TL;DR
The Web3 gaming niche remains very active, with a wide variety of games being built across many different blockchains, and growing potential to cross over with mainstream gaming. Among the many platforms working in this sector, some notable competitors include Xterio, Moonveil, Game7, Mythical Games, Proof of Play, and Horizon. Additionally, there are traditional gaming companies developing Web3 games, including major names such as Konami, Bandai Namco, Square Enix, and Ubisoft.
In 2023 and earlier this year, Web3 gaming was one of the main crypto narratives grabbing attention. However, focus shifts quickly and more recently, gaming has been a little out of the spotlight, with all eyes on meme coins and crypto ETFs.
That doesn’t mean there’s been any let up in activity though, and it’s when attention is elsewhere that it can be a good time to check in with what’s being built. As it’s difficult to keep up with all the individual games being developed, an efficient way to keep up to date is by keeping tabs on gaming studios and platforms, so let’s run through some of the top Web3 gaming companies, why they show potential, and what they have coming in the pipeline.
Xterio
Backed by Binance Labs and among the top Web3 gaming studios, Xterio was co-founded by Jeremy Horn, formerly of Ubisoft and Gameloft, in 2022.
Major developments on Xterio include titles such as Overworld, Age of Dino, Palio, and new game CityVerse Tycoon, which is picking up traction. Xterio has launched its own Layer-2 gaming-specialized chain using the OP Stack and finalizing on BNB Chain, and is building its own ecosystem that will utilize a token called XTER, although the priority is simply to produce high quality games.
Moonveil
With a mobile game called AstrArk in the works, Moonveil is a new Layer-2 chain dedicated to gaming development. It utilizes a token called MORE, is built on Polygon, has raised $5.4 million in a seed round, and is currently running an airdrop campaign, which is helping to generate interest. Moonveil also recently released a collection of NFTs called Tetra, which provide airdrop advantages to holders.
Game7
If you want to be part of a central gaming hub where you can play, earn, and receive news and data, then you should take a look at Game7. This platform has created a gaming portal called Dungeons and Degens which incorporates with a range of top gaming titles–including Pirate Nation, Shrapnel, and Star Atlas–and allows members to mint an avatar, complete gaming quests and compete on a leaderboard, and earn a share of DEGEN token as they go along.
Game 7 takes a pragmatic approach to Web3 gaming, focusing on promoting playable, high quality projects while balancing the financial dynamics unique to crypto-related games, and it also engages in detailed market analysis, as in the substantial report it released at the end of last year on the state of Web3 gaming.
Mythical Games
The studio behind big hits NFL Rivals and Blankos Block Party, Mythical Games launched in 2018 and is establishing its own Polkadot-based gaming chain, called Mythos Chain. The mobile-based NFL Rivals launched last year, has its own marketplace where player’s can trade in-game NFTs, and this month–around a year after its initial release–reached $5 million in trading volume, while the game has more than four million downloads.
With NFL Rivals on an uptrend, Blankos Block Party–which was originally a PC release–is currently transitioning to a mobile version, and overall, Mythical Games looks like it’s finding ways to align accessibility and the integration of crypto features.
Proof of Play
The outfit behind Pirate Nation (which is on the above-mentioned Game7 portal), Proof of Play is a US-based developer whose CEO, Amitt Mahajan, has emphasized the importance of UGC (user-generated content) in gaming as a way of growing a community, who then in turn add more UGC, which then brings in new members, and so on.
That focus on growing the user base is critical, and Pirate Nation, while it’s a blockchain game and Mahajan is in favor of fully on-chain titles, is accessible as a free-to-play product allowing new users to join (through minting a free pirate NFT) without having to negotiate any prohibitive upfront costs.
What’s more, Proof of Play this year launched its Multichain infrastructure, which is built on Arbitrum and enables an interlinked network of game-specific custom blockchains, the first of which is called Apex and is home to Pirate Nation.
Horizon
Based in Canada, Horizon is the firm behind a card-trading game called Skyweaver, but what really sets the company apart is the Web3 games development resource it’s created. This is called Sequence, and it’s been utilized by leading names including gaming giant Ubisoft, and OG NFT project Cool Cats.
And in recent news, Sequence teamed up with Japanese blockchain platform Astar Network–which beyond Japan also has a strong focus on the Korean market–to launch a Web3 developer platform called Astar Studio.
Overall, Web3 gaming is such an actively expansive ecosystem that the above list only scratches the surface, and some other participants (among many more) to take a look at include BoomLand, Faraway, Argus Labs, and the Japanese blockchain Oasys, along with activity on Beam, Tabi Chain and Xai, and not forgetting well-established names such as Immutable and The Sandbox.
Traditional Gaming Firms on Board
We’ve focused on crypto-native platforms, but there are also several big-name traditional gaming companies showing an interest in Web3 gaming, and a few that have crypto-integrated titles in production.
Firms currently working on Web3 games include Konami, Bandai Namco, Square Enix, and Ubisoft, all of which have significant influence, and it might only take one strong release from a major studio to start putting Web3 gaming more firmly on the map.
