Blockchain games are leading the DApp industry: DappRadar report

DappRadar and BGA published the latest figures for top play-to-earn games and GameFi dApps for Q1 2022

By Shashank Bhardwaj

Image: Shutterstock

Blockchain gaming usage has increased by over 2,000 percent year-on-year (YoY) since the first quarter of 2021, according to the Blockchain Games Report for Q1 2022 published by DappRadar, the well-known market tracker and Blockchain Game Alliance (BGA). This accounts for more than half of the blockchain activity in Q1.

Blockchain games based on Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and the Play-to-Earn (P2E) model have gained popularity. The growth spurt has been specific to games hosted on the Ethereum sidechains in particular. Polygon’s Crazy Defence Heroes, Arc8, Aavegotchi, and Pegaxy have together led to a 219 percent rise in its gaming activity. Conversely, networks like Ronin and BSC have been witnessing a drop in activity since the end of 2021 as users are moving away from volatile chains to safeguard themselves against risks.

The biggest funds were raised by Animoca Brands, Polygon, and Yuga Labs in the period. Animoca Brands grabbed a $360 million deal, raising its valuation to $5 billion. Polygon cracked a $450 million deal with Sequoia Capital. Bored Ape Yacht Club studio, Yuga Labs collected $450 million worth of investments in a funding round led by Animoca Brands.

The total funding raised across the sectors in Q1 of 2022 was $2.5 billion, an increase of 150 percent from Q4 of the previous year. The report had cited that until February, about $720 million worth of investments were made in the blockchain gaming sector. The total investments raised from venture capitalists and investors in 2021 amounted to $4 billion.

DappRadar reported that 1.22 million unique wallet addresses were made for blockchain games in March. While Splinterlands was named the number one play-to-earn gaming dApp, Polygon became the layer-2 protocol with the best P2E games.

Sebastian Borget, the co-founder of Sandbox, and president of BCG, said that Polygon had benefitted more from the P2E gaming model and NFTs than the other protocols like Harmony and BNB chain, as, according to him, Polygon remained EVM-compatible, and the Polygon Foundation heavily supported the games via grants and marketing. Borget also reiterated that Polygon being the first L2 blockchain for NFTs on OpenSea drove high liquidity for the NFTs.

He predicted that the rise of NFTs and blockchain games on ImmutableX would see the distribution shifting in Q2 of 2022. He further added, “NFTs represent an opportunity for game developers to create games with player-owned economies; where the community of holders are both the early supporters of the game but also the main actors of its development and true stakeholders of its success."

Shashank is the founder at yMedia. He ventured into crypto in 2013 and is an ETH maximalist. Twitter: @bhardwajshash

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