Hyper casual games lead ad media buys at 34% share, with US at the forefront of ad spend | PGBiz

Are conversion rates dipping over time on Steam? | GameDiscoverCo


🌈 Platforms 🏠
Netflix announces Minecraft animated series | GamesIndustry.biz

Discord’s turning the focus back to games | The Verge

YouTube Playables are out now with over 75 games available | PGBiz


✨ Web 3⃣ + Meta 🌐
How Immutable Nexus is Enhancing Gaming with Dedicated zkEVM Chains | Gam3s.gg

This Week in Crypto Games: 'Notcoin' Hits $1 Billion, 'Hamster Kombat' Token, Tickle-to-Earn | Decrypt.gg

‘Final Fantasy’ Maker Square Enix Moves to Arbitrum for Ethereum Game NFTs | Decrypt.gg

Mythical and Pudgy Penguins Reveal Mobile Party Game | Gam3s.gg

Arbitrum Is About to Unlock $250 Million in Funds for Ethereum Games | Decrypt.gg


🧠 Knowledge Hub 📘
Game audio overview: Sound effects for games | GameDeveloper

11 tips for killer mobile User Acquisition (Q2 version) | Brutally Honest


💲 Fundraising 🤑
Anomaly's AI-powered gaming platform attracts $1.45 million in funding | PG.biz

Gamefam Launches $5 Million Fund for UGC Creators | Gam3s.gg

Play AI Raises $4.3 Million at $70 Million Valuation | Gam3s.gg

Look at Gaming #393 | 6.10.2024

GM! Rise and grind. Welcome back to another wonderful week.

Keeping this one short today. I read an interesting opinion piece on how Sony may be wading into the live servicing of games.

Recall that Sony is known for their immersive, story-rich single-player games. And you will pay $70 for the pleasure to experience one of these games.

Sony’s publishing of Helldivers II, a $40 paid-for game with some live service elements, could be telling sign of how the Japanese conglomerate is approaching live service games.

Their new game, Concord, is expected to follow the paid-for game model.

But this half-half, hybrid model is promising. Read the article for a deeper breakdown.



-----

⚡ Spotlight 🤩
Sony avoids F2P as its live service model takes shape | GamesIndustry.biz

As RPGs and casual genres drastically decline, Monopoly Go! gives casino a 34% revenue surge | PGBiz

Ad revenue has "seen better years" on iOS, but some ad formats still pack a punch | PGBiz


🌊 MARKET 📞
Asia & MENA gaming markets approach $100B, 2B players in 2028 | Niko Partners

As RPGs and casual genres drastically decline, Monopoly Go! gives casino a 34% revenue surge | PGBiz

Ad revenue has "seen better years" on iOS, but some ad formats still pack a punch | PGBiz

What do Apple and Google’s direct-to-consumer changes really mean for game developers? | GamesIndustry.biz


💎 Deep Dives 🔎
Mobile Gaming Post-IDFA Deprecation | Konvoy Ventures

Sony avoids F2P as its live service model takes shape | GamesIndustry.biz

The Next Era of Modding | Naavik

Sensor Tower: Mobile (Gaming) Market in Q1'24 | GameDev Reports

China Games Market Reports Series | Niko Partners


🌈 Platforms 🏠
Xbox Games Showcase 2024: all the news, trailers, and announcements | The Verge

Ikea will pay 10 Roblox players to roleplay as employees in its virtual store | The Verge

Samsung shows off new barrier-free games for Samsung Smart TV | GamesBeat

Discord is making it easier for app developers to make money | The Verge


✨ Web 3⃣ + Meta 🌐
Ethereum Network Ronin Launches ‘Forge’ Program to Onboard More Games | Decrypt.gg

McDonald's Just Launched Its Own Metaverse—And Grimace NFT Owners Are VIPs | Decrypt.gg

Ethereum Wallet MetaMask Now Lets You Launch Crypto Games—Here’s How | Decrypt.gg



🧠 Knowledge Hub 📘
Promoting Your Brand Through Live Streaming Events | StreamHatchet


💲 Fundraising 🤑
‘Xociety’ Developer Raises $7.5 Million to Launch Sui Shooter Game | Decrypt.gg

The Sandbox raises $20 million to empower creators in the open metaverse | PGbiz

Wevr raises $3.5M for spatial computing and game production | GamesBeat

Hypersonic Laboratories raises $7m for modding platform Helix | GamesIndustry.biz


👾 Game & Stats Releases 📊
Riot announces Valorant console beta test at SGF, starting June 14 | GamesBeat

Suicide Squad left a $200 million hole in WBD’s video game division | The Verge

👋 Web3 Gaming Recap — June 10

🔄 Gaming Updates
• MEGAWEAPON — Released May Update (Browser release, NewNet & LATAM marketing launch)
• Ember Sword — $EMBER Token Economy Overview
• Sipher — Play 2 Airdrop Season 1 (Still has room)
• Spellborne — May 2024 Update (Early access milestones & highlights)
• Heroes of Mavia — Phase 2: Next Fronter (Reveal on June 14)
• Pirate Nation — $PIRATE Token launch (June 13)
• Illuvium — Official Game Launch on Mainnet (July 25)
• Wanderers — Closed beta reopens (June 13)
• Unioverse — Litepaper release
• Desperado B218 — Android release
• BoomLand — $BOOM token launch (Q3 2024)
• Loot Realms — Launched Force Prime Season 2 Beta (June 6)
• Bitcraft — Closed Alpha 2 (July 8)
• Shrapnel — STX 3.1 Missions (June 24 - 28)
• Beacon — Frontiers Quest Play 2 Airdrop & Play 2 Whitelist (Starts June 10)

🔖 Gaming Reads
• BITKRAFT — How UGC can shape the future of gaming
• Arto (Rumble Arcade) — Are Idle Games Back?
• CryptoClash (EthGlobal HackFS Hackathon) — 3D Multiplayer Crypto Fighting Game
• Kaito AI — TLDR of Treasure DAO's Twitter Space about Arbitrum's $200m gaming fund
• AI-meda Research — Wayfinder: An AI Agent for Web3
• Sasha Fleyshman (Arca) — 2024 is the Cambrian Explosion moment for Web3 Gaming
• Sinjin (MAYG) — For Web3 Game founders, understand the meta, get the attention, be part of the discussion but keep your eye on the prize
• tamagucci — The game genre that benefits the most in the Web3 gaming space are MMORPGs

▶️ Gaming Watch/Listens
• Blockcrunch — Episode 257: YGG is Building the First Guild Protocol (Gabby Dizon)
• Stash (Justin Kan) — Go To Market in Games w/ Mitch Lasky
• Web3 Gaming Pod — Episode 12: Deconstructing Cambria
• donn — Good YouTube playlist doing a critical review of crypto games

💸 Gaming Fundraising
• Xociety — Raised $7.5m Pre-Series A funding round led by Hashed & Sui to continue developing their AAA third-person shooter game

• Sandbox — Raised $20 million in convertible debt at a $1 billion valuation. Currently, $SAND has a market capitalization of $942 million. Previously, Sandbox raised $93 million in a Series B funding round in 2021 and aimed to raise $400 million at a $4 billion valuation in 2022


✅ Gaming Projects
• Variance
• PlayMini
• Cryptara
• Market Wars
• Monark Games
• StarCrus
• GOAT Gaming
• Nowhere3
• Night Market
• Dappmon
• Jutsu World
• Gilded Honor
• Confiction Labs
• Atemu
• Permaverse
• Cyberseum
• Neuphoria

hope helpful wuwu 😆💞

✅ Gaming News
✅ Web3 Gaming Coverage

👋 Web3 Gaming Recap — June 11

🔄 Gaming Updates
• Heroes of Mavia — Phase 2: Next Fronter will include ability to convert Ruby to $MAVIA & $MAVIA to Ruby
• Gangster Arena — Gangster Arena 2 Launch Update (NFT holders can start staking + $GREED token airdrop claimable)
• Wanderers — Second Closed Beta (June 13 - 17)
• Crystals of Naramunz — Closed Beta (June 12)
• Sipher — Play 2 Airdrop now LIVE
• Pirate Nation — Start of Booty Season 2 (June 11)
• Beacon — New Frontiers Quest is LIVE

🔖 Gaming Reads
• Isaac (SNZ Holding) — What is Treasure ($MAGIC), Arbitrum's Gaming Catalyst Program (GCP), how are they linked & what to look out for in the coming weeks
• Aylo — Why Zentry is building a game of games and why you should pay attention if you play any games at all (Web2 or Web3)
• Crypto: The Game — Uniswap Labs is acquiring Crypto: The Game
• Gaming Chronicles — P2A Events, SocialFi, Market Narratives, and more in GC Alpha #1
• GamesTX — Contextualizing Arbitrum's $220 million gaming bet

▶️ Gaming Watch/Listens
• Into The Metaverse — E.L.F. Beauty's Roblox Domination: A Masterclass in Cultivating Community

✅ Gaming Projects
• Playtest AI
• Elixir DAO
• Azura
• Goose Agent

hope helpful wuwu 😆💞

✅ Gaming News
✅ Web3 Gaming Coverage

Look at Gaming #394 | 6.17.2024


GM! Happy Monday. Let's get after it!

First I'll take us down memory lane with a brief history of the mobile games industry.

Although there are linkages way back to 1990s with games like Snake, I want to start post-iPhone in the 2007/8s. (You can read this if you want to go all the way to the 90s)

In the beginning, there were premium games. Remember Angry Birds? What about Fruit Ninja? But those days were short lived as the Free-to-Play shift happened.

This change was hard on the dominant studios. Rovio (creator of Angry Birds) struggled to ship AB2 and even then had to rebuild the game post-launch. King was a browser-based games company that had to transition the whole studio to launch Candy Crush on mobile. Another was Zynga. FarmVille and Mafia Wars were games on Facebook.

Even now, mega studio/publishers like Activision and Take-Two are still feeling their way through mobile. Tencent is a slightly separate story as the company built its gaming initiatives atop the ubiquitous WeChat app. Plus mobile penetration was extremely high in China so the market and the fit was ripe for the taking.

In the mid-to-late 2010s, Hypercasual was at the forefront. These titles' revenue were largely driven by ads. So far we've seen the mobile industry go from premium games, to in-app purchases, then heavy ad monetizations. With nearly a decade and a half of experience, mobile publishers refined their user funnels to drive maximum LTV and conversion rates.

This crescendoed during the COVID lockdown. Gaming across the board hit all-time-highs on basically every metric that matters. What an incredible moment in video game history. Then the party ended.

Apple and Google effectively cracked down on privacy which kneecapped the mobile games industry. If we were to abstract away all of the art, core loop, narrative, mobile games are simply an arbitrage between CAC and LTV. When CAC exploded but LTV remained flat (if not decreased), the math just doesn't math anymore.

Fortunately another shift is underway — albeit a regulatory shift but still potentially good. The EU forced Apple and Google to allow for alternative app stores. Almost immediately companies like Epic Games announced that it would launch a store. Then Microsoft. Then Sony. Then hundreds of others.

The first app store called Aptoide just launched last week with 6 gaming titles. The store is slowly being released to the market with 500 to 1000 daily access codes distributed. There are 100+ developers and 20k users in the waitlist to deploy on the newest app store.

Apptoide is charging 20% for IAP. Additionally, it's reportedly paying $1-$2k to developers to launch a game on their platform. I suppose this is somewhat competitive? But I expect more choices to come to the market and thus the fees would keep compressing.

As an aside, this reminds me of Ben Thomspon (Stretchery) notion on bundling and unbundling. This is clearly an unbundling of the app store but the concept is that this cycle will repeat itself so I wonder if in the future, there were 1000+ app stores, would we need to bundle them up again?

In other news, there are more layoffs in 2024 (as of May) than all of 2023. Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo all stop supporting X (Twitter) as a source to share content. Yet all of us are still on Twitter.

Oh and Bethesda accrued $80M+ in incremental revenue from the TV show. Bullish on transmedia.

Catch y'all next Monday!

-----

⚡ Spotlight 🤩
A brief history of the mobile games industry | PGbiz

Aptoide becomes first non-Apple iOS store | The Verge

All three game console makers have now abandoned X integration | The Verge

There have already been more layoffs in 2024 than in 2023 | Game Industry Layoffs


🌊 MARKET ☎️
There have already been more layoffs in 2024 than in 2023 | Game Industry Layoffs

The state of the hypercasual genre in 2024 | PGBiz


💎 Deep Dives 🔎
GlobalData: The Cloud Gaming Segment Will Grow 7 Times by 2030 | Global Data

Gaming is Personal | Fandom

Newzoo: How Women play Games in 2024 | Newzoo


🌈 Platforms 🏠
All three game console makers have now abandoned X integration | The Verge

Aptoide becomes first non-Apple iOS store | GamesIndustry.biz


✨ Web 3⃣ + Meta 🌐
Uniswap Labs Acquires 'Crypto: The Game' Ahead of Next Season | Decrypt.gg

Sequence and Aethir to Offer Decentralized GPUs for Games | Gam3s.gg

Arbitrum to Launch $215 Million Gaming Catalyst Program | Gam3s.gg


🧠 Knowledge Hub 📘
Mock reviews and game evaluations: what are they, and why are they useful for devs? | GamesIndustry.biz


💲 Fundraising 🤑
Distance Technologies raises $2.7M for glasses-free extended reality apps | GamesBeat

Pixelverse Secures $5.5 Million From Top VCs | Gam3s.gg

Astrocade AI secures $12m in seed funding round | Astrocade AI


👾 Game & Stats Releases 📊
Supercell's Squad Busters team tell all on what's become their biggest launch yet | PGBiz

VG Insights: Fallout TV Series generated over $80M in Incremental Revenue for Bethesda | VGI

👋 Web3 Gaming Recap — June 17 to 18

🔄 Gaming Updates
• Pixels — Launch of Chapter 2 (June 19)
• Worlds — Revealed their team developing Waifu Tactical Force
• Qio Labs — Released footage bringing blockchain tech to Apple Vision Pro
• Ather Labs — Launches Capytal War on TG
• Sophon — Launched farming w/ initial assets, $BEAM (June 18)
• Today The Game — Growth Elixir Mint (June 25)
• Symbiogenesis — Start of Season 2 (June 20)
• AI Arena — $NRN (Neuron) TGE registration on Arbitrum (June 12 - 19)
• Sipher — Launched Android APK
• Lumiterra - Launched $LUDAMOON game (June 18)

🔖 Gaming Reads
• Autonomous Worlds Network — Player Scripted NPCs
• Stash — What games can learn from airline loyalty programs part 1
• Stash — What games can learn from airline loyalty programs part 2
• B3 — How B3 is powering the future of onchain gaming
• Tin (Sipher) — Web3 & AI are pivotal innovations that will get gaming thru its winter
• BITKRAFT — Is mixed reality signaling a platform shift?
• Gangster Arena — How to play Infographic
• Carlos Pereira (BITKRAFT) — What Bodycam is, what it isn't & how it relates to the "Web3 gaming is dead" talk
• Magicblock — Released footage of how their engine accelerates Solana w/o state fragmentation
• tamagucci — Ronin has exceeded expectations
• Footprint Analytics — State of Blockchain Gaming Now
• Luke Barwikowski (Pixels) — Success in Web3 gaming hinges on early shipping and iterative development rather than traditional stealth strategies & premature token launches
• Play AI — 5 ways AI Agents will make games more fun
• AW Research — Onchain game roundup

▶️ Gaming Watch/Listens
• Blockchain Gaming World — Weekly Roundup

💸 Gaming Fundraising
• Pixelverse — Raised $5.5m Funding Round
• Yuliverse — Raised $4m Pre Series A
• Sonic — Solana based gaming chain raised $12m Series A led by BITKRAFT

✅ Gaming Projects
• Qio Labs (VR Project by Inutan Studio — Play Aria)
• B3 (Gaming Ecosystem)
• Natomon
• Edison Metaverse (By BoredElonMusk)
• Variance Poker
• Capytal War
• STARK Arcade
• INTERSTICE
• Bubblewars
• RIVES
• Woah Universe
• Ruyui Studios
• Panda Roll

hope helpful wuwu 😆💞

✅ Gaming News
✅ Web3 Gaming Coverage

👋 Web3 Gaming Recap — June 19 to 20

💎 Gaming Spotlight 🥜
• Ronin introduces zkEVM which unlocks more scalability, cross-chain experiences & economic alignment — Read More

🔄 Gaming Updates
• OhBabyGames — Oh Baby Kart Dev Update #3
• Pixels Online — Launched Chapter 2
• Kaiju Cards — Shutting down after 3 years
• Superverse — Unveiled Altura Grant Fund allocating $1m for Web3 Games
• ARBO — Arena Tactics Build 1.53.2 Patch Notes
• LANIAKEA — Moving to Monadhttps://i.redd.it/x40d88egpsmc1.png
• Crypto Unicorns — Airdrop for $XAI node holders
• Engines of Fury — Alpha scheduled for August 2024
• Degen Wars — Released public fully onchain testnet
• The Machines Arena — Released Whitepaper
• Persona — Launched Season 1.5
• Sonic — Launched Odyssey Testnet Campaign
• METALCORE — Closed Beta 3 (June 27)
• Nyan Heroes — Airdrop Season 2 $NYAN Claim (June 19 - July 3)
• World Shards — Economy Updates
• MON Protocol — LaunchPool #2 (June 24 - 28)
• Fractional Uprising Studios — $FU is both a meme & utility token
• Tatsumeeko — Pre Beta Registration (June 19 - July 1)

🔖 Gaming Reads
• Starknet Foundation — Recipients of Propulsion Program ($20m initiative)
• Simon (Mighty Bear Games) — The Future of Gaming: Why Web3 is unstoppable
• Adrian (Newman Capital) — Is Play to Earn the end game or bug for Web3 gaming
• David Amor (Playmint) — Autonomous Worlds despite being innovative are very niche and have zero to no traction & PMF which illustrate perhaps the cost of trying to introduce new ideas to the world

▶️ Gaming Watch/Listens
• Press Play (Gam3s.GG) — Where are the Gamers

💸 Gaming Fundraising
• Second World Games — Raised $3m in token presale (TGE on June 26)
• Saltwater Games — Closed seed SAFT round for $XR token from Animoca Brands (Previously raised $5.5m led by DeusX, 4RC & Primal Capital)

✅ Gaming Projects
• Trifle
• Warpacks
• Spot Zero
• GameShift
• Saku Monsters
• TWL
• Pioneer
• Blob Arena
• Tale Weaver

hope helpful wuwu 😆💞

✅ Gaming News
✅ Web3 Gaming Coverage

👋 Web3 Gaming Recap — July 1 to 3

🔄 Gaming Updates
• Baratie — GMonster GM Challenge (Join by July 5)
• THE WATCH — Version 2 Private Alpha (July 5)
• Ember Sword — Closed Beta (July 12)
• GOAT Gaming — Launched Road to $GOAT Airdrop Campaign
• Fableborne — Launched Play 2 Airdrop Campaign
• Wild Forest — Launched game & Play 2 Airdrop Season 2
• Shardbound — Launched Public Beta
• Paradise Tycoon — Launched P2A Season 2
• Crypto Unicorns — Launched S1 Play-to-Airdrop
• Decentral Games — Launched BAG City
• Blast Royale — Launched Beta Season 10
• Loot Legends — Launched Pre Registration for Web3 mobile roguelite dungeon crawler game
• Tatsumeeko — Launched Pre Beta Preview #1
• Worldwide Webb — Rebranded to Soulbound
• Cross The Ages — Early Access (December)
• BattleBound — Launched Steam store page for Project A
• Rumble Arcade — Now available as Mobile App PWA
• Aavegotchi — June Highlights
• Petopia — Launching Free For All PvP
• ZTX — Revealed Roadmap
• MARBLEX — Migrating games & dapp services to Immutable zkEVM
• Treasure DAO — Released Developer Docs
• Planet Mojo — New Season (July 11)
• Treeverse — Monthly Update #31
• Pirate Nation — Turned off signups for new accounts to maintain game stability & performance
• Uncharted — Future Roadmap to become gamification layer for crypto

🔖 Gaming Reads
• Autonomous Worlds Network — Pixel Based Digital Physics
• Starknet Foundation — Recipients of Propulsion Program ($20m initiative)
• zKorp — zKastle, solo strategy card game & winner of ETHGlobal StarkHack Dojo Prize
• Blockworks Research — Fully Onchain Gaming & Autonomous Worlds
• Peter (1kx) — Evolution of fully onchain applications
• Arto (Tribo Games) — Is Mobile Gaming mostly casual
• Jon Hook (Play Ember) — Consumer crypto is the trending narrative
• Cipher — Sanko Gamecorp for Dummies
• Vader Research — Is listing your token on Tier 2 CEXs worth it at this point?
• Apix — Influence economy & reward structure breakdown

▶️ Gaming Watch/Listens
• Press Play (Gam3s.GG) — How does a game go about building a brand in Web3?
• Doubl3Tap — Episode 022: Richard Kim (Zero Edge)
• Venture Games — Episode 45: Anton Bernstein (Pocket Worlds)
• Game Economist Cast — E28: B-A-N-A-N-A!
• FOCGERS — The launch of an FOCG, 3 years in the making
• Into The Metaverse — EP.95: Matthew Ball & The Future of the Metaverse (Part 1)

💸 Gaming Fundraising
• Farworld — Closed $1.75m funding round led by Lemniscap & Variant Fund
• Grug’s Lair — Closed pre-seed funding round led by PTC Crypto
• Cambria — Closed $2.5m seed round led by BITKRAFT
• Redacted Coin — Raised $10m to create a Web3 entertainment ecosystem

✅ Gaming Projects
• Heir of Light: Eclipse
• Llama Land
• Immortal Rising
• Runepunk Legends
• zKastle
• Chain Monsters
• Hyve Labs

hope helpful wuwu 😆💞

✅ Gaming News
✅ Web3 Gaming Coverage

Look at Gaming #396 | 7.08.2024

GM! It's Monday so let's get after it!

VCs have always used the heuristic of an "ex-Riot/Blizzard" founder as a reason to invest in them. These two companies (Theorycraft and Singularity) are the bellwether for whether that investment thesis works or not.

Secondly, I want to highlight how games are fluid and will find ways to spread into a users' daily content consumption regiment. There are many forms of games and evidently Chinese gamers aside from playing core games they also find these filler mini games. Additionally, the delivery factor and access point matters. As most mini games are played within another app.

Speaking of mini games, my favorite type of mini games are co-op games. I played 'It Takes Two' with my wife and it was such a blast. Things generally move in cycles and in the games industry we've gone from single-player titles, to co-op games, to massive multiplayer online games, and now reverting to co-op. In 2023, 6% of games released were co-op titles YET 36% OF UNITS SOLD ARE CO-OP GAMES.

Also some bright light in the industry. Layoffs have impacted many in the industry and it seems like it finally slowed down.

Have a wonderful week and catch y'all next week!

-----

⚡ Spotlight 🤩
Theorycraft vs. Singularity 6: Is the biggest investment thesis in gaming at risk? | GameMakers

Two-thirds of Chinese mobile gamers play mini games | PGBiz

Amir Satvat finds the smallest of tea leaves for the game job market: growth is returning | GamesBeat

VG Insights: Cooperative Games on Steam in 2024 | VGInsights


🌊 MARKET 📞
Theorycraft vs. Singularity 6: Is the biggest investment thesis in gaming at risk? | GameMakers

These 27 brands are sponsoring the 2024 Esports World Cup | GamesBeat

Two-thirds of Chinese mobile gamers play mini games | PGBiz

Skillz files suit against Voodoo as part of its ongoing bot battle | GamesBeat

Amir Satvat finds the smallest of tea leaves for the game job market: growth is returning | GamesBeat

Animoca Brands eyes IPO in Hong Kong or Dubai for 2025 | PGBiz


💎 Deep Dives 🔎
Netflix Games: mistakes and opportunities | MobileDevMemo

The Long Road Ahead for the Esports World Cup | The Fudge Retort

How consumers engage with games today | Newzoo

Meta’s “pay or okay” model violates the DMA | MobileDevMemo

VG Insights: Cooperative Games on Steam in 2024 | VGInsights

Niko Partners: Chinese Gamers in 2024 | Niko Partners


🌈 Platforms 🏠
Apple 30% fee extends to Instagram and Facebook ads worldwide today | PGBiz

Epic says its EU iOS app store is approved but that Apple wants a change | The Verge

Ex-Rockstar dev says GTA Online got so big, it killed GTA 5's story DLC | GameDeveloper

NASCAR brings its familiar roadways to Fortnite’s Rocket Racing | GamesBeat

Netflix's latest big name release is Microsoft's Minesweeper from 1990 | PGBiz


✨ Web 3⃣ + Meta 🌐
Ubisoft is still trying to make NFTs happen | GameDeveloper


🧠 Knowledge Hub 📘
Analyzing New Game Ideas for Market Success: Strategic Toolkit | GameDeveloper

What are 'skip-its' and how will they affect ad monetisation in 2024? | PGBiz

Training the game designers of tomorrow (part 1 of 5) | GameDeveloper


💲 Fundraising 🤑
Finnish startup Bitmagic raises $4 million for AI platform able to create games from text prompts | PGBiz

👋 Web3 Gaming Recap — July 8 to 13

🔄 Gaming Updates
• Anichess — Launched Season 2
• Kitty Kart — Launched Racing
• Mystery Society — Launched on Android
• Eternum — Live on testnet for 1 week
• Desperado B218 — Launched on iOS
• Kamigotchi — Launched their on-chain pet idle RPG game on testnet
• Castaways — Launching a new game that's entirely Web2
• Illuvium — Official Game Launch (July 26)
• AI Waifu — Next iteration of AI Waifu is AIKOI
• Karrat — Introduced "The Others", LLM/SLM powered collectibles part of $KARRAT ecosystem
• Decentral Games — Shipped Private Tables, Voice Chat & More
• BattleBound — Pivoting game design from auto-battler to action RPG
• Fren Pet — Now playable within Telegram
• Tale Weaver — Won StarkNet Hacker House
• Illuvium — Illuvium Zero Beta Launch on iOS/Android/PC/Mac
• MixMob — Token Utility Overview

🔖 Gaming Reads
• Cherry Blue — Composable Game as a Service
• NightMarket — What does true esports look like?
• Happy Chain — ETH L2 that brings free-to-play and zero friction onboarding onchain
• Ryan Rigney — Nobody Knows if your game will pop off
• Tamagucci — Telegram: A Faux Narrative or What
• Material 10 — Announced Project Fallen, a hardcore PvP multiplayer game blending squad-based third-person shooter with RTS elements
• Sparkball — Official Web3 Update & Future of Sparkball
• Kieran — IIP that if approved enables creators, guilds and partners to earn up to 17.5% on purchases made by referrals
• John Patten — Magicswap V2
• Hunter Solaire — Why Pirate Nation's P2A event was perfect
• Arto (Tribo Games) — Web3 version of game X
• Hunters Arena: Revolution — CBT Program (July 18 - 24)
• Plotchy — Using Tech IQ to dominate Kamigotchi

▶️ Gaming Watch/Listens
• Doubl3Tap — Ep 24: Ryan Wiancko (Ironbelly Group)
• a16z Games — The Unlikely Return of the Video Game Demo
• Gam3s.GG — Tournaments & Player Engagement
• Venture Games — Episode 46: Matt Ball, Epyllion
• Zima Red — Episode 157: Chris Heatherly
• ChainCraft — How we are creating an AI + Blockchain powered game development platform

💸 Gaming Fundraising
• Soccerverse — Announced $3.1m funding round led by Square Enix
• Pixelverse — Announced seed $2m extension round from Galaxy, CRIT Ventures, ARC, and angels

✅ Gaming Projects
• Runepunk Legends
• Proxi
• Power Protocol
• NEXPACE
• ChainCraft Games
• Enter VR
• Grow Studio
• Incarnation
• BeraTone
• Alliance Games

hope helpful wuwu 😆💞

✅ Gaming News
✅ Web3 Gaming Coverage

👋 Web3 Gaming Recap — July 15

🔄 Gaming Updates
• GameCoin — Launched Hot Air on TG
• ZkCandy — Introduced OG Pass
• Gomble Games — Launching new game, EggDrop (July 18)
• Crystals of Naramunz — Open Beta slated for December 2024
• XOCIETY — Battleground Open Playtest (July 15)
• Supervillain Labs — 1st AMA Recap
• Pebble City — Will launch on Android/iOS App Store in Q3 2024

🔖 Gaming Reads
• Ancient 8 — Introduced $A8 ecosystem governance (Token soon?)
• Martin — Building Dota or Valorant on-chain is cool but unlikely to take crypto gaming to the next level but on-chain games will

▶️ Gaming Watch/Listens
• Jauwn — The Web3 Metaverse: One Year Later

💸 Gaming Fundraising
• Akedo Games — Secured strategic investment from The Open Platform (TOP) to develop Telegram Games in the TON blockchain ecosystem. Their first TG game, Akedog launches on July 18

✅ Gaming Projects
• Provable Games
• GameCoin
• Yolo
• Onchain Heroes
• Fit Club

hope helpful wuwu 😆💞

✅ Gaming News
✅ Web3 Gaming Coverage

Look at Gaming #397 | 7.15.2024

GM! Welcome back to the grind ladies and gents.

Today I want to cover two headlines and two deep dives that caught my eye.

Apple finally approved Epic Games Store' iOS after rejecting it twice and that Pokémon Sleep earned $100M within its first year!

Layer Licensing showed that the top genre for IP collabs are RPG (20%) and shooters (16%). Film & TV IPs are used the most at 22% and Anime/Comics at a close second at 21%. Surprisingly third place is video game IPs itself at 17%.

Largely mobile and PC use IP collaborations, 71% and 70% respectively.

The second report is about how competitive Steam game releases are getting. Game releases in January has increased 73% since 2021 (745 games in 01/2021 and 1292 in 01/2024)

There's also an interesting blog post from Seufert about mobile ad networks and its survivability outside of mobile games.

That's it from me! I hope everyone has a great week 🙂 .


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⚡ Spotlight 🤩
IP Collaborations in Games in recent years | Layer Licensing

How much busier is Steam for 'significant' games? | GameDiscoverCo

Apple approves Epic Games Store for iOS after rejecting it twice | GamesIndustry.biz

Pokémon Sleep earns $100m in first year revenue | GamesIndustry.biz


🌊 MARKET 📞
Inaugural Esports Olympic Games to be held in Saudi Arabia | GamesIndustry.biz

A year after Scopely acquisition, gaming is different | GamesBeat

Genies launches creator and partner network for avatar IP innovation | GamesBeat


💎 Deep Dives 🔎
IP Collaborations in Games in recent years | Layer Licensing

Building a Foundation for Esports | Konvoy Ventures

Can mobile ad networks succeed beyond gaming? | MobileDevMemo

How much busier is Steam for 'significant' games? | GameDiscoverCo


🌈 Platforms 🏠
Apple approves Epic Games Store for iOS after rejecting it twice | GamesIndustry.biz

Here’s how much Valve pays its staff — and how few people it employs | The Verge

Roblox launches advanced analytics tools for developers | PGBiz

Opinion: Call of Duty is tearing Xbox apart | GameDeveloper

Tencent is shutting down its free-to-play shooter Synced after just a year | GamesIndustry.biz

Whataburger launches branded Fortnite map and tournament | Gamesbeat


✨ Web 3⃣ + Meta 🌐
Introduction to the GAM3S Creator Program | Gam3s.gg

Sky Mavis Launches PHPC Stablecoin on Ronin Blockchain | Gam3s.gg

Illuvium Zero Beta Launches with New Features and Enhancements | Gam3s.gg

DM2C unveils blockchain game and entertainment platform Seamoon Protocol | GamesBeat

The Future of Blockchain Gaming and Web3 in Asia | Gam3s.gg


🧠 Knowledge Hub 📘
Training the game designers of tomorrow (Part 2/5) | GameDeveloper


💲 Fundraising 🤑
Square-Enix backs blockchain-based football MMO ‘Soccerverse’ | CoinTelegraph

Grand Games raises $3m in funding round | GamesIndustry.biz

Pixelverse Raises $2 Million After Launching Telegram Game | Gam3s.gg

Volley raises $55M voice-enabled AI games | GamesBeat


👾 Game & Stats Releases 📊
Pokémon Sleep earns $100m in first year revenue | GamesIndustry.biz

How Exploding Kittens made the jump from card game to Netflix show | GamesBeat

Get ready for the Palworld licensing bonanza | GamesBeat

👋 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.

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⚡ 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