Enter the bear..
Probably not your first time
The week has ended with another brutal down day in terms of crypto prices — presumed to be a combination of the German government selling off BTC and the start of the legacy Mt Gox exchange paying back $9 billion of Bitcoin to its long-suffering users.
The result has been the highest value of liquidations since FTX’s collapse in November 2022.
So, have we actually entered a bear market?
Probably not, at least unless BTC drops and sustains below $50,000, (or $38,000 reckons goldbug Peter Schiff). More positively, there’s probably still too much uplift expected in terms of future macroeconomic conditions, at least in terms of the easing of interest rates etc.
As for blockchain gaming, this week I’ve been beavering away on the data and graphs for the Big Blockchain Game Report Q2 2024, which are now complete.
As part of this work, I ended up spending a bunch of time looking at the impact of Pixels’ Chapter 2 launch, which suggested that 69% of its peak DAUWs were bots.
I also looked in some detail at the game’s monthly wallet cohorts, noting significant differences between those wallets playing before and after the game’s PIXEL token launch.
I also noted the insane retention of its initial golden cohort from October 2023, which has only just dipped under 50% nine months on.
Away from Pixels — and even before today’s price rout — the news on gaming tokens’ performance for H1 2024 was not good.
Only 4 of the top 17 tokens were up, with tokens launched during 2024 performing even worse.
Oh, well. Good thing we’re all long-term people!
Sponsored by Hiro Capital: investing 📈 in the future 🔮 of gaming 🎮
Weekly News Roundup
Immutable was the biggest gainer among gaming blockchains in June.
Animoca’s Yat Siu is bullish on Telegram onboarding users to web3 gaming.
Registrations open for early testers of Nexon’s PC MMORPG MapleStory N.
Ex-Oasys BD exec Dominic Jang joins Nexon as VP for MapleStory Universe.
Dacoco launches genAI tool to expand Alien Worlds lore via UGC stories.
Crypto exchange OKX announces gaming launchpad.
Mighty Bear Games launches skill-based rewards platform Goat Gaming.
Antler Interactive drops new trailer for PC RPG Cloudborn.
As discussed by the merched-up pair below. Look who loves her new Mocaverse hoody.
New Web2+Web3 MMORGP news
Following yesterday’s news arising from WEMIX Day — coming on 16th July — fellow South Korean outfit Line Next has announced a strategic partnership with fellow South Korean game publisher Smilegate.
The deal will see the two companies working together to bring blockchain to Smilegate’s PC/mobile MMORPG Lord Nine, which it describes as “Asia's largest”, although it’s not launching until 12th July in South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau.
In terms of blockchain, it will use Line Next’s DOSI platform for item trading. Users will be able to log in using their Line social media accounts and spend money using Apple and Google Pay. The marketplace will go live in Taiwan during September. This will be promoted with a pre-registration campaign rewarding players with in-game items and Line points.
Of course, this sort of approach is something Wemade has been trying for the past couple of years with its web2+web3 MMORPGs Mir4 and Night Crows, without much success as yet.
Additional Links
WolvesDAO has an interesting opinion piece on whether play-to-airdrop is dead or just misused.
Check out Pirate Nation’s data dashboard.
Check out the Big Blockchain Game Report Q1 2024 👀 here or 👀 via PDF.