After a late-summer rally, the cryptocurrency market retreated in September, dropping many indicators related to the health of the GameFi industry.
- The amount of volume passing through the GameFi protocol has reached a historic low
- Investment remains flat
- Very few new GameFi projects launched
Meanwhile, the number of active GameFi users has surged, largely due to Polygon’s arcade app Arc8 and, to a lesser extent, a few smaller projects from BNB.
However, even projects that performed well in September did not see a significant increase in token prices. GameFi token market capitalization continues to decline.
Main findings
whole market
- Fear and Greed Index reverted to Extreme Fear
- Ethereum was only 20% away from its annual low when it hit $1,245 on Sept. 22.
- In the GameFi space, this withdrawal has manifested as less investment in the space and a lack of new projects being launched.
- The number of GameFi projects increased by 1.3%, hitting an industry record low
- Of the four largest chains in blockchain gaming (BNB, ETH, Polygon and Wax), BNB has the most new projects, 12 in total.
- Ethereum, WAX, and Polygon had 2, 3, and 4 new projects respectively
Financing and investment
- Funding raised in the GameFi space fell 20% month-on-month to $133 million from $448 million.
- Independent game studio Theorycraft has received the largest investment of the month with a $50 million B round. The founding team includes names from Blizzard, Riot Games and Ubisoft. GameFi’s foray underscores the trend of established game companies and developers entering Web3, even in challenging market conditions.
- The second funding round of the month was closed by another blockchain game studio, Revolving Games.
- Animoca Brands continued to pour money into the space, becoming one of the largest funders, helping Revolving Games and Thirdwave raise funds in September.
- Immortal Game has raised $15.5 million from TCG and other tech and entertainment VC specialists in its second funding round this month.
GameFi volume and users
- Total GameFi deal volume drops 40% month-over-month, hitting all-time low since start of bear market
- Counterintuitively, the number of gamers has increased exponentially MoM
- This shows a decline in volume per user, which is reflected in GameFi’s volume and transactions per user data.
- Ronin, and therefore Axie Infinity, lost 11% market share in game volume.Meanwhile, Polygon and BNB rose 5% and 7% respectively
- 27% increase in MAU, 43% of which are new users (614.6K total), largest MoM increase since March
- The increase was largely due to Polygon’s new players (88% of new players in September), most of whom were playing Arc8, a mobile-first arcade game.
project overview
- The growing number of people playing Arc8 drove Polygon’s strong growth in October. Arc8 is his first GameFi arcade on mobile by blockchain studio GAMEE.
- Unlike what likely happened earlier this year when breakout performance by games generated hype and led to a spike in token prices, GMEE (Arc8’s native token) did not see a significant price increase, month-on-month. 20-30% increase. The price in June, which had the same number of active users, was still 97% below ATH, about 20% below ATH.
- Splinterlands and Alien Worlds continue to be GameFi’s two most-played games, with relatively stable overall numbers
Overview of Crypto Macros
The fear and greed index spiked in August to almost ‘greedy’ levels before returning to extreme fear levels in September.
Ethereum’s price has fallen as the hype surrounding The Merge subsides, but this may be purely accidental. The S&P index also fell sharply in the second half of the month.
GameFi investment will dry up
The most impressive data for September concerns investment and fundraising. In August he dropped from $448 million to $1.33 billion in September.
The end of summer is a very difficult time to raise capital (which is why we close deals in September), but the difference between this year and last year is too great to ignore. The collapse of funding has had a trickle-down effect on studios, ecosystems, and developers, who may become more conservative this winter.
Polygon overtakes BNB thanks to Arc8
Polygon has closed the gap with BNB. This gap appeared to widen at an accelerating rate since the beginning of summer.
Arc8 active users increased through June, but this was not reflected in the project’s token, GMEE, which remained about 20% lower than it was at the beginning of the summer.
More Gamers, Less Money
One of the biggest surprises this month was the surge in new GameFi users.
A logical question is why the volume is declining even though the number of new users is increasing.
The two projects with the most new users in September were:
But neither saw the token rise accordingly. The GameFi Token price continues to fall as reflected in the overall drop in GameFi Token market cap.
Overview
September was a tough month for the GameFi industry as the macroeconomic environment continues to become increasingly challenging.
Even strong user numbers do not guarantee a rise in token prices and investment in this sector has been slightly reduced compared to a few months ago. Finding a source of income to support you will be difficult. Unsurprisingly, few new GameFi projects were launched, and there were no major ones.
Contributors to this work are footprint analysis community.
October 9, 2022, Daniel
Source: GameFi Report for September 2022
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