According to PANews, the Web3 gaming industry has undergone notable changes since its inception. Initially driven by the 'Play-to-Earn' (P2E) model, the industry is now shifting towards a more balanced 'Play-and-Earn' approach, prioritizing both the appeal of the game and the potential for earning. This transition addresses the sustainability issues of the pure P2E model, especially in developing countries where gaming guilds play a crucial role.
Examining the state of Web3 gaming in 2024, these foundational shifts provide a basis for analyzing current market trends, player behavior, and economic impacts. Since 2023, the number of Web3 game players has gradually declined, dropping from 6.03 million in 2023 to approximately 1 million monthly active users. January 2024 saw the highest player count in the first half of the year, with around 1.73 million players. Notably, the current player count is one-twentieth of the peak in November 2021, which had about 21 million players.
Current data shows that the vast majority of game addresses are inactive. Only 1,970 addresses are classified as active, while 1,450 are categorized as inactive investor addresses. Remarkably, only 14 addresses are identified as hardcore players across all Web3 games, depicting a market with a small core of highly engaged users. In terms of active game smart contracts, Polygon leads with approximately 12,400 contracts. BNB Chain follows but has only about one-tenth the number of contracts as Polygon. Ethereum and Avalanche lag significantly, each with only a few hundred game contracts. Factors such as transaction costs, speed, and ecosystem support contribute to this distribution.
Among all game contract addresses, ERC20 tokens are the most common, outnumbering ERC721 tokens by more than three times. ERC1155 tokens are the least common, with around 18.9 million instances. Over the past six months, some games have performed exceptionally well, such as Matr1x, Cellula, and Yuliverse, which have high numbers of active unique wallets and strong user engagement. In terms of asset minting, CryptoMines leads with approximately 24.8 million NFTs, followed by Bomb Crypto and Flowerpatch. The volume of new game asset minting fluctuates monthly, peaking in December 2023 with around 318,000 new assets.
Despite the bull market at the beginning of 2024 driving up asset prices, on-chain data indicates that the gaming industry remains in a cooling period with no significant actual growth. Analysis of gaming activity patterns shows the highest engagement in the afternoon UTC time zone, with transaction frequencies exceeding 95 million. This period corresponds to morning in the US and evening in Asia. Activity levels are lowest during the UTC night, dropping to about two-thirds of peak levels. Weekly patterns reveal that Thursday is the most active day for on-chain transactions, averaging around 277 million, followed by Tuesday and Wednesday. Weekend activity is noticeably lower.
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