The Top New NFT Games to Watch

TL;DR
NFT games make use of blockchain technology to include features such as allowing players to create, hold and trade in-game digital items, and to customize and retain possession of characters. Newer gaming projects are focused on gameplay, and NFTs are an additional feature. Some key titles and platforms include: Off the Grid, Illuvium, Overworld, Sugartown, L3E7, Project Zircon, and Proof of Play. Some early NFT collections, including Bored Ape Yacht Club, Deadfellaz, and Creepz, are also now connected with gaming development.

While trading volumes on NFTs as a whole are down, especially affecting PFP collections, we shouldn’t lose sight of the utility that NFT technology can bring, and particularly in the gaming world.

There are several upcoming and expanding NFT games that are looking strong, so let’s focus on some key titles to be aware of, and see which ones have the potential to outperform.

What Are NFT Games?

Before we dive in, let’s just clear up how NFTs are useful in gaming. It’s common for gaming worlds to feature in-game items to collect, and for players to customize and develop their game character as they progress.

As NFTs allow for personal ownership of digital items, this means players can, potentially, take full possession of in-game items and characters, create new items, trade those items in and out of the game, and perhaps even, if there is compatibility, transfer assets between games.

So actually, NFT games is just shorthand for games that contain NFTs, and in a solid Web3 game the NFTs shouldn’t distract from the gameplay.

Top New NFT Games and Platforms

Here are some of the top NFT gaming developments to look out for.

Off the Grid

Neill Blomkamp, the director of District 9 and Elysium, is working with Gunzilla Games on cyberpunk shooter Off the Grid, described as a “next-gen Battle Royale”. The project’s staff also includes novelist and screenwriter Richard K Morgan, who wrote Altered Carbon, giving it all a strong creative lineup.

Off the Grid will launch its own Avalanche subnet, where there will be a marketplace connected to the game, but the project stresses that it can be played as a regular AAA game (it’s launching on PC, XBox and PlayStation), and that the Web3/NFT elements are optional.

Illuvium

Over on Immutable X (a gaming-specialized Ethereum L2 blockchain), you can find Illuvium, a studio which is producing, in its own words, an Interoperable Blockchain Game universe. This means that there are currently three games in production–Overworld, Zero, and Arena–along with Illuvium Beyond, where users compete for NFT collectibles, and Illuvidex, which is a working marketplace.

Along with NFTs and an ecosystem token, ILV, there is the Illuvium DAO, meaning that Illuvium remains closer to the crypto world in its approach than some of the other projects mentioned here.

Overworld

Co-founded by gaming industry veteran Jeremy Horn, Overworld (not to be confused with Illuvium Overworld, above) is a slick-looking RPG that is set to mint a PFP collection soon, and has plans also for digital land ownership, and mechanisms by which users can mint their own in-game items, make such items available to other players, and then earn royalties.

Horn is also the co-founder of Web3 gaming company Xterio Games, which recently led a seed round (with, among others, Animoca Games) to back a gaming studio called GamePhilos, which is developing an NFT-integrating strategy game called Age of Dino.

Sugartown

As Web3 gaming platform Sugartown is the product of games developer Zynga, and Zynga created the world famous social media game Farmville, this one has huge potential, with an enormous existing user base to draw on.

Sugartown released its first NFTs this month, called Oras, they sold out despite the tough NFT market conditions, and have attracted plenty of trade on secondary, where the floor price is now above 0.2 ETH. Oras staking has been activated, allowing holders to earn Energy, which will have utility within the platform.

L3E7

Marketing itself as the world’s first 3D Location Based Service game, L3E7 promises a gaming experience that takes place IRL (perhaps with similarities to Pokemon Go, meaning players actually walk around outside), using AR-style technology, and making use of NFTs.

It appears that L3E7 will release Genesis Pass NFTs (which will be free, but limited to 600), a PFP collection, and virtual real estate NFTs, and will also have an in-game token, although this is all still in development.

The project’s team has experience that, collectively, includes AAA titles such as Monster Hunter and Devil May Cry, and a Premint application for Genesis Pass NFTs is currently open.

Project Zircon

Konami is a huge gaming name, responsible for many iconic classics throughout the years, and is now entering into Web3 gaming with a development called Project Zircon. This one is aimed at Japanese domestic audiences, and its materials are only available in Japanese, so it will be interesting to see how it is received by gamers in Japan.

Proof of Play

Like Sugartown, Proof of Play has a connection with Farmville, as it was established by Farmville co-creator Amitt Mahajan. Proof of Play is a Web3 gaming studio, and it attracted attention this month with news of a $33 million funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz and Greenoaks Capital, and also including Naval Ravikant and Balaji Srinivasan.

Proof of Play believes in creating on-chain games (meaning they’re kept permanently on the blockchain), and is currently developing Pirate Nation, an RPG that makes use of the Arbitrum Nova L2 chain, and which is already playable in an early access mode, with various NFTs available on secondary.

OG PFP-Connected Games

While all of the above are dedicated gaming projects, if you’re looking for games being developed from early PFP collections, then the biggest product is Legends of the Mara, from Bored Ape Yacht Club creators Yuga Labs.

DFZ Labs, which was founded by the creators of Deadfellaz, is working on a trading card game with the working title RIP TCG, and it’s also worth keeping up with Overlord, the ecosystem connected with the Creepz NFT collection.