Web3 Games 2024 Review: Continuous Innovation but Still Need Breakthroughs

In 2024, the Web3 gaming industry presents a complex situation, making significant progress while also facing numerous challenges. Although daily active users have surged over 300%, traditional gaming companies have also begun to make specific layouts in this field. However, in terms of market performance, the market capitalization of this sector has only grown by 60.5%, significantly lagging behind other crypto sectors. As Bitcoin hits new highs and various crypto sectors thrive, a key question arises: "Has Web3 gaming missed the best development opportunity in this bull market?"

However, behind the surface data, 2024 marks an important transformation period for the industry. The industry has moved from a purely speculative phase to maturity. This report will analyze how Web3 games will evolve in the market cycle of 2024, exploring key metrics, technological advancements, and strategic shifts in the sector. From infrastructure development to user engagement models, we will explore how the industry builds sustainable growth while addressing the challenges of mainstream adoption.

Note: Unless otherwise specified, all data in this report is as of December 15, 2024.

Annual Key Performance Indicators Overview

• Market Cap: Reached $31.8 billion, an increase of 60.5%
• Trading Volume: $5.2 billion, an increase of 18.5%
• Number of transactions: 5.3 billion, down 30.3%
• Daily active users: 6.6 million by year-end, an increase of 308.6% compared to the beginning of the year.
• Active Games: Out of 3,602 games, 1,361 remain active ( 37.8% )
• Annual Financing: 220 financing events, total amount of $910 million

Leading public chain:

• Volume Share: BNB Chain ( 23.1% ), Ethereum ( 17.6% ), Blast ( 19.2% )
• Transaction volume share: WAX 33.6%, Aptos 11.6%, Ronin 16.1%
• Daily Active Users: opBNB 220,000, Ronin 110,000, Nebula 45.8 million, with a daily average in December (.

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Market Performance Analysis

) Market Value Performance

The Web3 gaming sector is expected to achieve strong growth in 2024, but it is underperforming compared to other crypto sectors. The market capitalization of gaming tokens will reach $31.8 billion by the end of the year, a 60.5% increase from the previous year. Although this sector hit an intra-year high of $47.4 billion in March, it is still significantly lower than the historical high of $114.1 billion reached in November 2021.

Despite the overall strong performance of the cryptocurrency market in the second half of 2024, especially in the last two months driven by Bitcoin, gaming tokens lagged behind other sectors. Web3 games ranked eighth in market capitalization growth among the top ten sectors, significantly trailing behind the leading sectors: Meme coins (421.1%), AI and Big Data (168.0%), and the Solana ecosystem (124.1%).

This poor performance also extends to community attention. In the most watched sectors, Web3 games only account for 6.7% of the views in the top ten sectors, ranking ninth, as the focus throughout the year has mainly been on Meme coin-related projects.

( Trading Volume Analysis

The key performance indicators for the Web3 gaming sector in 2024 are mixed; transaction volume has increased, but the number of transactions continues to decline.

In 2024, the total transaction volume of Web3 games reached $5.2 billion, an increase of 18.5% compared to 2023. Although it has reversed the downward trend since 2021, the transaction volume is still significantly lower than the peak of the previous cycle. The data for 2024 is only 6.2% of the 2021 peak of )841 billion ( and 15.1% of the 2022 transaction volume of )345 billion ###.

The total number of transactions in 2024 reached 5.3 billion, a decrease of 30.3% compared to the previous year. This level, although comparable to the 5.1 billion transactions in 2021, has not reversed the downward trend that began in 2022.

The daily active users ( DAU ) achieved significant growth throughout the year 2024, increasing from an average of 1.6 million in January to 6.6 million in December, a year-on-year growth of 308.6%. This growth surpasses the previous cycle peak of 1.8 million DAU set in November 2021. Although this data may include some bot activity, this growth still demonstrates significant user engagement in the industry.

Ecosystem Development

( Competition and Evolution of Public Chains

In 2024, there will be significant changes in the dominant positions of various public chains in Web3 games, with each chain showing different advantages in terms of trading volume, number of transactions, and user participation.

The BNB chain maintains a dominant position in terms of trading volume, achieving a trading volume of $1.2 billion with a market share of 23.1%, followed by Ethereum with $920 million and a market share of 17.6%. Blast and Ronin account for 9.2% and 9.0% of the market share, respectively.

Despite an overall decline of 30.3% in industry transaction volumes, certain public chains have shown strong performance. WAX leads with 1.8 billion transactions, accounting for 33.6% of the total ). Aptos has risen with its "tap-to-earn" model game Tapos, reaching 620 million transactions (1.6%), with 540 million transactions generated just in August. Ronin and opBNB have maintained transaction volumes of 321 million and 318 million respectively.

User activity across various chains has shown significant growth, especially in the second half of 2024. opBNB has emerged as a standout in user engagement, with an average daily active user count reaching 2.2 million in December, surpassing the long-time leader Ronin###110,(. Nebula, as an SKALE Layer 2, ranks third with an average DAU of 458,000. Public chains like NEAR, Sui, and Sei have made it into the top ten DAUs, showcasing the expanding competitive landscape of ecosystems and users' willingness to try new platforms.

The diversified trends in the usage of various chains indicate that the ecosystem is maturing, and different public chains are finding their respective positions for various gaming experiences and user preferences. Major networks are no longer just providing basic blockchain facilities, but are evolving into comprehensive platforms for game developers.

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Technical Infrastructure Improvement

) Capacity Upgrade

The blockchain processing capacity has significantly improved, with the current network's transaction processing volume per second increasing by more than 50 times compared to four years ago. This growth is attributed to the rise of Ethereum Layer 2 and Layer 3 networks, including Immutable zkEVM, game chains based on Avalanche L1, Oasys, SKALE, Arbitrum Orbit, as well as other high-throughput blockchains like Solana, Sui, and Aptos.

The gaming-specific blockchain has also made significant progress. Ronin announced its Layer 2 plan Ronin zkEVM in June 2024, enabling Ronin developers to create their own zkEVM Layer 2. Immutable zkEVM has taken a strategic step towards greater accessibility by removing deployment whitelists and enabling permissionless deployments. Additionally, Avalanche has completed the most significant "Avalanche9000" upgrade since the mainnet launch in 2020, focusing on addressing the barriers to customized L1 builds and improving interoperability.

( Gas fees reduced

The "Cancun" upgrade of Ethereum in March 2024, ), also known as "Proto-Danksharding" or "EIP-4844" (, is an important milestone that significantly reduces costs on L2 networks. The impact is substantial, with Gas fees dropping from several dollars to just a few cents or even lower, eliminating one of the biggest friction points faced by blockchain game developers and players.

) Cross-chain interoperability enhancement

The cross-chain interoperability protocol ### CCIP ( saw significant development in 2024, enabling developers to create games that can interact with multi-chain assets. This improvement significantly enhanced the interoperability of in-game items.

The adoption of standardized formats for digital assets, especially ERC-721 and ERC-1155, has become more widespread. These standards ensure that in-game NFTs can be recognized and used across various games and platforms, simplifying asset transfer and interaction.

The year 2024 also witnessed the significant rise of decentralized platforms supporting cross-chain gaming. Platforms such as Portal, Fractal ID, and Web3Games provide the necessary infrastructure for seamless asset transfer and interaction between different blockchain ecosystems.

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Project Development

2024 is an important year for the development of Web3 games. In addition to traditional gaming companies entering the space, the ecosystem has also witnessed several significant game releases. Highly anticipated games like Off The Grid and MapleStory Universe have entered early access, while Illuvium has finally launched officially. Pirate Nation successfully completed its token generation event )TGE( and launched a successful "play-to-airdrop" ) event.

( Active Game Analysis

As of November 30, 2024, the total number of blockchain games reached 3,602, an increase from 2,997 in January. However, the active game metrics show some challenging trends. Out of the total number of games, only 1,361 )37.8%( remain actively on-chain, meaning that 2,241 )62.2%( are inactive. Furthermore, despite the growth in total game numbers, the number of active games has actually declined compared to 1,387 in January.

In-depth analysis of user engagement metrics shows further market concentration. The number of games with over 100 million active users ) MAU ( decreased from 586 in June 2022 to 522 by the end of 2024. In November 2024, 161 games ) accounted for 4.5% of the total, achieving over 10,000 MAU, of which 96 games ### accounted for 2.7% ### surpassed 100,000 MAU.

This trend of user concentration indicates that the market is maturing, with successful games attracting larger audiences. This phenomenon is influenced by multiple factors, including fierce competition, rapid iteration strategies, and the "head effect" created by leading games within the ecosystem.

Innovative Pattern

Cross-platform gaming trends

Mobile games emphasize accessibility and a seamless user experience, establishing their status as a major platform for Web3 games in 2024. The mobile-first approach has influenced how developers design blockchain games, focusing on intuitive interfaces and streamlined onboarding processes. In 2024, mobile games accounted for 29.4% of newly released Web3 games.

Social platforms, especially Telegram, have become a powerful catalyst for the adoption of Web3 games, accounting for 20.9% of new Web3 games released. The success of Telegram stems from its large user base, simplified in-app experience, and the ability to bypass traditional app store restrictions. The platform's influence peaked in the third quarter of 2024, with 11 games surpassing 10 million MAU. Notably, TON has successfully converted this massive user base into on-chain participants, creating spillover effects in the Web3 gaming, Meme coin, and DeFi sectors. This success has prompted multiple blockchain networks outside of TON to compete for Telegram traffic, with Aptos, Sui, Core, and others launching or supporting Telegram-based games.

Similarly, Line announced plans to launch 20 mini dApps in December 2024, marking the increasing interest of mainstream messaging platforms in the integration of blockchain gaming.

The console gaming sector in Web3 games remains relatively underdeveloped, with major manufacturers taking a cautious stance. However, new approaches are beginning to emerge to bridge this gap. Some developers, such as Gunzilla Games' Off The Grid, choose to separate core gameplay from blockchain features to meet the expectations of traditional console gaming. Meanwhile, blockchain platforms are starting to develop their own Web3 handheld gaming devices, such as Sui's SuiPlay0X1 and