Web3 Games 2024 Review: Continuous Innovation but Still Not the Main Character of the Bull Run

In 2024, the Web3 gaming industry presents a complex situation, achieving significant progress while also facing numerous challenges. The daily active user count has surged over 300%, and traditional gaming companies have begun to make concrete plans in this field. However, from the market performance perspective, the sector's market value has only grown by 60.5%, significantly lagging behind other popular sectors. With Bitcoin hitting new highs and the crypto market thriving, a key question arises: "Did Web3 games miss the best development opportunity in this bull run?"

However, behind these surface data, 2024 marks an important transformation period for the industry. The industry has transitioned from a purely speculative phase to maturity. This report will analyze how Web3 games will evolve in the market cycle of 2024, exploring key metrics, technological advancements, and strategic shifts in this sector. From infrastructure development to user participation models, we will explore how the industry builds sustainable growth while addressing the challenges of mainstream adoption.

Overview of Annual Key Indicators

• Market Cap: Reached $31.8 billion, an increase of 60.5%
• Trading volume: $5.2 billion, an increase of 18.5%
• Number of transactions: 5.3 billion, down 30.3%
• Daily active users: reached 6.6 million by the end of the year, an increase of 308.6% compared to the beginning of the year.
• Active Games: 1,361 out of 3,602 games remain active (37.8%)
• Annual financing: 220 financing events, totaling $910 million

Market Performance Analysis

market performance

The Web3 gaming sector is expected to achieve strong growth in 2024, but it has underperformed compared to other crypto sectors. According to data, the market capitalization of gaming tokens reached $31.8 billion by the end of the year, an increase of 60.5% from the previous year. Although the sector hit an intra-year high of $47.4 billion in March, it is still significantly lower than the historical peak of $114.1 billion reached in November 2021.

Despite the overall strong performance of the crypto market in the second half of 2024, especially in the last two months driven by Bitcoin, gaming tokens have lagged behind other sectors. Web3 gaming ranked eighth among the top ten sectors in market capitalization growth, significantly trailing behind the leading sectors: Meme coins ( 421.1% ), AI and Big Data ( 168.0% ), and the Solana ecosystem ( 124.1% ).

This poor performance also extends to community attention. In the most followed segments, Web3 games account for only 6.7% of the views in the top ten segments, ranking ninth, as the focus of attention throughout the year has mainly been on Meme coin-related projects.

Trading Volume Analysis

The Web3 gaming sector's key performance indicators in 2024 are mixed; while trading volume has increased, the number of transactions continues to decline.

The total transaction volume of Web3 games in 2024 reached $5.2 billion, an increase of 18.5% compared to 2023. Although it reversed the downward trend since 2021, the transaction volume is still significantly lower than the previous cycle's peak. The data for 2024 is only 6.2% of the peak in 2021, which was $(841 billion), and 15.1% of the transaction volume in 2022, which was $(345 billion).

The total number of transactions in 2024 reached 5.3 billion, a decrease of 30.3% compared to the previous year. This level is comparable to the 5.1 billion transactions in 2021, but it has not reversed the downward trend that began in 2022.

User Engagement

The daily active users ( DAU ) achieved significant growth throughout 2024, increasing from an average of 1.6 million in January to 6.6 million in December, a year-on-year growth of 308.6%. This growth surpasses the previous cycle peak of 1.8 million DAU created in November 2021. Although this data may include some bot activity, the growth still showcases significant user engagement in the industry.

Ecosystem Development

Competition and Evolution of Public Chains

In 2024, there will be significant changes in the dominance of different public chains in Web3 games, with each chain displaying different advantages in terms of transaction volume, number of transactions, and user participation.

The BNB chain maintains a dominant position in trading volume, achieving a trading volume of $1.2 billion with a market share of 23.1%, followed by Ethereum with $920 million and a market share of 17.6%. Blast and Ronin occupy 9.2% and 9.0% of the market share, respectively.

Despite a 30.3% decline in overall transaction volume in the industry, certain public chains have shown strong performance. WAX leads with 1.8 billion transactions, accounting for 33.6% of the total (. Aptos has made a strong showing with its "tap-to-earn" ) Telegram game Tapos, reaching 620 million transactions (1.6% ), of which 540 million transactions occurred in August alone. Ronin and opBNB maintained 321 million and 318 million transactions, respectively.

User activity across various chains has shown significant growth, particularly in the second half of 2024. opBNB has emerged as a standout in user engagement, with an average of 2.2 million daily active users in December, surpassing the long-time leader Ronin(110万). Nebula, as SKALE Layer 2, ranks third with an average DAU of 458,000. Public chains like NEAR, Sui, and Sei have entered the top ten in DAU, showcasing the expanding competitive landscape of the ecosystem and users' willingness to try new platforms.

The diversification trend of various chains indicates that the ecosystem is becoming increasingly mature, with different public chains finding their own positioning for various gaming experiences and user preferences. Major networks are no longer just providing basic blockchain facilities, but are evolving into comprehensive platforms for game developers. A certain foundation's $2 billion game catalyst plan, a certain foundation's $50 million token distribution plan, and important grant programs from different public chains all demonstrate how various chains attract and retain high-quality gaming projects through strategic incentives.

Technical Infrastructure Improvement

( Capacity Increase

The blockchain processing capacity has significantly improved, with the current network's transaction processing volume increasing by more than 50 times compared to four years ago. This growth is attributed to the rise of Ethereum Layer 2 and Layer 3 networks, including Immutable zkEVM, Avalanche L1-based, Oasys, SKALE, Arbitrum Orbit gaming chains, and other high-throughput blockchains such as Solana, Sui, and Aptos.

The gaming-specific blockchain has also made significant progress. Ronin announced its Layer 2 plan Ronin zkEVM in June 2024, enabling Ronin developers to create their own zkEVM Layer 2. Immutable zkEVM has taken a strategic step towards greater accessibility by removing deployment whitelists and enabling permissionless deployment. In addition, Avalanche has completed the most important "Avalanche9000" upgrade since the mainnet launch in 2020, focusing on addressing the barriers to customized L1 builds and improving interoperability.

) Gas fees reduced

The "Cancun" upgrade of Ethereum in March 2024, ( also known as "Proto-Danksharding" or "EIP-4844" ) is an important milestone that significantly reduces the costs of L2 networks. The impact is very significant, with Gas fees dropping from several dollars to just a few cents or even lower, eliminating one of the biggest friction points faced by blockchain game developers and players.

( Cross-chain interoperability enhancement

The cross-chain interoperability protocol ) CCIP ### saw significant development in 2024, enabling developers to create games that can interact with multi-chain assets. This improvement significantly enhanced the interoperability of in-game items.

The adoption of standardized formats for digital assets, especially ERC-721 and ERC-1155, has become more widespread. These standards ensure that in-game NFTs can be recognized and used across various games and platforms, simplifying asset transfer and interaction.

The year 2024 also witnessed the significant rise of decentralized platforms supporting cross-chain gaming. Multiple platforms provided the necessary infrastructure for seamless asset transfers and interactions between different blockchain ecosystems.

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Project Development

2024 is an important year for the development of Web3 games. In addition to traditional gaming companies entering the space, the ecosystem has also witnessed several significant game releases. Highly anticipated games such as Off The Grid and MapleStory Universe have entered early access, while Illuvium has finally been officially launched. Pirate Nation successfully completed the token generation event )TGE### and launched the successful "play-to-airdrop" ( activity.

) Active Game Analysis

As of November 30, 2024, the total number of blockchain games reached 3,602, an increase from 2,997 in January. However, the active game metrics show some challenging trends. Among the total number of games, only 1,361 ( 37.8% ) remain active on-chain, while 2,241 ( 62.2% ) are inactive. Furthermore, despite the increase in the total number of games, the number of active games has actually decreased compared to 1,387 in January.

In-depth analysis of user engagement metrics shows further market concentration. The number of games with more than 100 months active users ( MAU ) decreased from 586 in June 2022 to 522 by the end of 2024. In November 2024, 161 games ### accounted for 4.5% ( of the total, achieving over 10,000 MAU, of which 96 games ) accounted for 2.7% ( exceeded 100,000 MAU.

This trend of user concentration indicates that the market is maturing, with successful games attracting larger audiences. This phenomenon is influenced by multiple factors, including intense competition, rapid iteration strategies, and the "head effect" created by leading games within the ecosystem.

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Innovation Pattern

) cross-platform gaming trends

Mobile games emphasize accessibility and a seamless user experience, establishing their position as a major platform for Web3 games in 2024. The mobile-first approach has influenced how developers design blockchain games, focusing on intuitive interfaces and simplified onboarding processes. In the newly released Web3 games in 2024, mobile games account for 29.4%.

Social platforms, especially Telegram, have become a powerful catalyst for the adoption of Web3 games, accounting for 20.9% of newly released Web3 games. Telegram's success stems from its large user base, simplified in-app experience, and the ability to bypass traditional app store restrictions. The platform's influence peaked in the third quarter of 2024, with 11 games surpassing 10 million MAU. Notably, TON successfully converted this vast user base into on-chain participants, creating spillover effects in the Web3 gaming, Meme coin, and DeFi sectors. This success has prompted multiple blockchain networks outside of TON to compete for Telegram's traffic, with various public chains launching or supporting Telegram-based games.

Similarly, Line announced plans to launch 20 mini dApps in December 2024, marking the growing interest of mainstream messaging platforms in the integration of blockchain games.

The console gaming sector remains relatively underdeveloped in Web3 gaming, with major manufacturers maintaining a cautious stance. However, new approaches are beginning to emerge to bridge this gap. Some developers, such as Gunzilla Games' Off The Grid, choose to separate core gameplay from blockchain features to align with the expectations of traditional console gaming. Meanwhile, blockchain platforms are starting to develop their own Web3 gaming handhelds, such as Sui's SuiPlay0X.