Web3 Growth Hacking Series: How to Gain Deep Insights into GameFi Players?

Written by: SunnyZ

TL;DR

1. Understanding the behavioral preferences of Web3 players is crucial for optimizing game project operations and adjusting game and revenue mechanism designs. Compared to regular users, Web3 players have approximately 4 times the purchasing power, 1.2 times the social influence, and an average total gaming duration about 4 times longer;
2. Many Web3 games are trying to extend user interaction time and game lifecycle through Tokenomics, but from a data perspective, focusing on playability is more likely to solve this issue;
3. The first step towards massive adoption of GameFi may be the discovery and exploration of target users. Only by clarifying who your target users are and understanding who your profit-making objects are can you discuss breaking the circle.

Background

Following the previous growth experiment, I began a growth experiment targeting the GameFi niche over the past month.

Why choose GameFi as the target track?

First, GameFi is considered the field most capable of achieving massive user adoption. Identifying overlapping users between Web3 native users and Web2 gamers, namely Web3 players, is an important entry point.

Second, there are relatively many active users in GameFi, and many projects continue to operate even in a bear market. On-chain data shows that the number of active addresses in the past 24 hours is about 200,000, and there are currently over 900 active GameFi projects.

Although the overall scale of GameFi is still relatively small compared to the entire cryptocurrency market, with the global GameFi market size being about $6 billion as of the first half of 2023, the gameplay and revenue mechanisms of the GameFi market are attracting more and more players.

Understanding the behavioral preferences of Web3 players is crucial for optimizing game project operations and adjusting game and revenue mechanism designs.

Niche Track Samples

The entire GameFi niche is quite diverse, mainly consisting of 8 parts: user-side aggregators, games, multi-platform/publishers, liquidity providers/financial tools, blockchain solution providers, game engines, developers/studios, and chains.

To further understand the true user profile of Web3 players, the sampled projects selected for this activity all belong to the gaming field. Here, I refer to IOSG's classification of Web3 games (based on Steam's classification and the highest-grossing mobile game types). Web3 games are mainly divided into 5 major categories:

1. RPG (Role-Playing Game): Players assume roles in the game and enhance their abilities by completing tasks and leveling up, including MMORPGs, Team Battle, etc. The participating projects in this activity, BigTime, ArcLoot, and Seraph, belong to this category.
2. Strategy: Players need to devise strategies, manage resources, develop economies, and build armies in the game, including card games, board games & auto-battles, real-time strategy, and tower defense. The participating project BLOCKLORDS belongs to this category.
3. Simulation: Simulating various real-life scenarios, such as running a shop, driving vehicles, farming, space exploration, life & leisure & casinos, etc. The participating projects Infiblue, TownStoryGalaxy, PlantCrossing, and TodayTheGame belong to this category.
4. Action: Characterized by fast-paced action, players need to jump, attack, and dodge in the game, including shooting, fighting, and other action games. The participating project CEBG belongs to this category.
5. Sports: Simulating various sports, such as soccer, basketball, tennis, etc. The participating project TopGoal belongs to this category.

Based on the above classification, the 10 game projects on the right side of the image were selected as key analysis objects.

GameFi Activity Data Mining

In addition to conventional activity metrics, purchasing power metrics, and influence metrics, this GameFi activity introduced new data from Steam regarding player behavioral preferences, specifically as follows:

Steam Data Metrics

• Time spent by players on various types of games on Steam
• Preferred game types, themes, styles, etc.

There are 5 styles of games, 22 themes, and 30 types.

Detailed breakdown of Steam game types, themes, and styles

Explanation of Various Metrics

3-General Game Category

• Casual Games: Typically refer to games that are simple to play, easy to pick up, and have low difficulty, suitable for casual players. These games usually do not require much gaming experience or skill, and the gaming time is relatively short.
• Mid-core Games: Typically refer to games with moderate difficulty and relatively complex gameplay, requiring some gaming experience and skill, suitable for intermediate players. These games usually require a certain amount of time and effort to play well.
• Hard-core Games: Typically refer to games with very high difficulty and very complex gameplay, requiring very high gaming skills and experience, suitable for professional players. These games usually require a lot of time and effort to master, and the gaming time is relatively long.

5-Play Style

• Singleplayer: Players prefer to play games alone, without playing with others.
• Multiplayer: Players enjoy playing games with other players, which can be cooperative or competitive.
• PVP (Player vs Player): Players enjoy competing against other players to showcase their skills.
• PVE (Player vs Environment): Players enjoy competing against the game environment, such as battling monsters in the game.
• Co-op: Players enjoy collaborating with other players to complete game tasks, such as teaming up to accomplish a mission.

22-Game Theme

• Fantasy: Games that include elements of magic, magical creatures, epic heroes, legendary stories, etc.
• Sci-Fi: Games that include elements of robots, aliens, future technology, space exploration, etc.
• Horror: Games that include elements of horror stories, ghosts, zombies, vampires, monsters, etc.
• Futuristic: Games that include elements of future technology, cities, transportation, weapons, etc.
• Realistic: Games that include elements of real-world sports, warfare, simulators, etc.
• Dark: Games that include elements of darkness, distortion, unease, depression, etc.
• Mystery: Games that include elements of exploration, puzzles, strange occurrences, etc.
• Cyberpunk: Games that include elements of dark future cities, technology, crime, rebellion, etc.
• Medieval: Games that include elements of knights, castles, warfare, kingdoms, etc.
• Magic: Games that include elements of magic, wizards, spells, magical creatures, etc.
• Space: Games that include elements of space exploration, aliens, planets, interstellar warfare, etc.
• Dark Fantasy: Fantasy games that include elements of darkness, distortion, unease, depression, etc.
• War: Games that include elements of modern or historical warfare, combat, strategy, etc.
• Historical: Games that include elements of historical figures, events, warfare, etc.
• Steampunk: Games that include elements of steam engines, machinery, and the steam age.
• Aliens: Games that include elements of aliens, alien technology, alien civilizations, etc.
• Robots: Games that include elements of robots, robotic technology, future robots, etc.
• Thriller: Games that include elements of tension, excitement, fear, etc.
• Mythology: Games that include elements of ancient myths, legends, deities, heroes, etc.
• Science: Games that include elements of scientific experiments, discoveries, technology, etc.
• Noir: Games that include elements of film noir, detectives, crime, conspiracy, etc.
• Dystopian: Games that include elements of dark futures, harsh societies, political conspiracies, etc.

30-Game Genre

• Indie: Games made by small game studios or individuals, usually featuring innovative gameplay and good gaming experiences.
• Action: Games characterized by fast-paced action, requiring players to jump, attack, and dodge.
• Adventure: Games characterized by exploration and puzzle-solving, where players need to solve various challenges and puzzles to complete tasks.
• RTS (Real-Time Strategy): Players need to build bases, recruit soldiers, and devise strategies to battle opponents in the game.
• Strategy: Players need to devise strategies, manage resources, develop economies, and build armies to complete various tasks.
• RPG: Players assume roles in the game and enhance their abilities by completing tasks and leveling up.
• Simulation: Simulating various real-life scenarios, such as running a shop, driving vehicles, flying planes, etc.
• Puzzle: Games primarily focused on solving various puzzles and challenges.
• Arcade: Games characterized by fast-paced, easy-to-understand operations and high difficulty.
• Shooter: Games primarily focused on shooting, divided into first-person shooters (FPS) and third-person shooters (TPS).
• Platformer: Players need to jump, climb, and dodge obstacles in the game to complete tasks.
• MMORPG: Players assume roles in the game and interact, communicate, and battle with other players.
• Sports: Games simulating various sports, such as soccer, basketball, tennis, etc.
• Fighting: Games primarily focused on combat, requiring players to master various fighting techniques and moves.
• FPS: Games focused on shooting from a first-person perspective.
• Racing: Games themed around racing, where players drive vehicles on tracks.
• Casual: Games characterized by simplicity and ease of understanding, suitable for casual entertainment.
• Survival: Players need to survive in the game, facing various difficulties and challenges.
• Battle Royale: Multiplayer online survival competition games where players need to survive and become the last victor.
• MOBA: Multiplayer online battle arena games where players form teams to battle opponents, attacking their defenses and destroying their bases.
• Hack and Slash: Games characterized by fast-paced action, where players attack, dodge, and evade in the game.
• Sandbox: Players can freely explore, build, and create in the game without clear objectives.
• Roguelike: Games characterized by turn-based gameplay, randomly generated maps and enemies, and permadeath, where players explore, battle, and collect items.
• Roguelite: Similar to Roguelike, but allows players to retain some progress and items.
• Trading Card Game: Games focused on battling using cards, where players collect, combine, and use various cards to compete.
• Auto Battler: Players select certain cards or characters and watch the game automatically battle.
• Card Game: Games focused on card games, such as poker, bridge, etc.
• Driving: Games focused on driving vehicles, such as racing cars, trucks, etc.
• Metroidvania: Games characterized by side-scrolling action and adventure, where players explore maps, collect items, and enhance abilities.
• Building: Games focused on building and managing cities, bases, etc., where players plan, construct, and manage buildings and resources.

Note: Related Interests --- All data in this article comes from Clique

Overview of Web3 Player Profiles

Generally speaking, the customer acquisition logic for GameFi usually has two paths: one is a traditional publishing and user acquisition approach + Web3 community promotion as a supplement. This route is commonly used by large game companies transitioning to GameFi, as the user acquisition channels are relatively fixed, and ROI is controllable. Spending a portion of the budget to promote in the Web3 market, a conversion of a few hundred real players is considered good;

The second is primarily through Alpha community promotion and Launchpad/task platform acquisition + traditional social media promotion as a supplement. This route is a more native approach, similar to the white paper release. This method casts a wide net but attracts low-quality users, with uncontrollable costs, making it difficult to achieve good results in a bear market.

For most GameFi projects, whether following path one or path two, the first step is to accurately identify Web3 players.

From the sampled data, the number of real players covered is about 2,000 (where the standard for real players is that both wallet balance and Steam gaming duration are greater than 0), with Web3 players accounting for about 20%. The average ETH holding per Web3 player is 16.5, with an average of 500 followers on social media, and an average gaming duration on Steam of 1,784 hours. Compared to regular users, Web3 players have approximately 4 times the purchasing power, 1.2 times the social influence, and an average total gaming duration about 4 times longer.

The next step is to convert these Web3 players into the game.

Gaming Behavioral Preferences

Overall, Web3 players participating in this activity spend an average of over 2,000 hours on their preferred game types, showing a preference for multiplayer, action-oriented hardcore games.

• More than half of Web3 players prefer hardcore games, which are typically high in difficulty and complexity, requiring a significant amount of time and effort to master, resulting in an average total gaming duration of 3,303 hours;
• In terms of game style, players clearly prefer multiplayer games, whether cooperative or competitive, as multiplayer games tend to attract players to spend more time engaging, with an average total gaming duration of 2,028 hours;
• Action and strategy games are quite popular among players, with a combined 70% of players enjoying them, each averaging over 1,700 hours of total gaming duration.

The above data indicates that high playability is essential to attract genuine gamers. Current Web3 games can be understood as Fi+Game rather than Game+Fi, as they clearly lack sufficient gameplay, and players lack motivation for long-term interaction.

Many Web3 games are trying to extend user interaction time and game lifecycle through Tokenomics, but from a data perspective, focusing on playability is more likely to solve this issue.

Game Type Preferences

Web3 players have very clear preferences for game types, favoring fast-paced, high-skill games. While they may try various game types, they tend to spend more time on specific types.

• Action, Strategy, RPG, and Shooter are the most popular game types, with players generally spending 10-15% of their total gaming duration on these types;
• Although there are as many as 30 game types, over 45% of players have tried more than 67% of them. From the percentage of time allocation, players do not spend excessive time on non-preferred game types, indicating a "played, but not fully engaged" approach.

Traditional players are accustomed to high-complexity games, such as the well-known PUBG, Elden Ring, RDR2, etc. When designing gameplay, projects can refer to the types of games preferred by users to identify which types are popular among players and suitable for integrating Web3 elements and gameplay. The core logic is that the game itself should have a demand for asset trading, while also ideally stimulating community engagement to transfer some operational difficulties, allowing for a more natural operation. Here, I reference GallonLabs' viewpoint:

• MMORPG: Large-scale online games like Dream of Red Mansions, which already have demands for account trading, item trading, and guild battles, are suitable for Web3 gameplay with NFT asset trading;
• SLG (Strategy Games): A major category in traditional gaming, also has demands for material trading and guild battles, with low operational costs, allowing for long-term operation with a small user base, especially popular among European and American players;
• Simulation: Corresponding to Web2, various simulators, nurturing and upgrading, with simple gameplay and fewer operations, also have demands for item and asset trading. Adding some social gameplay can stimulate Web3 community engagement.

Some games are not suitable for "Web3 transformation" at this stage, such as MOBA games, which have high development costs, operational difficulties, and long lifecycles, making them completely uncompetitive in the current GameFi niche.

Game Theme Preferences

• Compared to game types, Web3 players do not have a clear preference for game themes, with time allocation differences across different themes being minimal, generally around 13% of total gaming duration;
• Game types and themes complement each other. Fantasy, Sci-Fi, War, Horror, and Realistic are the most common game themes, often with Action and Strategy games based on these themes. Elements like war, monsters, and magic can easily create a tense and exciting atmosphere. Games of the same theme usually have similar storylines, scene settings, and character designs, leading to homogenization;
• Players may try different game types, but they do not frequently switch between storylines or background settings, indicating that the influence of themes is not significant. What truly attracts players are gameplay and task mechanisms.

Classification of Web3 Players

In traditional gaming player classification models, players are categorized into killer, achiever, socializer, and explorer based on their interaction objects (Player/World) and interaction methods (Acting/Interacting). This classification is equally applicable to Web3 players.

• Players represent personal experiences, achievements, growth, etc., encompassing all attributes of the player.
• World represents the NPCs, scenes, plots, and all fictional layers of the game world.
• Acting represents player actions, including task completion and combat actions, where players actively operate characters with purpose.
• Interacting represents interactions between players, indicating social aspects.

Due to data type limitations, the player classification for this activity is primarily based on preferred game types, styles, durations, etc. Approximately 67% of players are socializers, 16% are killers, 11% are achievers, and 6% are explorers.

1. Social Players [67%]

1) Basic Information: Prefer Multiplayer and Co-op games, favoring Action, MMORPG, MOBA, and Strategy games; 2) Player Profile: Social players are interested in interacting with other players and meeting different players. They are usually accustomed to guild battle modes and are familiar with who to approach for off-market transactions. They enjoy participating in groups and have a high overlap with content creators; 3) Strategy Reference: Game mechanics can incorporate more social elements, and operational strategies can assign community administrator roles to these players to encourage other players to participate in the game. They can also connect with core players or major stakeholders.

2. Killer Players [16%]

1) Basic Information: Prefer Multiplayer and PVP games, favoring Action, Shooter, Battle Royale, and Arcade games; 2) Player Profile: Killer players are passionate about victory, with competitiveness being their primary requirement for games. They learn various skills for victory or leaderboard rankings. Unlike achievers, they only care about winning and not the means, often spending money or grinding a game, and may even use bugs or cheats; 3) Strategy Reference: Game mechanics can optimize player leaderboards or increase competitiveness in battles, moderately stimulating players' competitive spirit. Operational strategies can guide these users to spend money on upgrading items to satisfy their desire to win.

3. Achiever Players [11%]

1) Basic Information: Prefer Singleplayer and PVE games, favoring Action, Adventure, Simulation, Survival, and Puzzle games; 2) Player Profile: Achiever players actively complete game tasks and objectives, with passing levels being a basic requirement. Some set their own goals for level completion and are highly sensitive to completion incentives, feeling very happy when obtaining rare rewards; 3) Strategy Reference: Game mechanics can balance the complexity of tasks and the rarity of rewards. When players start to feel fatigued, providing more special rewards can maximize their motivation.

4. Explorer Players [6%]

1) Basic Information: Prefer Singleplayer and PVE games, favoring Action, Sandbox, Adventure, and Indie games; 2) Player Profile: Explorer players have a strong interest in the game world itself, especially in extreme surprises, hidden plots, and strange bugs. Their gaming purpose is to understand the entire game mechanism, becoming scholars of the game world, and they enjoy answering questions for newcomers and sharing their discoveries; 3) Strategy Reference: Game mechanics can include more Easter eggs and hidden plots. Operational strategies can establish game feedback groups to involve them deeply in gameplay design, encouraging them to produce content, and they can also be given roles as game evangelists to answer questions for newcomers.

Project Analysis

Since most games on the Steam platform are client-based, the data reference for mobile projects is limited. However, we can still clearly see from the current data that users attracted by different acquisition methods vary greatly. Two typical cases are CounterFire (Ex CEBG) and BLOCKLORDS.

CounterFire (Ex CEBG)

• New and Old Users: The number of participants in the activity is relatively high, with almost all being new players, accounting for 97%, indicating that this growth activity has been effective in attracting new users for CEBG;
• Player Profile: Users generally have low wallet balances, mostly below 1 ETH; the average time spent on Steam is about 800 hours, with 11 players exceeding 1,000 hours, and the highest player has around 3,000 hours; 17 users have over 1,000 followers, and 2 have over 10,000, with the highest having 22k followers;
• It appears that the purchasing power of this segment of CEBG players is average, but they are genuine gamers, and their social influence is relatively strong. If their assets are light, community stickiness and activity should be good.

BLOCKLORDS

• New and Old Users: The proportion of new players joining through the activity is 36%, with Web3 players accounting for 60% of the overall user base, indicating that BLOCKLORDS has acquired relatively precise users;
• Player Profile: Users are clearly heavy gamers + Crypto OGs, with 13 users having wallet balances exceeding 100 ETH, 2 exceeding 1,500 ETH, and the highest holding over 2,300 ETH, making them potential high-spending players; the average time spent on Steam is 2,400 hours, with 23 players exceeding 3,000 hours and 16 exceeding 5,000 hours. The most dedicated player, from Russia, has nearly 9,000 hours;
• As a strategy game requiring significant time investment and skill, BLOCKLORDS matches well with player types. Players enjoy multiplayer, action-oriented hardcore games, and once these players are converted into the game, the operational side does not need to spend excessive time on user education, as they are already familiar with item trading and guild battle modes, facilitating community-driven initiatives.

At this point, don't rush to scroll down; first, observe the data below and guess which acquisition path corresponds to CounterFire (Ex CEBG) and BLOCKLORDS, respectively?

Note: The data from a single event may have some deviations; please refer to actual operational data for accuracy.

CounterFire (Ex CEBG) follows the first path: primarily traditional publishing and user acquisition + supplemented by Web3 community promotion; BLOCKLORDS follows the second path: primarily Alpha community promotion and Launchpad/task platform acquisition + supplemented by traditional social media promotion.

From a data perspective, I initially believed that CEBG chose a Web3 native growth approach, as the user profile is similar to many task platforms, with low purchasing power but high activity. After interviews, it turned out otherwise; CEBG's user acquisition through channels like Facebook converts Web2 users at twice the rate of Web3 users, which is why this segment of players does not have much on-chain assets.

Counterintuitively, if we do not reference player data from traditional platforms like Steam or Epic Games, we often classify users with low wallet balances as "wool party" members, overlooking the conversion potential of these players. This can lead to an empirical bias, but fortunately, multidimensional information helps us avoid pitfalls; data never lies.

Interestingly, in terms of growth strategy choices, BLOCKLORDS and CEBG, both originating from large game companies, have chosen vastly different approaches.

BLOCKLORDS primarily acquires users through Web3 channels. In previous NFT sales on IMX and Polygon, as well as community beta testing, they deliberately set Web3 thresholds and generally do not engage in activities aimed at attracting Web3 speculative users. Their user acquisition mainly revolves around product and core asset content, making it easier to accumulate OG members over an extended period.

The Path to Breaking the Circle in GameFi

This activity has given me some shallow thoughts on user acquisition and breaking the circle in GameFi. Let’s talk about something abstract; I recently saw a meme that was quite interesting:

Although it’s a bit sarcastic, it’s true. Most GameFi projects are Ponzi schemes dressed as games, with very few genuine players.

Once upon a time, GameFi was highly anticipated in the context of massive user adoption, with the prosperity of Axie and Stepn bringing infinite imagination to the industry.

However, it seems that the product-level gaming experience is poor, the economic mechanisms lack stability and sustainability, and the ecosystem is relatively fragile. The lack of genuine players limits the long-term development of GameFi, and it is uncertain when the GameFi Summer will arrive.

If we want to break the circle, we must make some changes.

In addition to optimizing products and economic mechanisms, understanding Web3 players and attracting Web2 players to join is a necessary challenge.

Among the game projects I encountered in this activity, to be honest, there are not many that understand growth strategies and know how to gain insights into Web3 players. Many are still relatively blind, unaware of user profiles, behavioral preferences, where to promote game communities, and even unclear about the types of players in their own communities.

The first step in project development is to clarify who the target users are and whose money you are earning. This determines whether to convert users from Web2 or explore users in Web3, and it also dictates what elements should be emphasized in game economic mechanisms and gameplay design. The development cost of a good game is very high, but with sufficient playability, the game's lifecycle will be passively extended, leading to an increase in experiential players and allowing for some operational costs to be transferred to the community, supporting the product's self-sustainability. This can also help balance the high development costs, operational difficulties, and lifecycle, which is an impossible triangle.

Fortunately, I have observed a very positive phenomenon: many game projects that are actively building during this bear market are focusing on playability, no longer solely relying on financial products. After all, games are ultimately consumer products that require real consumers (players).

Whether digging deep into a small portion of core users from Web3 or converting game players from the more trafficked Web2, there is no standard answer. A good cat is one that catches mice, regardless of the method; all approaches are explorations that require pioneers to pave the way for others.

After all, from a certain perspective, GameFi seems to be the only hope for breaking the circle in Web3 for the entire village.