Delphi Digital Web3 Gaming Report: Overall Funding Declines, but Activity Remains Strong (Plus New Projects to Watch)
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Delphi Digital Web3 Gaming Report: Overall Funding Declines, but Activity Remains Strong (Plus New Projects to Watch)
Web3 gaming remains a strong player, accounting for 30% of all dApp activity, with 2.1 million daily active wallets.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: Stacy Muur
Translation: TechFlow
Since the beginning of 2024, Web3 gaming has underperformed compared to other cryptocurrency altcoin sectors, with its market capitalization declining by 33% while the broader altcoin market fell only 14%.
Nevertheless, Web3 gaming remains a strong player, accounting for 30% of all decentralized application (dApp) activity and reaching 2.1 million daily active wallets.
Let’s dive into the key insights from Delphi’s latest research on Web3 gaming.
Key Takeaways
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Web3 gaming funding peaked between February and March, with monthly investments ranging from $60 million to $100 million, totaling $673 million in 2024. However, this represents just 41.35% of the total funding raised in Q1 2022.
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Over 50 games launched in 2024, including high-profile successes like Xai, Pixels, and Notcoin.
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Xai raised $40 million within three months. Pixels reached a $4.8 billion FDV and 1 million daily active users (DAU) within three weeks of launch. Notcoin attracted 35 million users, achieved a $1 billion market cap, and did so without external funding.
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The FDV of Portal dropped from $4 billion to $280 million, and Overworld Incarnas lost up to 75% of its value. Mavia and Pixelmon also saw post-TGE value collapses exceeding 60%.
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Shooter games remain dominant in Web3, with Off the Grid standing out due to its $110 million in funding and partnerships with Sony and Microsoft.
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In the MMORPG space, the most anticipated title is MapleStory Universe, which secured $100 million in funding.
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Pirate Nation, a fully on-chain game, is growing rapidly with 100,000 active players and $1 million in revenue over the past six weeks.
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Mobile games such as King of Destiny and Matr1x Fire are experiencing rapid growth, attracting hundreds of thousands of users. Matr1x Fire has surpassed 3.5 million downloads.
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The Ronin and TON ecosystems lead in Web3 gaming. Ronin benefits from Axie Infinity's success, while TON offers seamless integration with Telegram, giving access to 900 million Telegram users. The success of Notcoin and Hamster Kombat further validates this trend.
This summary outlines key points from Delphi’s Mid-Year Gaming Review report. Click here to read the full report.
Web3 Gaming Watchlist: Summary
Below are some notable upcoming games, most of which have not yet been tracked on DappRadar. For statistics on the most popular games, check out this dashboard.
Source: DappRadar
Off the Grid [Shooter]
Description: Off the Grid is a cyberpunk-themed battle royale game developed by Gunzilla Games.
Chain: Avalanche
Funding: $101 million
Fact: Off the Grid has raised over $110 million and boasts a team of more than 380 people. The game will launch on PlayStation and Xbox through partnerships with Sony and Microsoft, setting a new benchmark for the industry.
MapleStory Universe [MMORPG]
Description: MapleStory Universe expands Nexon’s iconic MapleStory IP into a virtual world ecosystem hosting multiple applications based on the beloved franchise.
Chain: MapleStory Subnet powered by Avalanche
Funding: $100 million
Fact: In 2023, MapleStory Universe received over $100 million in funding from Nexon. MapleStory Online has accumulated over 100 million players and remains a major force in the MMORPG landscape.
From July 24 to August 2, NEXPACE invited over 1,000 players to participate in the MapleStory N Pioneer Test. Peak concurrent players reached 714, and 92% of participants returned multiple times during testing. The team reported a seven-day retention rate of 79.97%.
EVE Frontier [MMORPG]
Description: EVE Frontier is a single-server survival game set in a dark, dystopian space where humanity struggles to survive and rebuild a fractured world. In March 2023, CCP announced it had raised $40 million for the game’s development.
Funding: $40 million
Fact: Leveraging established intellectual property provides a significant advantage in user acquisition, enabling them to target loyal fanbases of MapleStory and Eve Online.
MetaCene [MMORPG]
Description: MetaCene is developing a blockchain-based MMORPG set in a surreal post-apocalyptic world. Players use various NFTs to redefine civilization. The game aims to create an accessible Web3 experience focused on player-centric entertainment, governance, and AIGC-driven creation.
Chain: Rangers (Apostle NFT collection resides on Ethereum)
Unique Active Wallets (UAW) (30-day): 38,320
All-time high UAW: 57,060 (March 25, 2024)
Fact: MetaCene was founded by gaming veterans with over 20 years of industry experience from companies such as Shanda Games, Blizzard, and Perfect World.
Over the past 30 days, its UAW grew from 898 to 37.1k, representing a +4,031.4% increase.
Avalon [MMORPG]
Description: Avalon is the world’s first multichain, truly open-world MMORPG built using Unreal Engine 5 and integrated across multiple blockchains. Set in a fantasy medieval kingdom, players explore the world using their NFTs while competing for cryptocurrency and rare NFT rewards. The game’s lore draws inspiration from Arthurian legends and alternate histories of knightly orders.
Chain: ImmutableX, Base
Fact: Both MetaCene and Avalon are led by industry veterans who played pivotal roles in shaping genre-defining titles like EverQuest and Ultima Online II.
Big Time [MMORPG]
Name: Big Time
Description: Big Time is a PC-based multiplayer action RPG that combines fast-paced combat with an open in-game economy. Players actively generate and trade game items. The game seamlessly integrates Web3 elements without compromising the entertainment experience, helping attract a broader audience.
Chain: Ethereum
Fact: Big Time revitalized the Web3 gaming market after the bear market, generating over $100 million in revenue since its pre-season and positioning itself as a leading native Web3 contender.
Pirate Nation [Fully On-Chain Game]
Description: Pirate Nation is an innovative game developed by Proof of Play, a studio combining gaming with blockchain technology. Players collect pirates and send them on adventures to gather crafting materials, treasures, and pirate coins. Pirates gain experience and level up through repeated adventures.
Chain: Ethereum, Apex Chain
Fact: Pirate Nation experienced an astonishing 2,400% growth within just three months. This surge, combined with impressive in-game revenue of $1 million over the past six weeks, underscores its strong position in the FOCG (Fully On-Chain Games) category.
Apex Chain, designed to support the Pirate Nation ecosystem, is one of the most active chains, processing over 2.5 million transactions per day. It ranks second among EVM Layer 2 solutions by transaction volume over the past month, trailing only Base.
Infinigods [Mobile Gaming Studio]
Projects: Infinimerge, Immortal Siege, King of Destiny
Description: Infinigods is a Web3 gaming studio focused on delivering cross-platform experiences for web and mobile. Committed to building a casual gaming ecosystem interconnected through unique NFT collections and IPs—all inspired by ancient mythology.
Chain: Ethereum
Fact: Infinigods’ Web3 lucky battle game King of Destiny is quietly expanding its user base, approaching 1 million downloads with over 250,000 monthly active users (MAU).
More Games to Watch:
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Capsule Heroes – Free-to-play PvP boxing game.
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Matr1x – An entertainment platform integrating Web3, artificial intelligence (AI), and esports, with over 24,000 unique wallets in the past month.
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Fableborne – An isometric, ownable multiplayer online game with 77,000 downloads.
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Treeverse – An MMORPG developed by the Endless Clouds team.
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The World of Dypians (WoD) – A multiplayer online role-playing game currently topping DappRadar with 700,000 unique active wallets over 30 days.
Source: DappRadar
According to Delphi, there are currently no clear signs that gaming will outperform in Q4—especially as meme coins and the Solana ecosystem continue to surpass most other Web3 sectors. Moreover, the influx of new product launches over the next six months may intensify competition and further fragment liquidity.
However, they remain hopeful that games like Off the Grid, MapleStory Universe, and Fableborne could positively influence sentiment in both Web3 and Web2 markets. Such content continues to be viewed as crypto’s best “Trojan horse,” and they believe there are reasons for optimism in the short to medium term.
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@stacy_muur
