It’s often said that during a crypto bear market, the people who keep on building will come out on top, on the other side. This is perhaps especially true with NFTs, which are full of future potential and in such an early phase that they can branch off in many different directions.
One area where NFTs can have tremendous utility, and which is likely to see a lot of building taking place, whichever phase of the market cycle we’re in, is NFT/blockchain gaming.
Venture Capital Firms
A good way of keeping on top of which gaming projects might be good prospects is to track where money from big investors is flowing. When it comes to web3, NFTs and blockchain gaming, two big players to especially keep tabs on are Animoca Brands and Andreesen Horowitz.
Animoca Brands
The Animoca Brands company is arguably the most committed and influential supporter of blockchain gaming. In fact, Animoca’s vision goes beyond just that, as it aims to facilitate the creation of an interlinked, open metaverse, in which digital asset ownership through NFTs is core to the infrastructure.
Animoca’s investment portfolio is huge, taking in some of the biggest web3 and NFT names, including OpenSea, The Sandbox, Decentraland and Magic Eden, and when it comes to gaming, you can find the likes of Axie Infinity, Dapper Labs and Aurory.
A good way to keep up to date with Animoca’s latest activities and how it’s investing is to visit its profile on the company data platform Crunchbase, and click on the Signals and News tab.
Must Read: The Sandbox vs Decentraland – Everything you need to know about the developing metaverse!
Andreesen Horowitz
Another highly influential web3 investment group is the venture capital firm Andreesen Horowitz, also known as a16z. With a broader focus than Animoca, the a16z crypto portfolio takes in major players such as Compound, Uniswap and Solana itself.
In major news for blockchain gaming, a16z last week announced the creation of Games Fund One, a $600 million gaming investment fund that recognizes games today as “online services that more closely resemble social networks and scale like consumer technology companies”, and states that “games infrastructure and technologies will be key building blocks of the Metaverse”.
Again, for indicators on projects with potential, it’s worth checking on Crunchbase for the latest news and updates regarding a16z’s funding activities.
Magic Eden & YGG
Solana NFTs are experiencing increased interest recently, with the Okay Bears collection doing high volume on OpenSea, and speculative talk of a Solana Summer for JPEGs (remember that in NFTs, an occurrence can be memed into reality if enough people say it will happen).
The leading Solana NFT marketplace, Magic Eden, has its own project launchpad, and also its specialist Eden Games section.
This month, it was announced that Magic Eden would be partnering with Yield Guild Games (YGG), in order to “bring YGG partner games to Magic Eden and, in turn, Magic Eden games and users to YGG”.
Both Magic Eden and YGG are major players in their respective areas, and if Solana NFTs continue on their current trajectory–gaining ground on the Ethereum NFT space–then this could become an even more positive tie-up.
Blockchain Gaming Studios
There are a growing number of gaming studios and development platforms specializing in web3 and blockchain-based projects. Here are some that look like they have the capacity to deliver.
<h3 id=”metatheory”>Metatheory
Describing itself as “an interactive technology and entertainment company building games and content experiences for web3”, Metatheory was established by Twitch co-founder Kevin Lin.
The company just raised $24 million, with funding coming from, among others, a16z, Pantera Capital, and FTX ventures. Metatheory’s flagship project is Duskbreakers, which continues to develop, and incorporates a 10,000 piece NFT collection.
Vulcan Forged
An entire, self-contained blockchain gaming ecosystem, Vulcan Forged offers play-to-earn games, two native tokens ($PYR and $LAVA), a marketplace on which in-game NFTs can be traded, and a DEX for swapping tokens.
Opportunities to profit through gameplay, staking, farming, and trading have the potential to grow significantly if the user base expands, and Vulcan Forged looks capable of gaining further traction.
Vulcan Forged also recently announced the foundation of its own gaming launchpad, with grants available for third party developers to join the ecosystem.
Fear
Targeting a specific niche is a strong play, and Fear is honed in on horror-themed web3 gaming. The company combines conventional development experience, crypto/P2E innovation, and a popular genre, which could be a potent formula.
The platform’s current flagship production is Fear Wolf, and the ecosystem’s native token is called $FEAR.
Some other studios and platforms to take a look at are Sky Mavis (who created Axie Infinity), Chain Games, Mythical Games, Gala Games, and Faraway.
To keep up-to-date with the entire blockchain gaming environment, a good place to check in with is the Blockchain Game Alliance, which is dedicated to moving the industry forward, building community, and publicly communicating the latest developments.
Move-to-Earn
While the metaverse is an intriguing concept, the image of sitting alone indoors strapped to a VR headset can come across as a little unhealthy. An idea that brings physical fitness to crypto and web3 is something called Move-to-Earn (M2E).
The basic M2E premise is to build applications on which, through exercising and being physically active, you can earn tokens which will have real-world, tradable value.
The top three M2E games by market cap are STEPN (on Solana), Step App (on Avalanche), and Genopets (also on Solana, and incorporating a fantasy/RPG theme). All of these utilize NFTs, and are early movers in a field that has the potential to grow.
Also of note is Dustland, by the OliveX digital health and fitness company, which is a subsidiary of Animoca Brands. OliveX’s stated goal is to build “the fitness metaverse”, and the affiliation with Animoca indicates that it may be one to watch.
