The Web3 gaming sector and the overall crypto market are looking much more positive this week.
TL;DR
- Web3 gaming and crypto markets are looking bullish
- Axie Infinity Origins S12 Mystic Era is now live
- The Sandbox x Jurassic World collab announced
- Africa's gaming market hit $1.8B
- Treeverse is now live on mobile & Epic Games Store
Introduction
The Web3 gaming sector and the overall crypto market are looking much more positive this week. Sui just had their Gaming Summit, Africa's gaming market reached $1.8 billion in 2024, The Sandbox is collaborating with Jurassic World, and all eyes are on Axie Infinity’s Origins S12 Mystic Era that is now live.
Here’s an overview of what happened at Sui’s gaming conference by some attendees:
Bitcoin rallied after the bullish FOMC meeting where they announced the slowing down of quantitative tightening (QT), and after Trump said that crypto will expand the dominance of the U.S. dollar.
Market Overview
The GameFi market cap rose from $11.06 billion to $12.12 billion over the last seven days while overall market sentiment turned bullish.
We had a well-deserved bounce and are now only about 13% away from the previous yearly low.
Here is the GameFi chart for the last 12 months.
The top GameFi tokens have initiated a slow and gradual reversal, but it’s probably too soon to start dropping “We are so back” memes.
Source: CMC
According to DeFiLlama’s Narrative Tracker, GameFi was ranked fourth and outperformed Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, NFTs and memes.
Top Coin Movements
Most of the top 20 gaming tokens are performing well, with FOUR (Formerly BinaryX) soaring above the rest and reaching a new all-time high (ATH).
Source: CMC
Top Gainers:
- Four (FORM): +117.78%
- Echelon Prime (PRIME): +24.41%
- Notcoin (NOT): +23.95%
- Beam (BEAM): +12.60%
- Baby Doge Coin (BabyDoge): +11.61%
Top Decliners:
- Ronin (RON): -5.83%
- Decentralized (MANA): -1.46%
- Enjin Coin (ENJ): -0.10%
Web3 Gaming Activity This Week
77-bit had a successful beta launch of their cutting-edge browser MMORPG.
Why is there so much FUD with Off The Grid while some people are already testing the game? It looks pretty sick, ngl!
It’s been one of the slower weeks for GameFi adoption even as the market is pumping.
- KGen’s UAW surges 18.95% while they reveal more details about rKGEN, a fairdrop solution for the KGeN community.
- STAN rises 6.81% and is one of the top 15 GameFi projects by 30D active users.
- Pixudi gains 4.54% and they will be rolling out major updates this Saturday.
- Sweat Economy is up 1.68% and they have been building a new kind of value, one powered by movement since 2014.
Latest Blockchain Gaming News
Jurassic World in The Sandbox
The Sandbox is collaborating with Jurassic World, Universal Products & Experiences, and Amblin Entertainment to bring the dinosaur franchise into the metaverse and launch in Alpha Season 5 in March 2025.
The first game, Jurassic World: Dinosaur Preserve, places players in a virtual sanctuary in Arizona where they take on the role of Dinosaur Protection Group members. Players will complete quests, explore, and collect dinosaur eggs.
As part of the expansion, players can purchase virtual real estate in The Sandbox, unlocking exclusive assets such as digital dinosaurs and themed props.
Axie Infinity Origins S12 Mystic Era
Axie Infinity Origins S12 Mystic Era is now live, offering 16,000 AXS in rewards and additional prizes for the top 30,000 players. As the final stage before the season-ending Final Era, players have a limited time to climb the leaderboard and secure valuable rewards.
Origins is a card-based strategy game where players battle with Axies in Adventure mode or the Arena. Newcomers can start with free non-NFT Axies, allowing them to experience the game without an upfront investment.
This era features 20,000 AXS in rewards, with top performers gaining a competitive edge for the Final Era. Collectible Chest rewards return, granting additional AXS to players who maintain their collectible Axies while competing.
Africa’s Gaming Market
Africa's gaming market reached $1.8 billion in 2024, growing six times faster than the global average as reported by Carry1st. This rapid expansion was fueled by mobile gaming, which accounted for 90% of the market's value at $1.6 billion.
The industry's growth has been driven by increased smartphone adoption, improved internet access, and innovative payment solutions. Leading markets include Egypt ($368 million in revenue), Nigeria ($300 million), and South Africa ($278 million).
Africa’s gaming sector grew by 12.4% in 2024, significantly outpacing the global industry's 2.1% growth rate. The continent’s gaming market is projected to reach $3.72 billion by 2029.
Notcoin Studio Expands
Open Builders, the studio behind the Telegram-based tap-to-earn game Notcoin, has announced the launch of Not Games, a platform that integrates multiple games with shared progression, rewards, and an interconnected economy.
The platform will operate on the NOT token from The Open Network (TON), which previously reached a peak market cap of nearly $3 billion. Players can use NOT for purchases, upgrades and skill-based challenges held every three weeks.
What You Can Do Now
- Focus on quality over hype: look out for games that people play for fun rather than just for earning.
- Check for real utility and in-game integration: projects where tokens and NFTs have multiple use cases within the game such as staking, upgrades, and crafting, tend to be more sustainable.
- Evaluate team experience and transparency: teams with a proven track record in gaming or blockchain are more likely to deliver.
- Assess community activity and growth: high player retention and active communities (Discord, Twitter, Reddit) show that a game can attract and keep players.
- Keep an eye on Sui gaming projects that attended their summit.
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