Potential Stocks in the Encrypted World: An Inventory of Web3 Gaming Projects

Games are usually the killer app on new platforms. There are over 3 billion electronic game players in the world today, and 250 million of the younger generation will become lifelong players. From its birth to today, a vibrant consumer ecosystem has developed around games, which are also a huge social network with high stickiness. As one of the main forms of entertainment for people in the digital age, games are creating great value. In the world of Web3, games have always been seen as a potentially important application area.

According to a survey by Bain & Company, the value of the gaming market will grow by over 50% to over $300 billion by 2025. As consumer demand for games continues to grow, players' expectations for gaming experiences are also increasing. The combination of games and blockchain technology provides players with a new gaming experience. Currently, more and more games are using blockchain technology to achieve player ownership of game characters and accessories, as well as a better virtual experience.

In May 2022, the crypto venture capital giant a16z announced the launch of its first gaming fund, Games Fund One, with a size of $600 million. A year later, the fund has made 25 investments. The statistical data presented in Cointelegraph's March 2023 report on blockchain games also shows the growth and potential of Web3 games: in addition to a large amount of funding and game projects, Web3 games accounted for 49% of all on-chain transactions in 2022, and from 2021 to 2022, daily active users increased by 60%, demonstrating the growth of the Web3 gaming user base and the significant potential of this track compared to other tracks.

There are many ways to classify games, such as interactivity, playability, and expandability, and with the properties of Web3, they can also be classified based on decentralization. For example, based on decentralization from low to high, Web3 games can be divided into three types: optional on-chain games, semi-chain games, and fully on-chain games. Optional on-chain games are essentially traditional Web2 games + game IP-derived NFTs, and are not considered true Web3 games; semi-chain games are a common form of Web3 games, where player assets are stored on the chain, but actual game operations are still carried out off-chain, solving the problem of verifying asset ownership and asset programmability, focusing on items and property in the game; fully on-chain games are truly decentralized games, using blockchain to replace traditional centralized game servers, storing all player data on the chain, and indexing and writing it, giving the game persistence, resistance to censorship, and the ability for the community to develop autonomously.

In this article, the veDAO Research Institute will select three highly distinctive categories from different game classifications to classify Web3 games and take stock of 9 high-quality Web3 gaming projects.

Traditional Web3 Games

Traditional Web3 games refer to most common Play-to-Earn (P2E) games, which usually have average interactivity, simple graphics, P2E effects as the core, and strong community-driven characteristics. This type of Web3 game has lower playability compared to Web2 games, so it mainly attracts Web3 communities. Just as there are still a large number of players for 8-bit pixel games even after the appearance of the Unreal Engine 5, the playability of games includes not only interaction and graphics, but also narrative and community participation; this is even more so in the Web3 field: players can even participate in the construction of the game.

AI Rein

Details:

https://app.vedao.com/projects/1e5934ca90af2076a3c8ddfcc2c9d0172fde2199df2f3896980a64d1ed14610a

AI Rein is a global NFT project with a theme of the future world of A.I. in Japan. It has unique AI Motion technology that allows NFT holders to control their avatars in the metaverse through a computer front camera. AI Rein's first NFT series is the PFP of future A.I. world citizens. AI Rein also plans to launch a 2D pixel-style game based on blockchain, allowing players to experience A.I. technology in a world full of adventure and challenges. Players can earn rewards by staking their AI Rein NFTs, which can be used in the game.

Chainers

Details:

https://app.vedao.com/projects/626575bee4711fe1e2a9f73905cda8a79445fea9e218bdff97c3df7a7c9c797b

Chainers is a metaverse game focused on NFTs and community-driven development. Players can access the game for free and are also encouraged to contribute and build more content. Chainers is positioned as "Play, trade, and create", where players experience, socialize, interact in the game, and create and earn profits. The game's fun and economy are synchronized.

Degen Zoo

Details:

https://app.vedao.com/projects/234d57693297726641da10821ee0faf36f17e4117fb78c09d67f5ae3665813d5

This game is built by Chris Zaknun, the founder of DAOMaker, and former MakerDAO development engineer, and will be developed with a super low budget of only $20,000 and is planned to be completed in just 30 days. The game is inspired by the CryptoZoo NFT scam, and the Degen Zoo project hopes to prove the incompetence of CryptoZoo founder Logan Paul and satirize such metaverse game scams that deceive investors. In addition, as a charity game NFT project, all profits from the project will be donated to endangered animal charities. One of the purposes of the project is to make people aware of caring for animals and nature, and to teach players through the game what happens when animals are killed or species become extinct.

3A Level Games

Simply put, 3A games have high development costs, long development cycles, and consume a lot of resources. This track is very similar to public chains and takes a relatively long time to see real results. For general investors, as long as they get on the early ship of 3A games, they will generally have relatively good returns in the future. At the same time, 3A-level Web3 games will be blockchain projects with great potential to break through. As long as the teams of these games are serious about cost control and product development, they will eventually deliver a truly playable, high-quality, and Web3-featured 3A game, and Web3 may usher in a large number of Web2 users.

Delysium

Details:

https://app.vedao.com/projects/731af694a0386db564e9d94af53ab62e7d30f4c6e7c234663f12666f053855ef

Delysium is the world's first playable AAA blockchain game. It is a true open-world, vivid AI-driven, and fully player-owned MMO game that supports players in creating various personalized physical assets, narrative assets, and native AI MetaBeings. By distributing a large number of AI-driven MetaBeings in the experiences created and owned by players, Delysium is building an immersive, supreme, and dynamically generated open-world experience for all Web3 pioneers worldwide.

Wildcard Alliance

Details:

https://app.vedao.com/projects/2c454dcb5465f2dd058cb36dd1316ec6bb097094bdf512b24fd76ce39a51c668

Wildcard Alliance is a 3A-type PVP game built on the Polygon chain, combining real-time strategy, multiplayer online competition, and card game types. It plans to create a decentralized, autonomous Web3 competitive social platform. It brings players the thrill of competition, breaks the excitement of video games, and the boundaries between playing and watching. It creates a "easy to learn, but takes a lifetime to master" evergreen competitive game. It also provides players with the fun of collecting, and aims to make Wildcard a community that people truly care about and want to join.

Citizen Conflict

Details:

https://app.vedao.com/projects/653d962198135f16eb556d9125cdceca291023ed032eeff4e27faae324e4d0c7

Citizen Conflict is a free Web3 MMO shooting game, built on the Unreal Engine 5 and developed by QORPO Game Studio (formerly known as Crypto Citizen), deployed on the BSC chain. Citizen Conflict is set in an anti-utopian world in the Ether Islands, where every match is a battle for survival and valuable spoils, and includes gameplay similar to world and battle royale games. The game itself will be completely free, and to enhance the gaming experience, players will be able to purchase or win in-game assets in the form of digital collectibles NFTs, which is optional and not mandatory.

Fully On-chain Games

Compared to optional on-chain games and semi-chain games, the playability of fully on-chain games is lower, and the difficulty of early cold start and ecological positive cycle is much greater. However, in the mid-term development, community governance assets inflation and other aspects will be much smoother, and may even erupt with stronger ecological moats and network effects.

In a truly decentralized environment, the economic system is driven by player actions and decisions, rather than controlled by game developers or central institutions. Players obtain and manage in-game assets and resources through trading, cooperation, or competition. At the same time, players can also participate in the governance of the game and the formulation of rules, achieving the autonomy of the game world. This player-driven economic system and autonomous game world bring players a richer and freer gaming experience.

PandaFarm

Details:

https://app.vedao.com/projects/172a302a606f04bf42c8f4fc374ce060de878939e2632312cef856f4e7a9dd02

Panda Farm aims to build a fully on-chain, panda-themed game metaverse. Users can profit from participating in each match and competition from the prize pool. Panda Farm is a panda game platform built around the panda theme, and all panda-themed games are built on the blockchain. Panda Farm aims to bring blockchain into mainstream games by providing a real-world simulation of pandas, combining digital construction and the advantages of cryptocurrency to attract both crypto and non-crypto game enthusiasts and panda lovers. In the future, players can build their own paradise in PandaFarm, summon more alien creatures to play with pandas, integrate different IPs into the same worldview, build their own farms, and choose farmers through decentralized management. Farmers can lock BAMBOO tokens through customizing small animal NFTs.

MetaLine

Details:

https://app.vedao.com/projects/4953ed7734a9db6263eb67401993953ceb8654c4cb7a8abf570af69dde7b9284

MetaLine is an open, transparent, and inclusive world. All information, assets, and game content in the game are decentralized. MetaLine is a large-scale Web3-based online game of maritime management, adventure, and strategy, with six system modules, including production and trading system, upgrade system, port system, combat system, NFT system, and an ecosystem. Through cooperation and connection between different mission systems, rich gameplay is obtained, and players can build their own maritime empire. With the gradual release of missions, the built-in port system has also opened the door for more users to enter the metaverse.

Arcadeum

Details:

https://app.vedao.com/projects/a2cafe55584d647e71aa26c0adfa242da1a693370188e69bcf23c95beb88e7f7

Arcadeum is a decentralized casino, completely on-chain and self-regulating, with provably fair, albeit low but competitive casino advantages. Liquidity pools promote betting, and depositors receive losses and pay winnings through liquidity pools. With a customized API3 QRNG integration, random number generation is verifiably fair.

Conclusion

Web3 games have tremendous potential, bringing new possibilities to the gaming world. Game creators should never forget the core priority of games: entertainment. Similarly, in Web3 gaming projects, obtaining assets should be part of the gaming process and should not be the sole purpose for users to participate in the game. Therefore, focusing solely on P2E is far from enough for Web3 games. At the same time, to achieve true Web3 games, games need to be built on bottom-up protocols and use token models as auxiliary means to ensure the sustainability of the game economy. In such games, players can truly own assets and break free from the control and restrictions of centralized institutions or platforms in free trading.

Web3 games are likely to be one of the main ways for Web2 users to enter Web3 in the future, just as mentioned in this article. By focusing on creating games with outstanding graphics, characters, and engaging stories, and attracting users with the playability of the game itself rather than incentives, a Web3 gaming ecosystem that can attract players in the long term, with vitality and creativity, can release more value from Web3 games and bring a new round of user migration to Web3.

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