Blockchain players rise as users seek to ‘stack crypto’, DappRadar says
User activity on blockchain game decentralized applications (DApps) increased in September, with a number of games posting significant increases in the number of active users.
According to data from DappRadar, seven of the top 10 games in terms of the number of “unique wallet addresses interacting with dapp’s smart contracts” increased over the past 30 days, with all five of the top games in the green during that time frame.
At the time of writing, DApps recording growth in the period include Web3 gaming platform Gameta, and blockchain-based games Alien Worlds, Solitaire Blitz, Benji Bananas and Splinterlands, Farmers World and Arc8 by GAMEE.
In a September 27 blog post, DappRadar noted that eight of the top 10 blockchain games are mobile-first, which could eventually “bring millions of users to the blockchain,” noting:
“Dapp games like Gameta, Benji Bananas, Upland and Trickshot Blitz allow anyone with a mobile device to earn crypto with little prior knowledge, investment or risk.”
“Using everyday activities like hyper-casual mobile games as a hook ensures that users find fun when interacting, while solid tokenomics can encourage daily use and retention,” it added.
DappRadar said that one of the possible reasons for the rise in popularity of blockchain games despite the bear market is the idea of ”bleeding the bear and running in the bull.”
“The idea that stacking crypto and investing in a bear market pays off in the bull is almost proven at this point.”
The biggest increase in users came from Animoca Brands’ Benji Bananas (Polygon) which saw an increase of 2016.54% in the last 30 days. Notably, this game was a Web2 mobile app until March of this year. Animoca then introduced play-to-earn (P2E) elements via Bored Ape Yacht Club-affiliated Ape Coin (APE).
While it’s unclear what specifically saw the number of Benji Bananas users increase by so much, it did host a P2E gaming event this month that offered a series of valuable in-game NFTs to winners.
Of the top 10 games, only Axie Infinity, Trickshot Blitz and Upland have seen declines over the past 30 days.
The surge in blockchain players this month comes as publications such as Bloomberg note in an article on September 28 that the highly correlated NFT market trading “frenzy is all but dead.” It points to the fact that overall NFT trading volume has fallen 97% since January as evidence of this.
As Animoca Brands co-founder Yat Siu pointed out via Twitter on September 30, looking at the calculation of NFT sales volume does not necessarily paint the full picture in NFTs or games.
Siu highlighted that NFT prices have generally fallen in line with the price of their paired assets such as Ether (ETH), while many games – which don’t often grab the headlines – require NFTs that are relatively cheap. He emphasized instead that user activity and the number of people accessing Web3 is where the focus should be.
6/ Judging an entire market by just one metric is imperfect, you need to take a multi-faceted lens, e.g. @TheSandboxGame has seen record growth in users this past season despite the market and blockchain wallets continuing to grow https://t.co/brvDgCAhqh
— Yat Siu (@ysiu) 29 September 2022
Gods Unchained breaks 10 top NFT sales
Meanwhile, the NFT-based card battle game Gods Unchained has seen its NFT sales volume creep into the top 10 in NFT sales volume over the past 30 days, according to Cryptoslam.
Gods Unchained has seen an increase of 373.25% in the last 30 days to stand at $10.8 million at the time of writing. This is the first time the game has seen NFT sales top $10 million since January, and after a very slow period from February to August.
Related: Yat Siu: Asia GameFi opportunity is huge as players don’t hate NFTs
The reasons behind this could be due to discussions of a “Season 2” upgrade to improve the game and lore in the works and GameStop offering free NFT packs to Pro members this month. While an eSports tournament with a prize pool of $70,000 was also announced earlier this week.
Gods Unchained has also seen a significant increase in active users over the past 30 days, gaining 28.50% to sit at around 14,180 according to DappRadar. The game still has a long way to go to reach the top 10, as the number of users places it in twenty-eighth place.
