#855 A week of MapleStory N and Wildcard
Strong stuff
Top 300 Web3 Games Index: ↓1% today, ↓48% YTD
Ronin Games Index: ↓2% today, ↓70% YTD
Immutable Games Index: ↓4% today, ↓51% YTD
AI Gaming Agents: ↓1% today, ↓57% YTD
Jon’s TX Games Index: 0% today, ↓46% YTD
Jon’s 2025 Reboot Index*: ↑1% today, ↓52% YTD
*Definitely not investment advice
I think the dates are coincidental but the very week before Avalanche’s 2025 summit in London, South Korean gaming giant Nexon released its much anticipated MapleStory N MMORPG, which runs on its own Avalanche-based Henesys blockchain
Prior to its 15th May launch, Nexon also ran a MapleStory-themed NFT mint on OpenSea. It was free and the NFT has little functionality.
Nevertheless, over 1.7 million NFTs were minted, with the mint driving overall transactions across all Avalanche blockchains up eight-fold.
At peak minting, Henesys accounted for 75% of transactions on all Avalanche-based blockchains, including Avalanche’s main C-Chain.
Henesys is the purple line in the graph below.
Of course, with the game now live, things have calmed down.
As is also often the case, MapleStory N isn’t a very blockchain-heavy experience in its early stages either. I’ve only been playing the first levels and it seems the initial transaction is the ability to mint your game avatar, for which you have to complete a bunch of quests.
It’s also worth pointing out that many western countries are technically blocked from the game and you need to use Metamask to log in, so a good chunk of the audience will have to be crypto-experienced people with VPNs.
Presumably for this reason, yesterday’s activity on Henesys was around 11,000 unique wallets. Obviously, we’ll keep an eye on this as more people get further into the game, and other aspects of the wider ecosystem — such as item trading — start to pick up steam.
Still, with games (and ecosystems) including MapleStory N, Off The Grid, Shrapnel, Beam and now Pixelmon and Paradise Tycoon, it seems that gaming on Avalanche is finally building up some momentum.
Hopefully I’ll report back from the summit with more data next week!
Sponsored by Hiro Capital: investing 📈 in the future 🔮 of gaming 🎮
My other focus this week was Blockchain Gaming World #198 with Playful Studios’ CEO Paul Bettner and Wildcard’s lead game designer Brad Weir.
I’ve likely bored everyone rigid with my various takes on the game and its web3 streaming platform Thousands in recent days, so I’ll merely point out that you should check out the podcast and/or the transcription.
And if you doubt me, I add some new data that Bettner tweeted RE: Thousand’s updated user metrics:
Average Revenue per Stream: $63,639
ARPV (Average Revenue per Viewer): $250
Viewer->Payer Conversion: 72%
Single-Stream ATH Revenue: $118,871
To confirm, this is revenue that is being generated by spectators on Thousands who are buying in-platform coins to interact with teams playing Wildcard.
Yes, of course, it is a “golden cohort”, but so, so golden!!
You can check when future broadcasts are happening next via X.
Weekly news roundup
Solana-based PC shooter Nyan Heroes is closing down.
Crazy Defense Heroes now supports IAPs using TOWER token for US players.
Animoca Brands looking to IPO in the US.
Pixelmon adopts Avalanche, with mobile game Warden’s Ascent first to launch.
Empires Not Vampires introduces Avalanche L1 Paradise Chain.
Pudgy Penguins’ skill-based Pengu Clash launching on TON.
XPLA joins Korea Mobile Game Association and Punkvism to launch web3 game incubator.
Beamable and Upheaval partner to enhance AI-driven game tech.
GameTree leveraging Futureverse’s tech for web3 wallet solution.
Sports, gaming, and NFTs key drivers behind Q1 2025 growth on Flow.
Charm Pixels’ new AI Veronica agents to win rewards and climb the leaderboard.
Cloud9 partners with Theta to build esports AI chatbot Nimbus.
As discussed below.
🔗 Additional Links 🔗
MapleStory N testers got an airdrop of +3000 NXPC ($8,000) apparently.
Xociety’s ALT x Adidas public mint on Sui sold out in 20 seconds.