👋 Web3 Gaming Recap — July 16

💎 Gaming Spotlight 🥜
• Soulbound announced that they were crowned the Grand Prize Winner of Discord App Pitch 2024 opening up the chance to further develop their game in partnership with Discord enhancing its features & expanding its reach within the platform — Read More

🔄 Gaming Updates
• Champions Tactics — Private & Public Champions Mint (July 18)
• Heroes of Mavia — Launched RubyScan (Blockchain Explorer)
• BEAM — July Development Update
• Puffverse — Astronaut NFT Collection Sale (July 18)
• World Shards — Version 0.5.0 Changelog
• RIVES — Released new update
• Immortal Rising 2 — Launching in Q3 2024
• Skyborne Legacy — Released more details around IP Expansion plan

🔖 Gaming Reads
• GamesTX — Blockchain Gaming's deflated sentiment
• Gaming Chronicles — Weekly Alpha 06
• Rocco — Comprehensive beginner guide to Idle RPG game, Kamigotchi

▶️ Gaming Watch/Listens
• Game Economist Cast — Episode 28: Banana! (P2E hits Steam, Why now & Why Bananas and the externalities of bots)

✅ Gaming Projects
• Infinity Ground
• Chat Royale
• Supercut
• Vegas HL

hope helpful wuwu 😆💞

✅ Gaming News
✅ Web3 Gaming Coverage

👋 Web3 Gaming Recap — July 17

💎 Gaming Spotlight 🥜
• Kuroro Beasts launched Beast Ranch, a clicker game with Tamagotchi & farm sim twist on Telegram — Read More

🔄 Gaming Updates
• Anomaly — Launched their Telegram game launcher
• Call of the VoYd — VoYd Heart Genesis Mint on BEAM (July 18)
• The Forgotten Runiverse — Snapshot to migrate Watcher's Rings, Quantum Gifts & Runiverse Land to Ronin on July 19 (July 17 4pm PST)
• Kamigotchi World — Testnet Minting Pool restocked with 1,000 Kamigotchis
• Illuvium — Official Launch Date (July 25)
• Saga — Opening of Vault 3
• Ancient 8 — Launched $A8 Token (Airdrop claims end August 17, 9AM UTC)
• Raini Studios — Lords of Light launches on Apple App Store
• Spirit Force Arena — v1.0.1 Hotfix
• Pudgy Penguins — Joined hit Telegram game, PixelTap by Pixelverse

🔖 Gaming Reads
• Wolves DAO — When is the best time to launch a token: Low vs High Market Sentiment
• Scott Sunarto (Argus Labs) — Why building World Engine helps make on-chain game development easier
• y77c (Mirage Game) — Don't Build an On-Chain Game
• byeddy.eth (DFArchon) — Don't Build a Semi Off-Chain Game
• Technoir (Bitkraft) — Decentralized social graphs could be a huge unlock for games
• Play Providence — The Potential of Web3 Games 2.0
• Zane (Ancient 8) — The coming of the $A8 token and what has changed since we started as a gaming guild back then

💸 Gaming Fundraising
• Oh Gamers — Secured $3m seed investment from Axia8 Ventures & angels
• MON Protocol — Launched its web3-focused investment fund MON Ventures with 500 Global as its lead investor

✅ Gaming Projects
• Project Mirage
• Beast Ranch
• Junky Ursas
• DeFi Dungeons
• Henlo Kart
• Hexacore

hope helpful wuwu 😆💞

✅ Gaming News
✅ Web3 Gaming Coverage

👋 Web3 Gaming Recap — July 18

🔄 Gaming Updates
• MapleStory Universe — Revealed Pioneer Testers
• Rumble Arcade — Play to Mint Launch Pre-Party
• Blade Games — Game & Point System Launch (July 23)
• Crypto Unicorns — How to earn from Tribes
• SHADOW War — Next playtest (July 26)
• Planet Mojo — Building on BASE
• Axie Infinity — June SLP Stability Fund Update
• MON Protocol — Launchpool Event #3
• Midnight Society — Entering Founder Testing Stage (Last development phase before early access launch)

🔖 Gaming Reads
• The Forgotten Runiverse — Everything to know about the Ronin Migration Snapshot
• Robin Guo (a16z) — What's the path to WeChat Games?
• apix — Quick rundown of Pixelverse $PIXFI token launch
• Meta Alchemist (Seedify) — 3.5 year journey since launching a token
• 0xKepler (ggQuest) — Biggest mistake teams make in KOL Marketing is mixing up impressions & reach

▶️ Gaming Watch/Listens
• Paul Barron — Interview with Pirate Nation CEO Amitt Mahajan on what Proof of Play is cooking beneath the surface of Pirate Nation
• Into the Bytecode — Justin Glibert (Co-Founder of Lattice & 0xPARC): From Economicus to Ludens
• Scenius Studio — Episode 44: BITKRAFT (Carlos Pereira)
• FOCGERS — The road to on-chain gaming for CalltheBanners

💸 Gaming Fundraising
• Edison Metaverse — Raised $2.2m angel round to accelerate development of the metaverse

✅ Gaming Projects
• ByteBuildersLabs
• PARTY ICONS

hope helpful wuwu 😆💞

✅ Gaming News
✅ Web3 Gaming Coverage

👋 Web3 Gaming Recap — July 19

GOAT Gaming released their first external game published on their platform. Waifu Clash is a simple, browser-based (Telegram soon) fast-paced 1v1 showdown game based on a classic dice game where players take turns to play random waifu cards into columns to earn points — Read More

🔄 Gaming Updates
• Wanderers — Officially entering open beta on July 30 in Epic Games
• Ember Sword — Launched Beta Test
• Gomble Games — Launched EggDrop
• Anichess — Private Alpha (July 24 - August 7)
• Champions Tactics — Public Mint

🔖 Gaming Reads
• Virtuals Protocol — Thread explaining protocol, ecosystem and team building an on-chain AI Agent protocol
• DF Archon — Understanding Autonomous Worlds in 30s
• Apix — Why Play Duper's gem mechanic is genius, how it works and how to use it to your advantage
• Winnie (Blocktower) — Chinese Apps & the level of gamification present at every stage of the discovery up to purchase experience

▶️ Gaming Watch/Listens
• Gam3s.GG — P2A Success, So What's Next
• Doubl3Tap — Episode 25: Long Do (Anomaly)

✅ Gaming Projects
• Juicy Adventure
• Grand Conquest

hope helpful wuwu 😆💞

✅ Gaming News
✅ Web3 Gaming Coverage

👋 Web3 Gaming Recap — Weekend + July 22

🔄 Gaming Updates
• Axie Infinity — H1 2024 Dev Update
• XTREMEVERSE — v1.5.4 Patch Log Release
• Kamigotchi World — Patch 0.2 Release
• The Forgotten Runiverse — Ronin Migration delayed (Reminder that Quantum Gifts will be re-mintable in August)
• Blast Royale — 0.22 Update Coming Soon
• Castaways — Seems mobile game & token may be coming soon
• Call of the VoYd — VoYd Heart Genesis Mint Event postponed to July 25
• TODAY — Mythic Seed Verification Phase Opens
• Valeria Games — Migrating to XAI
• Ragnarok: Monster World — In Game Footage Preview
• League of Kingdoms — Added Web2 Payment Support
• WEMIX — Announced discontinuation of REFLECT in favor of PLAY token (Swap takes into effect on Sept 2024)
• The Root Network — Announced upgrade from Devnet to Porcini (Testnet)

🔖 Gaming Reads
• AO Games — AO is a paradise for Game Developers
• Gangster Arena — Crew Wars Recap
• Hunter Solaire (Mon Ventures) — How to choose the best play 2 airdrop opportunities
• Antonio Sco (Wolves DAO) — 3 Takeaways from Beacon's NFT Gaming Launch Strategy

▶️ Gaming Watch/Listens
• GameSpot — The Key to 1.5B Game Downloads: Hannibal Soares (Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Boomland)

💸 Gaming Fundraising
• NPC Labs (b3.fun)— Raised $18m led by Pantera to scale gaming on Base

✅ Gaming Projects
• NPC Labs
• Over/Under
• AO Games

hope helpful wuwu 😆💞

✅ Gaming News
✅ Web3 Gaming Coverage

Look at Gaming #398 | 7.22.2024

GM! I got a big one for you today. There were many reports and headlines that caught my eye.

Netflix recently released a sizzle reel of its upcoming release of Minesweeper, which looked amazing. I'm excited to check out the live ops on this classic game.

But this is just one of the 80+ new titles that Netflix is going to be releasing. Big things coming out of our favorite streaming app.

Speaking of big things, Team USA Olympic & Paralympic Games partnered with Roblox! The viewership for the olympics skews to the older demographic so I believe this Roblox activation will help bring some younger eye balls to the world stage.

There are quite a few reports that I want to highlight. First up is that WeChat Mini Games hit 500M users, with 55% of users being male and 85% of all players being 24+ year old. Powering this network of mini games are 400,000 developers with the majority of these studios having fewer than 30 people.

In the other side of the world, Americans spent 45B hours on games but that's barely 20% of the time they spent watching videos online. So the battle for attention is contentious as ever. But for those that do play games, 77% of them play on multiple platforms (mobile, PC, console). So cross-play is becoming a default for game studios.

Growth in games are usually driven by ads and the global ads market is expected to hit $1 Trillion by 2026.

Konvoy Ventures released an insightful breakdown of why the games fundraising market has been so tough lately with valuations seeing a decrease of 30-70% compared to 18 months ago.

That's it for this week! Catch y'all on the flip side. Enjoy the rest of your week.

-----

⚡ Spotlight 🤩
Netflix has 80+ games in development and plans to release "about one new title per month" | GamesIndustry.biz

Roblox announces Team USA Olympic and Paralympic Games partnership | GamesBeat

Monthly Audience of WeChat Mini Games Reached 500M Users | GameDevReports

40% of U.S. gamers play PC, console and mobile games | Comscore

Fundraising Challenges in Gaming | KonvoyVentures

Global ads lift entertainment and media as game industry recovers | PwC


🌊 MARKET 📞
Warner Bros Games acquires MultiVersus studio Player First | GamesBeat

Why there's no market for AAA mobile games | GamesIndustry.biz

Metaverse expert Matthew Ball still believes in the 3D internet | TheVerge

AdInMo updates InGamePlay for non-interruptive in-game ads | GamesBeat

Global ads lift entertainment and media as game industry recovers | PwC


💎 Deep Dives 🔎
Gaming Industry Report - Q2 2024 | KonvoyVentures

40% of U.S. gamers play PC, console and mobile games | Comscore

Monthly Audience of WeChat Mini Games Reached 500M Users | GameDevReports

Gen Z players are highly engaged and looking for new games | Newzoo

Fundraising Challenges in Gaming | KonvoyVentures

Live Service Game Models on Live Streaming | StreamHatchet

Digital toys at play | SuperJoostPlaylist

Gaming Investment Market in Q2'24 | InvestGame

The Distribution of Subscribers Among Twitch Streamers | StreamHatchet


🌈 Platforms 🏠
You can now drive Tesla’s Cybertruck in Fortnite, Rocket League | GamesBeat

Netflix has 80+ games in development and plans to release "about one new title per month" | GamesIndustry.biz

Roblox announces Team USA Olympic and Paralympic Games partnership | GamesBeat

Roblox reveals insights about its emerging game genres | GamesBeat


✨ Web 3⃣ + Meta 🌐
Atari partners with Coinbase to bring Asteroids and Breakout to blockchain | GamesBeat

Telegram Hits 950 Million Users Amid Crypto Gaming Boom | Decrypt.gg

Exploring the TON Ecosystem: A Deep Dive into Social Gaming on Telegram | Gam3s.gg

Eight Blockchain Games on Oasys You Need to Know About | Gam3s.gg

Attributions in Crypto | Decentralised.co

Jihoz's "Web3 Gaming Growth Handbook" Summary | Gam3s.gg


💲 Fundraising 🤑
Artificial Agency raises $16 million to alter NPC behaviour in games | PGBiz

NPC Labs raises $18M to bring mainstream games to Web3 | GamesBeat

Artificial intelligence tools creator X&Immersion raises €1.1 million in funding | PGbiz

New studio Blue Scarab raises $7m in funding round | GamesIndustry.biz

Mobile multiplayer app Dusk launches with Gen Z focus, raises $8 million in funding | GameDeveloper

Echo Chunk raises $1.4M to make AI-based puzzle games | GamesBeat


👾 Game & Stats Releases 📊
Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes debuts on PC early access with cross-play on mobile | GamesBeat

Excerpt from My New Book: The Start of Epic Games, Its First Game “ZZT,” and “Unreal Engine 0” | MatthewBall

Monopoly Go transforms back into a board game | GamesBeat

👋 Web3 Gaming Recap — July 23

💎 Gaming Spotlight 🥜
• Coinbase partnered with Atari to bring classic games Asteroids and Breakout to the Base blockchain as part of their On-Chain Summer & On-Chain Arcade — Read More

🔄 Gaming Updates
• OKX — Launched Telegram mini-app game called OKX Racer
• Gangster Arena — Rationale behind design choices for Crew Wars
• Sonic — Launching Sonic Testnet Frontier Stage 2 (July 24)
• Zentry — Q3 likely to be a big quarter 👀
• Kamigotchi World — Mochis added to game & daily quests
• RIVES — Launched new cartridge "Life is Hard" (Game of Life implementation)
• Treasure DAO — Launched Magicswap V2 to power their first Game Exchange (GEX) in Zeeverse
• Sunflower Land — Included in Polygon's Community Grants Season 1
• The Forgotten Runiverse — Completed migration to Ronin
• Champions Tactics — Postponed Champions reveal to July 24
• Farcana — Completed purchase of compromised $FAR tokens
• STEPN — Launched Alpha Testing for STEPNGO

🔖 Gaming Reads
• Paragons DAO — H1 2024 Treasury Report
• Tarrence (Cartridge/Dojo/Dope Wars) — Released Ecosystem Update for Dojo & Cartridge
• Rafael Morado (1kx Network) — Dynamic Token Economies for On-Chain Games
• Metagravity — The Role of Decentralised Compute in Hyperscale Gaming
• Polygon — Future of Loyalty Programs within Web3
• Bharat (6529 Capital) — Why Crypto Community loayalty will accrue to founders that tilt heavy into building fully on-chain games in the future

▶️ Gaming Watch/Listens
• Into The Metaverse — Episode 96: The Evolution of XR, AI and the Metaverse w/ Charlie Fink
• Unchained — Episode 678: Apps on the TON Blockchain have become extremely popular. Is it sustainable?
• EthCC 2024 — Autonomous Worlds: Komorebi
• EthCC 2024 — Autonomous Worlds: Verifiable Doom, Designing an On-Chain Game Console (Max Hatesuer)
• EthCC 2024 — Autonomous Worlds: Playerchains (David Amor)
• EthCC 2024 — Autonomous Worlds: Building CRDT Objects for P2P Multiplayer Games (Jay Oak)
• EthCC 2024 — Autonomous Worlds: Minimal Viable Game Chain Validium (Billy Rennekamp)
• EthCC 2024 — Autonomous Worlds: What's Next for Dojo (Tarrence Van As)

💸 Gaming Fundraising
• Catizen (Pluto) — Raised investment round led by Binance Labs to develop a gaming publishing platform on Telegram
• Abstract (Cube Labs) — Raised $11m funding round led by Founders Fund to develop a consumer-focused Layer 2 blockchain

✅ Gaming Projects
• AO Games
• VOYA Games

hope helpful wuwu 😆💞

✅ Gaming News
✅ Web3 Gaming Coverage

👋 Web3 Gaming Recap — July 24

💎 Gaming Spotlight 🥜
• MapleStory opens up its Pioneer Test where 1,000+ Pioneers will be able to experience & explore MapleStory N for 10 days — Read More

🔄 Gaming Updates
• Forgotten Runiverse — Released Trailer & NFT Collection Benefits
• The Machines Arena — Launching Play 2 Airdrop Campaign (July 30)
• Cradles — Launching something on TON Ecosystem (August 1)
• Apeiron — S3 Primeval Testing (July 26)
• Desperado B218 — Update Announcement (July 25)
• Stella Fantasy — Shutting down game services on July 31
• Supervillain Labs — Launching first title "Wanted Supervillain" on July 30 (Can pre-register here)
• Treasure DAO — Announced that the action RPG game Synergy Land, will be launching on Treasure Chain
• Onikuma — Introduction to Onikuma, a Berachain native On-Chain social game rooted in game theory
• OKX — Launching Matr1x ($MAX) on OKX Jumpstart (July 29)

🔖 Gaming Reads
• Phylicia Koh (Play Ventures) — Will Telegram become the next gaming distribution Super App?
• Illuvium — What to expect for the official game launch & how to prepare
• Calc.eth (Loot Realms) — Loot Realms Ecosystem Mega-thread
• Skarly — Ex Wolf Game Dev announced new project, Onchain Heroes
• Movement Labs — Infinite Seas, a maritime trading & diplomatic social MMO game

▶️ Gaming Watch/Listens
• WORLDS — Player Driven Building in Dark Forest
• Doubl3Tap — Episode 26: Justin Waldron (GEMZ)

✅ Gaming Projects
• Elfin Metaverse X
• Infinite Seas
• Cupcake Protocol

hope helpful wuwu 😆💞

✅ Gaming News
✅ Web3 Gaming Coverage

👋 Web3 Gaming Recap — July 25

💎 Gaming Spotlight 🥜
• BLOCKLORDS launched their token $LRDS (Tradable via Coinbase, Gate, Kucoin, etc) and opened up their node reward program where stakers can claim & lock $LRDS for their upcoming L3 Lordchain Nodes — Read More

🔄 Gaming Updates
• Moonfrost — Frost Hunter Licenses will give access to every Moonfrost release, Frost airdrop & more (AR3 starts on July 29)
• Illuvium — Launched Illuvium Zero: Beta on Mainnet (Accessible on Android/iOS/Epic Games)
• Fableborne — Ending Adventures Season 1 with Primordial Essence Airdrop (July 26)
• Maplestory — Tutorials to get started playing MapleStory N
• Star Atlas — Passed PIP DAO Proposals 1 (Ratify Star Atlas DAO) & 2 (Ratify Operations of Star Atlas Foundation). 2 more pending PIPs 3 (Establish Star Atlas Council) & 4 (Seed Star Atlas Ecosystem Fund w/ 20% of DAO Treasury)
• Call of the VoYd — What are VoYd hearts

🔖 Gaming Reads
• John Patten (Treasure DAO) — $SMOL Takeover & Introduction to SMOL404, a PoC alternative to memecoins & CC0 NFTs
• Fractional Uprising Studios — Earn beans in OpenSeason's in-game points system
• Gaming Chronicles — Animoca Brands' Tower Ecosystem enters Telegram gaming
• Uncharted — Understanding $xU & $GREED and their utility within Gangster Arena Crew Wars
• Oscar (Wolves DAO) — Telegram games suck but for some perspective
• Apix — Gangster Arena is a great example of a simple game with a focus on economy and gamification

💸 Gaming Fundraising
• Gam3Girl Ventures — Announced the launch of their Web3 gaming incubation fund

✅ Gaming Projects
• WanderCorp

hope helpful wuwu 😆💞

✅ Gaming News
✅ Web3 Gaming Coverage

👋 Web3 Gaming Recap — July 26

🔄 Gaming Updates
• Material 10 — Released walkthrough of their first playable for Project Fallen, a competitive shooter game where players manage different squads in third-person and tactical mode
• MAYG — Launched airdrop beta period for their social competitive PC game. 40% of $MAYG supply to be airdropped to players. (July 25 - August 26)
• Supervillain Labs — Launch of Supervillain Wanted 40K Capsule NFT Sale (July 29)
• Upland — $SPARKLET Share and Build Airdrop Chapter 2
• ZTX — Passed Community Proposal for ZIP 001 (Onboard ZEPETO creators & establish them as ZTX Ambassadors)
• Fractional Uprising Studios — New token contract for $FU on Mainnet
• Persona — Launched exclusive OE NFT (Mint available from July 25 - August 24)
• The Machines Arena — Introducing asset liquidity limits & phase out schedule
• World Shards — Whitelist Drop Event (July 26)
• Call of the VoYd — VoYd Heart Mint Suspended
• Illuvium — Opened up Region Travel
• Captain & Company — Play To Earn is back
• Paradise Tycoon — MOANI token pre-sale for Paradise Pass NFT Holders
• Wanderers — Mint Limited Vesna Comic (Collaboration w/ Drip Haus)

🔖 Gaming Reads
• Bankless — Onchain Games: Can human players still be competitive when bots take over?
• David Amor (Playmint) — Combining downstream with new tech (Playerchains) to build on-chain games that don't compromise on decentralisation
• BLOCKLORDS — How $LRDS is transforming gaming and why it's set to become the ultimate BLOCKLORDS asset
• TON — Why TON's partnership with Animoca Brands is a big deal (450 portcos will migrate to Ton Blockchain)

▶️ Gaming Watch/Listens
• GAM3S.GG — TG Games: Here to stay or a fad?

✅ Gaming Projects
• XP.GG
• VRMC Studio
• Click & Moo
• Honor
• Recollect
• Evolute
• Cosmic Bomber
• Anykraft
• NEON Runners
• For The Kingdom
• Play Tactix
• Abyss X

hope helpful wuwu 😆💞

✅ Gaming News
✅ Web3 Gaming Coverage

Look at Gaming #399 | 7.29.2024

GM! It's Monday. Rise and Grind!

Epic news, literally. In one of the discovery files during the Epic v Apple and Epic v Google trials, it was noted that Fortnite pulled in $100M+ to the app stores. Then just this week Epic Games is removing Fortnite from the Apple App Store to offer its flagship game on alternative app stores. POWER MOVE.

Additionally, there are a handful of great guides and how-to articles in this edition of the Weekly LAG. I want to spotlight a few such as the how to matchmake based on players' skill and how to market a game in this landscape,

Then there's a piece on why it's so expensive to develop games in the US. The obvious answer is human capital costs but there's more. Cash flow in the games industry is unpredictable. Revenue often comes from new major releases or game updates while operational costs are constant, if not increasing. On the talent level, studios in the US have to compete with big tech's massive compensation packages while also paying cost of employment like 401ks, taxes, and healthcare.

Lastly there are two blog posts from Decentralised.Co and Deconstructor of Fun that caught my eye. The piece about Aggregation theory applied in crypto was quite insightful, especially with concrete examples and data about Layer3. From DoF, the article was about Platform Payouts and Fortnite's UEFN. A comparison was made between a walled garden and a free marketplace, and how Fortnite Creators are somewhere in the middle.

That's it for this week's LAG! Catch y'all on the flip side. Have a wonderful rest of your week.


-----

⚡ Spotlight 🤩
Epic will bring Fortnite to third-party iOS app stores | TheVerge

How skill matters in Call of Duty multiplayer matchmaking | GamesBeat

How to market a game: an introduction to game marketing | GameDeveloper

Why is it so expensive to make games in the United States? | GameDeveloper

The Power of Aggregation | Decentralised.co

Platform Payouts and Fortnite’s Unique Approach | DeconstructorOfFun


🌊 MARKET 📞
Why is it so expensive to make games in the United States? | GameDeveloper

Rumble Explained: The Political Live Streaming Platform | StreamHatchet

The Limits of CCU For Measuring Game Success | a16z Games


💎 Deep Dives 🔎
Mobile Gaming Market in 2024 & beyond | Sensor Tower

Metaverse 2. | SuperJoostPlaylist

The Power of Aggregation | Decentralised.co

The illusion of skill: how to make a better game in less time | GameDeveloper

What's the country split for players of hit Steam games? | GameDiscoverCo

The average age of video game makers keeps going up | GameFile

Platform Payouts and Fortnite’s Unique Approach | DeconstructorOfFun


🌈 Platforms 🏠
Epic will bring Fortnite to third-party iOS app stores | TheVerge

Is Game Pass underperforming? | GameDeveloper


✨ Web 3⃣ + Meta 🌐
Telegram Hits 950 Million Users Amid Crypto Gaming Boom | Decrypt.gg

Forge pivots to game marketing with community-led growth tools | GamesBeat


🧠 Knowledge Hub 📘
How skill matters in Call of Duty multiplayer matchmaking | GamesBeat

How to market a game: an introduction to game marketing | GameDeveloper

Best practices for in-game shops: How to convert players into spending | PGBiz

How to Market a Game: Results of the H1'24 and Q2'24 in Steam for Indie Games | GameDevReports


💲 Fundraising 🤑
Look North World raises $2.25M for its Fortnite UGC games and creator label | GamesBeat

Freestyle Chess debuts with $12M in funding for tournament series | GamesBeat

Ponchiqs Raises $1.75M After PonchKick Telegram Game Launch | Gam3s.gg

Pudgy Penguins' Parent Company Igloo, Inc. Raises $11 Million | Gam3s.gg


👾 Game & Stats Releases 📊
Bandai Namco and Look North World partner on Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance on Fortnite | GamesBeat

Deadpool and Wolverine movie marketing blitz hits video games | GamesBeat

Monster Hunter Now reveals MrBeast collab and global group hunts | GamesBeat

👋 Web3 Gaming Recap — Weekend + July 29

💎 Gaming Spotlight 🥜
• Moonfrost, a F2P life-sim farming RPG will release its 3rd closed alpha on Epic Games this July 29 — Read More

🔄 Gaming Updates
• Wanderers — Open Beta launch (July 30)
• Lumiterra — Opening CBT#1 on Ronin (August 5)
• UNIOVERSE — Hero #3 Free Mint on Magic Eden (August 6)
• Star Atlas — Airdrop of crew packs and ship components to ship holders (August 9)
• Sipher — Play to Airdrop Season 1: Final Phase (Ends August 11)
• THE WATCH — Official Game Release (August 28)
• Illuvium — Launched cosmetic store
• Gomble Games — $winG tokens convert to $G tokens during TGE
• Blast Royale — $NOOB to get an upgrade in next update
• Loot Realms — V1 Staking Program to be replaced by Lordship Phase 1
• OpenSeason — F2P coming soon
• MixMob — Phase 2 Mint for Gen0 Holders
• Soulbound — Next release "Summer Seige" introduces farming
• OhBabyGames — Released Patch Notes v0.5 for Oh Baby Kart

🔖 Gaming Reads
• Lattice — MUD & Redstone Newsletter #8
• ZkCandy — Ecosystem Roundup
• BenMac — 2 Telegram Games on Berachain

▶️ Gaming Watch/Listens
• Deconstructor of Fun — DMA for Dummies: Archie Stonehill, Head of Product of Stash

✅ Gaming Projects
• Maxion Labs
• The Banana Game
• Ragnarok: Monster World
• MOCS

hope helpful wuwu 😆💞

✅ Gaming News
✅ Web3 Gaming Coverage

👋 Web3 Gaming Recap — July 30

💎 Gaming Spotlight 🥜
• Supervillain Labs launched their idle RPG Game, Supervillain Wanted on both iOS/Google App Stores — Read More

🔄 Gaming Updates
• Pegaxy — Reintroducing rental features in Pegaxy: Blaze (July 30)
• Axie Infinity — Launching Homeland Avatar mode (July 31)
• Paradise Tycoon — MOANI Claim (Starts on August 1)
• Fusionist — Will use Hyperlane as their cross-chain solution
• Zoids Wild Arena — Will release on Immutable as well
• Beramonium Chronicles — bArtio Testnet Mint

🔖 Gaming Reads
• FaultProofBen (WASD) — Games to try for newcomers to on-chain gaming
• Dojo — How verifiable computation is set to transform our culture and gaming experiences
• Real Agency — PFP Presale Thread: Where Real Agency is going & what they are doing

✅ Gaming Projects
• DegenPumpGame
• Endless Clouds Foundation

hope helpful wuwu 😆💞

✅ Gaming News
✅ Web3 Gaming Coverage

👋 Web3 Gaming Recap — July 31

💎 Gaming Spotlight 🥜
• The Forgotten Runiverse is launching the closed beta for their F2P fantasy MMORPG today after migrating to Ronin. Closed beta will be from July 31 to August 2 with a public build scheduled for late August (Mobile still in preview state) — Read More

🔄 Gaming Updates
• Axie Infinity — Origins S9 Post Season
• Tatsumeeko — Releasing first official trailer, soundtrack release and pre-beta preview #2 registration this August
• MATR1X FIRE — Launched Gold Rust Test
• The Machines Arena — Launched Play 2 Airdrop Campaign (Will last for 8 weeks)
• Phantom Galaxies — Partnered with HyperPlay to launch new quests
• BEAM — July Recap
• MixMob — LFG City Mint
• BoomLand — Genesis Sale Final Tier (August 6)

🔖 Gaming Reads
• GAM3S.GG — What is the Secret to Pixels Growth
• Small Brain — Released elements.fun, an endless crafting game on Base
• Geezee (Mantle) — The success of Fantasy Westward Journey and how close its system is to crypto

▶️ Gaming Watch/Listens
• GameSpot — Laguna Games (Crypto Unicorns): How this CEO (Aron Beierschmitt) turned 3 failures into a multi-million dollar company

✅ Gaming Projects
• Pachinko Labs
• PLAYTRON
• SuiPlay

hope helpful wuwu 😆💞

✅ Gaming News
✅ Web3 Gaming Coverage

Look at Gaming #400 | 8.05.2024


GM! Back to the grind on Monday!

Short one this week. Game Informer, the publication that's been around for 33 years, is shutting down. GameStop closed Game Informer's doors last Friday August 2nd. Game Informer is a source that I use for the Look At Gaming. RIP.

On the other end of the spectrum, Microsoft and Activision Blizzard are opening a new studio with the purpose of creating Double-A franchise spinoffs. Recall that Riot did a similar move previously called Riot Forge but that initiative got shut down a few years after it launched.

In brighter news, the industry-wide layoffs seem to have slowed, with a cautiously optimistic uptick in employment. Here are some stats. 8k layoffs in 2022, 10k in 2023, and 11.5k so far in 2024.

Lastly, The Pokémon Company pulled down $10B revenue in 2023 from merch and licensed goods. Lifetime merchandising revenue is $92B. And it's only the 7th biggest licensor in 2023. Unlike the declining revenue numbers we see in the games industry since the pandemic, Pokémon licensing revenue keeps climbing higher -- though it did drop in 2023. $8.5B in 2021, $11.6B in 2022, and $10B this year.

There's also some great pieces in the Knowledge Hub section about monetization and skill-based player matching.

Catch y'all next week!

-----

⚡ Spotlight 🤩
GameStop shuts down Game Informer | GamesIndustry.biz

Report: Microsoft and Activision Blizzard launch studio focused on franchise spinoffs | GameDeveloper

Game job layoff forecast is getting better, with job cuts slowing dramatically in July | GamesBeat

The Pokémon Company caught $10.8 billion from merch and licenced goods last year | PGBiz


🌊 MARKET 📞
GameStop shuts down Game Informer | GamesIndustry.biz

A pivotal online hub for ROM hacks goes news-only after two decades | TheVerge

The future of mobile market intelligence | PGBiz

Esports World Cup halftime report: 175M+ hours watched, 60K tickets sold | GamesBeat

The opportunity costs of NFT madness are still being paid | GamesIndustry.biz

Keeping games secure is like a battle royale | Akama

Game job layoff forecast is getting better, with job cuts slowing dramatically in July | GamesBeat

Gamescom Asia: We want to give Southeast Asian developers a platform to shine | GamesIndustry.biz

A small games manifesto | GameDeveloper


💎 Deep Dives 🔎
Let the Games Begin | KonvoyVentures

Luxury gaming | SuperJoostPlaylist


🌈 Platforms 🏠
Report: Microsoft and Activision Blizzard launch studio focused on franchise spinoffs | GameDeveloper


✨ Web 3⃣ + Meta 🌐
Miladycraft: The Grand Remilia Ball and 'Network Spirituality' in Minecraft | Decrypt.gg


🧠 Knowledge Hub 📘
This online puzzle community has a fresh twist on battle passes | TheVerge

SocialPeta Partnered with Liftoff to Release the Guide to Growing Chinese Gaming Apps Overseas | PGBiz

Game Monetisation Design: Strategies, Trends, and Best Practices with Oscar Clark | PGBiz

Inworld AI adds localization for Mandarin, Japanese and Korean | GamesBeat

Win Streak: the Gift That Keeps on Giving | DeconstructorOfFun

Deprioritizing skill-based matchmaking turned Call of Duty into The Bad Place | GameDeveloper

Level Design Postmortem: Sixth Street (Zenless Zone Zero) | GameDeveloper


💲 Fundraising 🤑
Games studio 2weeks has raised $1.25m in pre-seed funding | PGBiz

NCSoft invests $3.5 million in Swedish studio Moon Rover Games | PGBiz

Dstlry raises $5M for digital comics publishing and marketplace | GamesBeat

Dotplay obtains $1m in funding | GamesIndustry.biz


👾 Game & Stats Releases 📊
Valorant launches on consoles in select markets | GamesBeat

How Borderlands bridges the border of film and games — Randy Pitchford and Jamie Lee Curtis | GamesBeat

The Pokémon Company caught $10.8 billion from merch and licenced goods last year | PGBiz


-----

gg

✅ Gaming News
✅ Web3 Gaming Coverage

👋 Web3 Gaming Recap — Weekend + August 5

💎 Gaming Spotlight 🥜
• Matr1x Fire listed their token, $MAX on CEX exchanges like OKX and announced a pre-TGE burn of 20%. As of writing, the token is currently trading at $38.25m Market Cap | $225m FDV — Read More

🔄 Gaming Updates
• Loot Realms — Launched Lordship Bridge (Can bridge Realms to Starknet)
• DF Archon — Released Dark Forest Ares v0.1 r4: Union on Redstone
• Otherside — Releasing Otherside Development Kit on ApeChain (August 2024)
• HyperPlay — Launched HyperPlay Quests, their new in-game platform for real-world rewards
• Echelon — Hosting Uplink, an invite-only annual gaming-focused event during Token2049 Singapore
• BattleBound — Onboarded Krisma as the Director of Growth for their upcoming creature-collecting RPG
• Paima Studios — Announced Click & Moo, a decentralized idle game
• Cosmic Bomber — Launched the open beta of their casual multiplayer arcade game
• Battle Bears — PC & Mobile Global Launch (August 20)
• BAG.win — Added slots, crash, blackjack, roulette and plinko to BAG
• zKorp — Launched mobile playable for zKube
• Notcoin — Introduced Not Games, a platform enabling game builders to deliver new experiences to Telegram users
• GOAT Gaming — Minted out their Genesis Goats NFT Collection
• Rumble Kong League — Introduced Playstyles, attribute enhancing specializations for the ecosystem

🔖 Gaming Reads
• Blocmates — Web3 Gaming is Inevitable: Don't Get Shaken Out Here
• Yijia (0xCurio) — Why I'm bullish on Duper as a Poker challenger
• Imran Khan (Alliance DAO) — PWAs are a fast & easy way to build a beta product w/ crypto-native features that bypasses App Store restrictions but the final product should be a native mobile app
• WASD — Weekly Read 8/2/2024
• MagicBlock — Announced winners of 3rd edition of the Solana Speedrun game jam
• Maximum Jailbreak — Fango 1000: An on-chain narrative game where players must tell stories, the best ones last forever, the worst ones are buried in mud
• Sejin — Building FriendTech Pokedex, a Gamified Trading Card Game
• MUD & Redstone Newsletter — Edition #39: Multi-namespace support, MUD <> reth compatibility, ZK MUD & more
• Game7 Dao — Announced their Credits Campaign Program to reward active & engaged players
• John Patten (Treasure DAO) — Early $MAGIC team members that leeched tokens have fully sold now

▶️ Gaming Watch/Listens
• GAM3S.GG — The Biggest Misconceptions about Web3 Gaming
• Venture Games — Episode 47: Phil Sanderson (Griffin Gaming Partners)
• Game7 — From King of the Hill to Crisis: This CEO realized his company was Doomed (Playmint, David Amor)
• Naavik — Web3 Innovation w/ Mirai Labs
• EthCC — Friction Kills: Unburden users with chain services (HappyChain, Norswap)

💸 Gaming Fundraising
• Cartridge — Announced $7.5m Series A round led by BITKRAFT to further empower developers to build provable on-chain games & autonomous worlds

✅ Gaming Projects
• Echoes of Eldoria
• TxSpaces HQ
• Gud Game
• Altera AI
• Battue

hope helpful wuwu 😆💞

✅ Gaming News
✅ Web3 Gaming Coverage

👋 Web3 Gaming Recap — August 6

💎 Gaming Spotlight 🥜
• The Ronin Bridge suffered a potential MEV exploit earlier today which resulted in 2m USDC & 3,996 ETH being withdrawn. Since working w/ the white hats, 3,991 ETH has been returned. Bridge will remain paused and will undergo an audit before being reopened. A post-mortem will be issued next week — Read More

🔄 Gaming Updates
• Angelic — Launching their Strategy RPG Multiplayer Alpha Test (August 6)
• Unioverse — Released their interoperable game NFT Mint on Magic Eden (August 6)
• Axie Infinity — Origins PvE / Roguelike ETA (August 7)
• Blade Games — CoinPUPS game mission (August 7)
• AI Arena — Launching AI Arena Champion NFT Collection (August 8)
• Etherscape — Launching on Epic Games (August 16)
• Sequence — Announced that they are partnering with Ubisoft & Arbitrum to launch Captain Laswerhawk: THE GAME, a transmedia gaming adventure
• Apecoin — AIP Proposal #438 passes to establish a $10m Apecoin Ventures Fund together w/ Animoca Ventures who will match with $5m
• Hexacore — Launched their AGO Pass Mint on Magic Eden
• Gamecoin — Launched their newest game, "Hidden Objects" on Telegram

🔖 Gaming Reads
• Zenith — Rebranded from Autochessia to Zenith and will continue developing their Team Fight Tactics-inspired fully on-chain game
• BNB Chain — Announced the newest gaming projects building on BNB Chain (C WORLD, Karat Galaxy, MetaCollabWin & Seraph)
• TONX — Hosting the Future of TON GameFi: Insights
• Calc.eth (Loot Realms) — Loot Realms Monthly Updates
• MapleStory Universe — Pioneer Test Statistics: Part 1 (70% participation, 82% retention rate, 20% of Pioneers played 480min on avg daily)

▶️ Gaming Watch/Listens
• Prof G Conversations — Matthew Ball: Is It Time to Remember the Metaverse?

💸 Gaming Fundraising
• Curio — Announced their $8.7m raise to build Duper, a high stakes on-chain diplomacy game & also launched Season 1 which will run for 6 weeks

✅ Gaming Projects
• Byte Beasts
• Knivelty Labs
• Captain Laswerhawk Universe
• Seraph

hope helpful wuwu 😆💞

✅ Gaming News
✅ Web3 Gaming Coverage

Look at Gaming #401 | 8.12.2024

GM! Welcome back to another Monday y'all. Rise and grind.

Last week was quite a week especially with all the earnings reports. But there are only four items that I want to spotlight.

First is that video games is a $250B market. Yes yes there has been many of these types of figures thrown out but I like this one because it was authored by Joost van Dreunen (NYU professor and cofounder of SuperData). A 4.6% CAGR, which is so so compared to other digital entertainment sectors. 31% decrease in consle hardware sales as we wait for next-gen devices. And unsurprisingly, $115B in mobile spending, a little less than half of the market.

Additionally, in the AppsFlyer report, mobile gaming spent $29B on user acquisition in 2023. Recall that Monopoly Go spent $500M on ads so about 17% of the total global spend on ONE TITLE. Craziness. US remains the most competitive market to spend in. This combined with expensive development costs in the US could really mark the decline of US dominance. The most spend comes from match games, which ate 30% of the total global spend.

Third article is about how community actually drives monetization. I've always had a hunch that games with dense communities increase the propensity for players to spend but glad there's data behind it now. Specifically, 15% of monetized players would spend more if they are engaged in the community. That's meaningful.

Now that we are reminded that community is important, let's look at how to do it. From one of my FAVORITE publications, Decentralised.co dropped a banger piece on how to build a product-community flywheel. This is the holy grail for any product but particularly for web3 gaming as there are many more hooks in a game to get a player to engage with the community -- the genre, the lore/narrative, the art, the characters, etc.

That's it for this week y'all. And if you're short on time, I recommend at least reading the headlines of the earnings report to see where things are shaking out.

Catch you next week. XOXO. gg


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⚡ Spotlight 🤩
The $250 billion video games market | SuperJoostPlaylist

Gaming Apps spent $29B on user acquisition in 2023, 40% to U.S. | AppsFlyer

15% of monetised players spend more if actively engaged in a community | PGBiz

How To Build Product-Community Fly Wheels | Decentralised.co


🌊 MARKET 📞
Square Enix’s Q1 profits more than triple despite revenue decline | PGBiz

Take-Two reports $1.34 billion in net revenue teamed with a $262 million net loss | PGBiz

Nexon hits record Q2 revenue fueled by Dungeon & Fighter Mobile success | PGBiz

Unity outperforms guidance in Q2 2024 despite leadership changes | GamesBeat

Sony’s Gaming Q1 revenue grows 12% YoY, ups FY24 projections | GamesBeat

NCSoft profit bounces back with 59% of revenue on mobile but not all Lineage games are thriving | PGBiz

The Future of Guild Esports Appears Uncertain | TheFudgeReport

The $250 billion video games market | SuperJoostPlaylist

Games peripherals become a $10 billion market | GameDeveloper

Game developers are still feeling the pull of last-generation consoles | GameDeveloper

What exactly is a 'gamer' and why does it matter? | GameDeveloper

Amir Satvat: The situation with layoffs in the Gaming market is improving | GameDevReports

Gaming Apps spent $29B on user acquisition in 2023, 40% to U.S. | AppsFlyer


💎 Deep Dives 🔎
Mistplay: The Influence of social factors on the mobile gaming audience | GameDevReports

15% of monetised players spend more if actively engaged in a community | PGBiz

Global Gaming Report Q2 2024: M&A activity on the rise for the 3rd straight quarter | DrakeStar


🌈 Platforms 🏠
D23 2024: all the biggest trailers and news out of Disney’s biennial showcase | TheVerge

Disney fans can tune into Fortnite for collaboration announcements | GamesBeat

Report: WB Discovery looking to sell off games, other divisions to prevent total breakup | GameDeveloper


✨ Web 3⃣ + Meta 🌐
Samsung Partners with Illuvium for Web3 Gaming TVs | Gam3s.gg

Ronin Gaming Network Recovers Swiped Ethereum After $12 Million Bridge Attack | Decrypt.gg

Web3 tech firm Improbable makes its first profit after metaverse pivot | PGBiz


🧠 Knowledge Hub 📘
How To Build Product-Community Fly Wheels | Decentralised.co

Training the game designers of tomorrow (Part 3 of 5) | GameDeveloper

Seven psychology-inspired tips for perfect video game design | PGBiz

Playtesting blueprint for game studio managers | GameDeveloper


💲 Fundraising 🤑
Reforged Labs raises $3.9m in funding round | Gamesindustry.biz

Tribo Games Raises $3.3 Million in Funding | Gam3s.gg

BasedVC Raises $2 Million in Seed Funding and Preps for Token Launch | Gam3s.gg

Nazara Technologies acquires Fusebox Games for $27.2m | GamesIndustry.biz

MixRift raises $1.6M to develop mixed reality games | PGBiz

Bitkraft invests in Gam3Girl Ventures to help Web2 devs move to Web3 | GamesBeat

South Korea's HYBE secures $80 million investment for games division | PGBiz

PiP World acquires high-grossing stock simulator game StockRise | GamesBeat

Curio Secures $5.7 Million to Build Blockchain Games | Gam3s.gg

Social First bag a further $4.2 million investment as they get set to "redefine social gaming" | PGBiz

nunu.ai has raised $2 million towards AI playtesters and QA with bot detection on the way | PGBiz

Cartridge Secures $7.5M to Build On-Chain Games | Gam3s.gg


👾 Game & Stats Releases 📊
Viral shooter Kingmakers just secured a movie deal (and it hasn't even launched yet) | GameDeveloper

✅ Gaming News
✅ Web3 Gaming Coverage

Look at Gaming #402 | 8.19.2024

GM frens! Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. I wanted to kick this week off with some flowers.

Flowers for Epic Games. The multi-year battle has led to this final moment. Fortnite is launching on Epic Games' alternative app store.

The EGS mobile iOS store launched in the EU and Android store worldwide. In addition to Fortnite, users are able to download Rocket League and Fall Guys too. Pretty sweet deal.

What's important is that Epic's legal battle combined with policy from governments worldwide, opened this new domain of alternative stores. But this was a multi-year process that costed Epic close to $1B dollars.

To continue with the good news, there are signs of a recovery in the gaming space, particularly in the fundraising space. According to DDM's Games Investment Review, the investment volume nearly doubled to $8.1B in H1 2024 from $4.5B in all of 2023.

Anecdotally, I've been noticing the Fundraising section of this newsletter to be quite popping so it wasn't too surprising to see this review from DDM.

The last article I want to talk about is the state of game publishing. The macro environment is bad for every participant in the games industry from declining revenue, rising costs, to unending layoffs. Game Publishers are the purse strings of the industry so as they go through these pains, those strings tighten.

Publishers are coming in from the risk curve by greenlighting more predictable catalogues and long tail games while reducing investment in new IPs or even new games from existing IPs. Others turned to a more metric-driven approach like assessing the number of wishlists on Steam before launching a game.

Then many others who have been publishing for 10+ years are going back to more intimate indicators like median time spent on demos and playtests and external metrics like social engagement in Discord.

As the title of the article suggests, gone are the days of generalist indie publishers. Publishers must find their edge and deliver a unique offering to the market to establish a publisher identity. Obvs self-publishing is also a more viable path now than previously so Publishers must demonstrate their value-add to games.

That's it for this week's LAG! Wishing everyone a wonderful rest of their week.

gg

PS. Black Myth: Wukong will be released on August 20th. I'm going to be playing it!


-----

⚡ Spotlight 🤩
Epic Games Store and Fortnite launch on mobile platforms after a monumental fight |GamesBeat

New report says the games industry is "showing signs of a recovery" | GamesIndustry.biz

The state of games publishing: "The era of the generalist indie publisher is over" | GamesIndustry.biz


🌊 MARKET 📞
Krafton H1 24 revenue and operating profit surges to record highs | GamesBeat

The state of games publishing: "The era of the generalist indie publisher is over" | GamesIndustry.biz


💎 Deep Dives 🔎
Games Are For Everyone… Except You | KonvoyVentures

Roblox is Already the Biggest Game In The World. Why Can't It Make a Profit (And How Can It)? | MatthewBall

Singular: Mobile Market Trends in Q2'24 | GameDevReports

Guide to Growing Chinese Gaming Apps Overseas | LiftOff

New report says the games industry is "showing signs of a recovery" | GamesIndustry.biz

Sanlo survey says 81% of mobile gamers are aware of web shops | GamesBeat

How Ex-Riot Games Alumni Have Secured Over $450 Million | Gam3s.gg



🌈 Platforms 🏠
Candy Crush lands on alternative app stores | PGBiz

Epic Games Store and Fortnite launch on mobile platforms after a monumental fight |GamesBeat


✨ Web 3⃣ + Meta 🌐
Aavegotchi Studio Reveals ‘Members Only’ Ethereum Layer-3 Gaming Chain | Decrypt.gg

Ubisoft Reveals ‘Captain Laserhawk’ Game on Ethereum Layer-2 Arbitrum | Decrypt.gg

Ethereum Gaming Arcade BSMNT Launches on Base Network B3.Fun | Decrypt.gg


🧠 Knowledge Hub 📘
Supporting game design with evolutionary algorithms | GameDeveloper


💲 Fundraising 🤑
Nazara acquires Fusebox Games for $27.2M | GamesBeat