April 2024 Blockchain Game Research Report: Active User Numbers Reach New Highs Amid Market Slump
In April 2024, the blockchain gaming industry is relatively sluggish, with the market value of game tokens declining, but the daily active user count has reached a new high, surpassing 3 million.Author: stella@footprint.network
Data Source: GameFi Research Page
In April 2024, the Web3 gaming sector experienced significant volatility after a record performance in March. Bitcoin retraced from its historical high, with a monthly decline of 10.4%. Meanwhile, the market capitalization of blockchain gaming tokens also fell by 30.5%. However, against this backdrop, the number of daily active users (wallets) surged to a historic high of 3 million, highlighting the continued growth in user engagement despite market challenges.
The data for this report comes from Footprint Analytics' Web3 Gaming Research Page. This user-friendly dashboard contains the most important statistics and metrics for the Web3 gaming industry and is updated in real-time.
Macroeconomic Market Review
In April 2024, Bitcoin saw a decline after reaching a historic high of $73,068 in March. Starting from $71,229 on April 1, it dropped to $63,839 by April 30, marking a decrease of 10.4%. Ethereum experienced a similar situation, opening at $3,643 at the beginning of the month and closing at $3,215 by the end, with a decline of 11.7%.
Data Source: Bitcoin and Ethereum Prices
Overall, April saw several positive events in the industry. On April 20, Bitcoin successfully completed its halving. A proposal for stablecoin regulation was introduced by U.S. senators, indicating a potentially clearer regulatory environment. Additionally, this month saw the sentencing of former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao to four months in prison for anti-money laundering violations, marking the conclusion of the "Binance incident" and signaling a clearer regulatory approach for centralized exchanges.
Despite several months of growth, Bitcoin's price fell in April. Ethereum continued to lag behind Bitcoin, possibly due to investor uncertainty regarding the approval prospects of Ethereum ETFs in the U.S. market.
This reflects a general sense of market pessimism. Public statements from officials of the U.S. Federal Reserve indicate that the likelihood of interest rate cuts is diminishing, aligning with rising economic indicators such as employment and the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Furthermore, Uniswap Labs and Consensys received Wells Notices from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), indicating that decentralized finance projects are facing regulatory challenges.
Blockchain Gaming Market Overview
In April, the market capitalization of blockchain gaming tokens fell to $16.6 billion, a decrease of 30.5%. This trend was largely influenced by the overall performance of the cryptocurrency market and Bitcoin's performance.
Data Source: Blockchain Gaming and Bitcoin Market Capitalization
The average daily transaction volume for blockchain games reached 8.6 million, down 16.7% from March and significantly lower than the peak of about 25 million transactions in the third quarter of 2022.
Data Source: Daily Transactions in Blockchain Games
However, the average daily active users (wallets/players) in April reached 3 million, an increase of 16.9% from March, setting a new historical high.
Data Source: Daily Active Users in Blockchain Games
Blockchain Gaming Public Chains
In April, the number of active games across various blockchains reached 1,572, with BNB Chain, Polygon, and Wax leading with market shares of 25.8%, 19.5%, and 15.6%, respectively.
Data Source: Daily Active Users in Blockchain Games by Public Chain
(Note: Some games are deployed on multiple chains, so the total number of games is calculated multiple times based on the chains.)
Among the 3 million daily active users, Ronin, Polygon, and Near ranked at the top. Ronin continued to lead, with its market share increasing from 25.9% at the beginning of the month to 29.2% by the end. Near also saw significant growth, rising from 6.4% to 11.3%, while Klaytn increased its market share from 2.9% to 6.2%.
Conversely, the share of BNB Chain fell from 9.1% to 7.4%. Additionally, due to the conclusion of its Web3 gaming activity "Linea Park" in April, Linea's share plummeted from 7.8% to 0.15%.
Data Source: Daily Active Users in Blockchain Games by Public Chain
Following the initiatives launched by Arbitrum and Starknet last month to support the Web3 gaming ecosystem, more blockchain platforms have joined this effort. Immutable announced a $50 million Web3 gaming incentive program and revealed that its ecosystem is currently working on over 270 games, including notable projects like Illuvium and MetalCore.
Blockchain Gaming Projects
In April, the total number of games reached 3,118, with 1,319 of them being active. Among these active games, 261 attracted over 1,000 monthly users, accounting for 8.4%.
Data Source: Monthly Active Blockchain Games
This data has been consistent for some time. There is a general expectation that the number of popular Web3 games will continue to increase. However, for game studios, developing high-quality games is a time-consuming process. Additionally, they face a significant challenge in bridging the gap between partially on-chain and fully on-chain games. Creating an ideal fully on-chain game requires a seamless integration of on-chain elements with the rich user experience found in traditional games.
Despite the challenges, some games performed exceptionally well in April.
On their respective platforms, several popular games experienced significant user growth: Pixels attracted 1.1 million new users on Ronin, Matr1x Fire attracted 598,000 new users on Polygon, and Lifeform attracted 113,000 new users on the BNB Chain.
Additionally, Another World on Klaytn became one of the hottest games. In April, its average daily active user count reached 131,000, increasing from 2,000 on April 1 to 173,000 by April 30, a significant rise from previously low daily user numbers below 50. This surge in popularity helped boost Klaytn's active user share from 2.9% to 6.2%.
Blockchain Gaming Investment and Financing Situation
In April, the blockchain gaming industry saw a total of 17 financing activities, with a total investment amount of $78.7 million, a decrease of 47.9% compared to March.
April 2024 Blockchain Gaming Investment and Financing Events (Source: crypto-fundraising.info)
Animoca Brands remained active in April, investing in five blockchain gaming projects, including Anichess, Puffverse, Gomble Games, Iskra, and Planet Mojo.
The blockchain gaming platform Gomble Games secured $10 million in funding from prominent cryptocurrency and gaming investors, including Spartan, Animoca Brands, Binance Labs, and IOSG Ventures.
NFT game Puffverse raised $3 million from investors including Animoca Brands, Spartan, and Sky Mavis. Notably, Puffverse announced plans to fully migrate its main products and assets to the Ronin chain in May.
Key Developments This Month
Hytopia is set to launch its Beta version after an $8 million node sale.
The NFT card game Parallel is about to launch on the Epic Games Store.
AltLayer has partnered with Xterio Games to launch a game-centric Restaked Rollup.
Sui gaming handheld aims to compete with Steam Deck, running PC and crypto games.
Axie Infinity brings new updates to its ecosystem, including Experience Points and Part Evolution.
Square Enix, the creator of Final Fantasy, collaborates with Animoca to develop an Ethereum NFT game.
The content of this article is for industry research and communication purposes only and does not constitute any investment advice. The market carries risks, and investment should be approached with caution.
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