Gamers accounted for nearly half of all blockchain activity in January: DappRadar Report
Play to earn blockchain games experienced a downturn in the past year as players prioritized improving the gaming experience.
However, according to a new report from DappRadar, in the first month of 2023, gamers accounted for almost half (48%) of all blockchain activity.
January also saw the market capitalization of top gaming tokens increase by an average of 122%, with Gala (GALA), the digital utility of the Gala Games ecosystem, rising by 218%.
According to the report, the surge in interest in these gaming tokens comes as the buzz of the industry hits the mainstream audience. For example, Gala Games made headlines after acquiring a new mobile game studio with more than $20 million in assets under management and 15 games.
Blockchain analyst at DappRadar, Sara Gherghelas, told Cointelegraph that based on chain metrics from the past two years, it is safe to assume that blockchain gaming will continue to be a significant sector of the industry.
“This is because blockchain games are already a vertical in the traditional industry. As blockchain gains more traction, it will bring more adoption to Web3 games that will become mainstream.”
Wax blockchain continues to have the most active gaming activity, with 331,000 unique active wallets. The top three blockchain gaming ecosystems all saw an increase in gaming protocols from late 2022 to early 2023, except for the BNB chain.
The beginning of 2023 saw increased activity as strong funding set the stage for what many are calling blockchain games “building” year. This term encapsulates the industry’s focus on building more powerful, high-quality games.
Gherghelas said the amount of investment towards this vertical is “significantly increasing”, with total investment in 2022 around $7.6 billion – a 105% increase from 2021. Investment in the blockchain gaming industry topped $156 million in January alone.
Related: Ushering in a new era of Web3 gaming by making Play-to-Earn sustainable
In addition, the report highlighted the metaverse’s role in the increase in blockchain gaming activity this year. The data revealed that January trade volume in virtual world-related games reached $44.5 million, a 114% increase from the previous month.
Although sales were down 19%, the overall growth can be attributed to the success of major metaverse platforms such as The Sandbox and Decentraland, with trade volume increases of 114% and 83% respectively.
According to a 2022 report by DappRadar, Web3 games accounted for nearly half of all blockchain-based transactions in the year.
