While it’s traditional to list the most read articles of the year, given how Substack works, such a framing tends to merely list my most recent articles, as readership is growing — up 262% this year (albeit from a low base!).
So, instead, I thought it would be more interesting to look at the emails with the highest opening rate, suggesting they were in some way the most significant.
Of course, this — in turn — tends to emphasis paid-only emails as these receivers are the most committed readers.
And on that note, maybe you should consider becoming a paid subscriber too. Rates start from $25 a month or 17% less for an annual subscription.
1. Axie in the cloud (86%)
The news of Sky Mavis’ growing partnership with Google, which has since seen the first version of Axie Infinity Origins approved for Google Play Store release.
2. Blankos’ Epic Game Store launch (84%)
From what I can tell, this hasn’t (yet) resulted in much of an impact in terms of users, but was significant for other reasons, not least in terms of Epic’s openness to blockchain games.
3. Rebooting Crypto Unicorns (84%)
Looking at Laguna Games’ roadmap to build out a wider ecosystem based on its original Crypto Unicorns farming game.
4. Blur’s clever focus (82%)
Considering the new NFT marketplace, which is launching its token in early 2023 via airdrop to its active traders over the past months.
5. Super Bowl LVII and the art of misdirection (82%)
One of my favorite articles of the year; of course talking about Gabe Leydon and the nuance of DigiDaigaku.
This Substack is sponsored by Hiro Capital: investing in the future of games
However, never let it be said that I am not a completist, so here — also — are the top five most read emails of 2022.
1. My token killed my blockchain game
Why most blockchain games devs are not now launching tokens before launching their games.
2. When Blizzard retrospectively airdrops NFTs
A thought experiment
3. Apple's tightening grip is just rigor mortis
We’re going to be talking a lot about mobile blockchain games and the App Store in 2023 but this was the first attempt to get my head around what’s happening.
4. Mythical Games sacrifices for the greater good
The surprising news of the forthcoming Mythos gaming blockchain
5. Blockchain gaming's Wile E Coyote moment
My favorite headline of 2022, this email compared the collapse of blockchain game token prices while also highlighting investment into the sector and the amount of high quality games in development.
Additional Links
2022 in review w/ David Amor (Playmint) & Will Luton (Village) [YT]
The top 2 Solana NFT projects — DeGods and Y00ts — are moving to Ethereum and Polygon respectively.
The not-so-chilled Christmas rise of Pudgy Penguins: floor price now all-time high of 7 ETH.