The blockchain gaming industry is very resistant to market correction
- During the second quarter of 2022, gaming DApps alone accounted for 52 percent of total blockchain activity.
- Blockchain games are likely to raise more than $ 12 billion by the end of the year.
Almost all sectors in the crypto area, be it CeFi, DeFi and others, have met the heat from this year’s market correction. DappRadar recently published a report on the state of the blockchain gaming sector for Q2 2022.
According to their study, DappRadar found that the blockchain gaming sector has been very resilient to the ongoing headwinds in the crypto market. In fact, it continues to have strong demand that attracts new investment.
During the second quarter of 2022, venture capital firms poured more than $ 2.5 billion into the blockchain gaming industry. VC investments have remained fairly consistent with those made during the first quarter of 2022. In fact, total investments in the blockchain gaming sector in the first six months of 2022 have already surpassed the $ 4 billion investment throughout 2021.
As DappRadar reports, investments in blockchain games have already exceeded last year’s total investments by 33 percent. It adds that the market is on track to raise more than $ 12 billion by the end of the year.
The report also states that while the rest of the industry is struggling, blockchain games have taken the brunt of unique active wallets (UAW). During the second quarter of 2022, gaming DApps alone accounted for 52 percent of total blockchain activity.
Compared to the previous quarter, however, the blockchain players’ UAW fell by 7 percent. But DappRadar notes that blockchain gaming activity is still up a staggering 232 percent compared to the same quarter last year.
Top blockchain games on the market
In the report, DappRadar has also provided insight into some of the best blockchain games on the market.
- Splinterlands is still the most played blockchain game with a UAW on it 283,729 at the end of the second quarter of 2022. Despite a decline of 61 percent in the user base in June, this trading card game remained in first place in the second quarter. Spliterlands is currently focusing on long-term growth while addressing player commitments and consistent performance.
- AlienWoods is still the second ranked game, but it saw a marginal drop of 4 percent in UAW during Q2 2022. But to sit in third position is Farmers World recorded 33 percent user growth last quarter.
- On the other hand, the once very popular Axie Infinity did not have a very good quarter. In the second quarter, Axie Infinity’s users fell by a staggering 83%. However, this happened after the hack of AXIE tokens worth 600 million dollars earlier in the second quarter.
At the same time, sales of NFTs for blockchain games fell 29 percent compared to the previous quarter. However, the game NFTs held relatively well considering that total NFT sales fell 82 percent in Q2 compared to the previous quarter.
Metaverse and Web3 attract more investment
In another development, VC giant Andreesen Horowitz has set up a $ 4.5 billion fund to invest in the development of blockchain games and the meta-verse. Pedro Herrera, head of research at DappRadar, commented on the case:
Blockchain-based games have become one of the most promising sectors in Web3. Even with a drastic reduction in the value of game rewards due to the collapse of games and metaverse-based tokens like JEWEL (-99% down from January), SAND (-81%) or SPS (-80%), web3 games still have 52% of industry activity. And while gaming activity fell by 7% from the previous quarter, the disadvantages of other relevant blockchain categories such as DeFi (-17%) are more visible.
DappRadar notes that apart from the strong cash flows in Web 3 games, there is also a strong flow of talent moving from traditional game companies for web3 game startups. It says the Web 3 gaming site will attract $ 12 billion in capital by the end of the year.