Games. Although the GALA token plummeted by over 15% immediately after the incident, it quickly recovered due to the team’s rapid response. This incident serves as a valuable lesson.
In May, a total of 1,525 games across multiple blockchain platforms remained active, with BNB Chain, Polygon, and Ethereum occupying 23.3%, 19.7%, and 15.7% of the market share, respectively, leading the way. Among the 3.3 million daily active users in May, Ronin, Polygon, and NEAR continued to lead, similar to the previous month. Ronin maintained its dominant position, holding approximately 29.0% of the market share. NEAR’s share increased from 12.1% at the beginning of May to 14.8% by the end of the month. Flow also showed growth, with its share rising from 0.7% to 3.3%, while BNB Chain’s share declined from 8.0% to 5.9%.
In May, various strategic initiatives aimed at enhancing the gaming ecosystem were implemented across different blockchain platforms. On May 24th, the Arbitrum community initiated a vote on the 200 million ARB Game Catalyst Plan, which aims to strengthen the gaming ecosystem on the network. At the time of writing this report, the proposal had received majority support, with a support rate of 80.6%. Meanwhile, Arbitrum is developing a Layer 3 game-specific chain ecosystem, and the multi-chain NFT game ecosystem Polychain Monsters announced the launch of a Layer 3 game-specific chain based on Arbitrum Orbit through Altlayer.
The Starknet Foundation awarded 2 million STRK in funding to the blockchain metaverse game Realms.World, as part of its strategic initiative announced in March to enhance the Starknet gaming ecosystem by distributing 50 million STRK tokens.
The classic football game “Captain Tsubasa,” developed by Mint Town Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of mobile game giant KLab Inc., and BLOCKSMITH&Co., officially launched on Oasys in May. Oasys is actively seeking further collaboration with Mint Town and other developers to integrate high-quality intellectual property (IP) into blockchain games.
TON continued to receive widespread attention. In early May, Pantera Capital, managing over $50 billion in assets, announced its “largest-ever investment” in TON. Additionally, with the rise of the Notcoin craze, projects like Tapswap and Hamster Kombat gained increasing attention.
In May, the total number of blockchain games reached 3,153, with 1,272 in active status. Of these active games, 263 successfully attracted over 1,000 monthly users, accounting for 8.3% of the total number of games and 20.7% of active games.
Despite the blockchain gaming industry being very active in recent years, the lack of flagship games to truly showcase its potential has been a challenge. Popular games like Pixels, Matr1x FIRE, Sweat Economy, and Another World have garnered attention, but many games still struggle to surpass 1,000 monthly active on-chain users. This stagnation is partly due to the popularity of non-full-chain games, where most data remains off-chain, although full-chain games and AAA games have been the main narrative for a long time.
Facing these challenges, the rise of Telegram game bots and mobile mini-games, exemplified by Notcoin, indicates that industry changes are brewing. Binance launched the NOT token through its Launchpool on May 9, and trading began on May 16, further driving this trend. Notcoin now has a strong community with over 7.7 million subscribers on Telegram, and similar projects like Hamster Kombat and Tapswap have also garnered significant attention, with 25.3 million and 18 million subscribers, respectively.
These developments suggest that mini-games and game bots may pave the way for broader Web3 adoption. Unlike full-chain games or AAA games that require long development cycles, these platforms focus more on flexibility and rapid deployment. They can act quickly and iterate rapidly. This approach may be more effective in attracting and retaining a large number of users than the pursuit of complex but less accessible gaming experiences.
In May, the blockchain gaming industry successfully raised $44.95 million in 15 financing activities, a 42.9% decrease from April. Seeds Labs raised $12 million in a seed round, supported by Avalanche’s Blizzard Fund, the Solana Foundation, and Hashkey Capital. Their flagship product, the Web3 game Bladerite, was officially launched in May.
This article is for industry research and communication purposes only and does not constitute any investment advice. The market carries risks, and investment should be approached with caution.
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