The Web3 ecosystem has grown significantly over the past four years, with the total market cap of the crypto industry now at a whopping $3.8 trillion. This growth in valuation has mainly been fueled by the emergence of specific niches such as Decentralized Finance (DeFi), Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and gaming platforms.
But looking at the fine print, it is quite evident that the upward inflection in the crypto adoption curve coincided with the launching of NFT collections, especially those that were affiliated to blockchain-powered games such as the Axie Infinity. This NFT game recorded a total of 2.7 million daily active users at the height of the play-to-earn (P2E) boom in November 2021.
More notably, blockchain games have consistently outperformed other crypto niches in terms of on-chain activity. The latest report by Dapp Radar revealed that there were 6.8 million daily unique active wallets (dUAW) interacting with this space in November 2024, ranking second only to DeFi which recently reclaimed its glory as the most active on-chain crypto sector.
So, what stands out about blockchain gaming that has made DApps within this ecosystem thrive? For context, most of the popular projects in 2024 had some aspect of gaming in them; Pixels (social gaming metaverse), World of Dypians (open gaming metaverse) and Funtico (a full stack chain agnostic web 3.0 gaming platform).
The Key to Onboarding More Users Into Web3 Economies
While DeFi applications continue to play an important role in crypto adoption, games have proven to be more relatable to a wider audience.
There are quite a number of reasons for this, including the fact that not everyone understands finance or is in crypto to break away from the traditional financial ecosystem. Some participants, or rather a good number, are just in it for the thrill; what better way to capture this market than Web3 gaming innovations?
The next of this article will highlight some of the main reasons why Web3 gaming stands a better shot at attracting more active users to the space.
Player-Owned Gaming Assets
First and foremost is the idea of player-owned gaming assets, Web3 gaming ecosystems are designed on the basis of decentralized economies. This means that players get to fully own the in-game assets such as skins, weapons and other features which they purchase for the purpose of enhancing their character or gameplay.
To provide some more context, Web2 games like Fortnite and Call of Duty (CoD) also have their own in-game assets, but unlike Web3 games, the rights to owning these assets are to large extent controlled by the game publisher. This means that players are limited on where or how they can monetize their in-game items.
With Web3, a player can leverage existing NFT marketplaces like Opensea and Blur to sell their in-game assets in exchange for other types of digital assets and fiat eventually. This ability to fully own or monetize an in-game item is a game-changer, which is not only attracting individual gamers into the Web3 space but also established game publishers such as Atari which is building the Atari X metaverse for this purpose.
Incredible Reward Models for Players
Incentivized tokenomic models are another factor behind the potential success of the Web3 gaming ecosystem. But what exactly does this mean? Most Web3 games are designed to include rewards for players who either engage, complete specific quests or invite more people to participate in a particular game. This approach has proven to be strategic in wooing players from all walks of life.
A good example of a Web3 gaming ecosystem whose incredible reward model has attracted significant participation is Funtico. This platform hosts a suite of Web3 games, including a racing game dubbed Formula Funtico which hosts regular tournaments. As of writing, there is up to 15,000 USDT up for grabs in ‘THE BIG BANTER SHOWDOWN’ tournament that is currently in the semi-final stage.
More importantly, Funtico is set to hold its official Token Generation Event (TGE) for its native token $TICO on January 27th. The project is hosting an exclusive VIP launch party that will be held at The Agenda in Dubai Media City on January 24, 2025 to celebrate the TGE. Once the TGE is live, players who earn the $TICO token will not only be using it on Funtico, but also be able to monetize it by buying or selling through on listed CEXs and DEXs.
Ease of Interaction with Tap-to-Earn Innovations
If you closely followed the crypto market developments in 2024, you’ve probably heard of tap-to-earn. This is a Web3 gaming niche where most of the DApps have been built on the Telegram Open Network (TON). As such, gamers can simply engage by tapping on their phones through the Telegram mini app to earn rewards. It is as straightforward as it sounds – anyone can tap on their phone regardless of their level of Web3 knowledge.
While still a relatively nascent niche, the ease of interacting with this type of Web3 games has attracted over 500,000 registered users on Lucky Funatic, one of the popular tap-to-earn games on Telegram. The overall market has also grown to almost $1 billion as of press time with notable names such as Xhmaster, Notcoin and Catizen contributing to this performance.
Conclusion
The Web3 gaming ecosystem may still be a drop in the ocean compared to the valuation or adoption rates in existing Web2 games. However, that’s not an anomaly for any new technologies; going by the fundamentals and figures, it is only a matter of time before this space starts to challenge the status quo in gaming economies. The compelling value proposition highlighted in this article is the reason why we’re seeing more adoption in Web3 gaming compared to other crypto facets.
