As the bull market fervor arrives, here are 8 Web3 games worth watching
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As the bull market fervor arrives, here are 8 Web3 games worth watching
For Web3 gaming, the biggest challenge is hiding blockchain technology from users, which is necessary for mainstream adoption.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsWritten by: Kyle Reidhead
Compiled by: TechFlow
Every new crypto cycle promises to bring Web3 gaming into the mainstream, but it's never happened.
Yet since 2018, 80% of Web3 gaming projects have failed. This time feels different—I think and hope so.
I'm optimistic because we finally have the infrastructure—cheap, fast, scalable blockchains that are essential for delivering frictionless experiences to players.
Combined with the upcoming bull market momentum, we're likely to see many games reach sky-high valuations, similar to Axie Infinity in 2020 (with a $25 billion market cap).
This is already quietly beginning. Let’s take a look at some growth metrics from the past 30 days.
So today I want to share my personal list of the top 8 Web3 games I’m excited about—and ones you should be watching too.
Disclosure: Some of these projects have tokens. This is not investment advice, and I don’t even own these tokens myself.
Illuvium (Immutable)
Illuvium is a sci-fi NFT gaming ecosystem comprising multiple interconnected games. It features high-quality graphics and offers on-chain advantages such as asset ownership and governance.
Recently, Illuvium Arena—one of the games in the Illuvium ecosystem—launched on the Epic Games Store, which has over 56 million monthly active users, most of whom are outside Web3.
This marks a significant integration of blockchain gaming into a mainstream platform.
Following this, Illuvium plans to launch Illuvium Overworld—an open-world role-playing game (RPG).
Having developed steadily through the past few years and the bear market, Illuvium is now well-positioned for an exciting future.
Shrapnel (Avalanche)
Shrapnel is an AAA first-person shooter (FPS) game developed by Neon Machine, a studio that raised $37.5 million for its development.
Its official release on the Epic Games Store is scheduled for December, initially available only to early access users, with a full public launch expected sometime in 2024.
Thanks to the listing effect, the $SHRAP token surged 182% over the past month.
P.S.: The CEO of Shrapnel attempted to use company funds to pay off personal debts, sparking some FUD...
Echelon Prime (Ethereum and Base)
Echelon Prime is a Web3 gaming ecosystem that recently launched its first game, Parallel TCG, on the Base blockchain.
What excites me about the Echelon Prime ecosystem is how successfully they’ve launched Parallel—a simple card game that requires no wallet and is free-to-play.
Parallel resembles popular card games like Hearthstone, Magic: The Gathering (MTG), or Marvel Snap, offering a familiar experience to traditional card gamers.
The game is also available on the Epic Games Store.
Personally, I believe Echelon Prime, powered by the $PRIME token, is one of the leading contenders in the Web3 gaming space.
Star Atlas (Solana)
Star Atlas is a highly anticipated grand strategy game focused on space exploration, territorial conquest, and political dominance.
Built on Solana, the game already has two tokens:
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$ATLAS: An in-game currency token.
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$POLIS: A governance token for the Star Atlas DAO, allowing holders to influence decision-making processes.
What particularly excites me about Star Atlas is that it’s one of the flagship games on Solana and enjoys strong support from the entire $SOL community. I expect the Solana ecosystem to continue growing, and Star Atlas is undoubtedly at the forefront of that movement.
However, the game has been under development for several years (since the last cycle), so progress has been slower compared to others. Nevertheless, the in-game marketplace recently saw a significant surge in trading volume, reaching up to $400,000.
Skyweaver by Horizon (Polygon)
Skyweaver is another digital collectible card game developed by Horizon Blockchain Games, similar to Parallel.
It’s a free-to-play game that allows players to collect, trade, and battle using various unique cards.
While I’m not necessarily bullish on Skyweaver itself, I am very optimistic about the developer Horizon, which has received backing from two major gaming giants: Ubisoft and Take-Two.
These industry leaders participated in Horizon’s $40 million Series A funding round. With such strong institutional support and an already live game, I’m eager to see what Horizon delivers in 2024 and beyond.
The above five games and ecosystems are my top picks. But there are three more rapidly growing ecosystems worth highlighting.
Ronin Network
Ronin is a blockchain built by Axie Infinity. Originally designed to support Axie Infinity, it’s now expanding beyond.
In the past 30 days alone, monthly active users exceeded 500,000—an increase of 5x.
They’re welcoming new game studio partners like Zillion Whales to build on Ronin.
They’ve also announced the Ronin Name Service—a domain service similar to ENS—allowing Ronin users to purchase names with $RON to establish their on-chain identity.
SIDUS
SIDUS is a gaming/metaverse project aiming to integrate blockchain with AI.
Details are limited, but Sidus recently burned a large portion of its circulating supply, drawing significant attention. I’ll be closely monitoring this project’s developments.
Treasure DAO (Arbitrum)
Treasure DAO is an ecosystem designed to unite games and players through its $MAGIC token on Arbitrum.
Conclusion
In this article, I’ve shared eight games and ecosystems I’m watching over the next few years. But what excites me most is blockchain abstraction.
For Web3 gaming, the biggest barrier is hiding blockchain technology from users—it’s essential for mainstream adoption. No one wants to set up wallets, deposit tokens, and sign transactions just to play a game. Games that successfully abstract away Web3 tech will win, and Immutable is leading in this area.
On Immutable, users don’t pay gas fees or sign transactions. Games built on Immutable can offer off-chain NFT minting, and transactions don’t require the platform’s $IMX token.
This is a huge advantage for game developers, which is why Ubisoft chose to partner with Immutable. It’s also why over 200 Web3 games are set to launch on Immutable in 2024.
Throughout the bear market, Immutable has built the infrastructure and tools developers need to create games. Now ready for release, I believe Immutable is perfectly positioned to capture a major share of the Web3 gaming market in the near future. While I’m positive on several individual Web3 games and ecosystems, right now my greatest interest lies with Immutable—and I think yours should too.
Disclosure: I hold $IMX.
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