With the expansion of the cryptocurrency industry, games based on the underlying blockchain technology are gaining popularity as well, relying on non-fungible tokens (NFT) as an essential part of their ecosystems to allow users to play, discover, collect, trade, and earn.
As the first month of the new year approaches, Finbold has carried out an in-depth analysis of several (both new and old) NFT gaming projects that should find themselves on the to-do list of every blockchain and gaming enthusiast during this time.
Illuvium
A sci-fi open-world gaming experience, Illuvium takes the player through seven fully explorable alien landscapes built on the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain, allowing them to investigate the cataclysmic events that led to the destruction of Illuvium, capture and trade NFT Illuvials, farm materials, earn ILV crypto tokens, and more, all the while playing the game and competing in tournaments
Meanwhile, the Illuvium team has recently announced that Illuvium: Zero, the third pillar of the core Illuvium game experience, is set to enter the Private Alpha phase on January 6, 2023, and will be accessible by all holders of Illuvium land plots.
Sorare
The Sorare developers often organize tournaments for their users, such as the one to join in the recent Mundial craze. Specifically, in November, they launched Sorare: Global Cup ‘22 – a tournament that allowed players to choose, manage, and strengthen their own squads to compete on Match Days and get on the leaderboards.
The Walking Dead: Empires
AMC’s The Walking Dead series now has a multiplayer strategy survival game. Set in the world of the iconic zombie series, The Walking Dead: Empires was created by Ember Entertainment and launched by Gala Games, and it allows players to team up, “scavenge, craft, and fight to survive the walking dead.”
The first public playtest of the game, which also features the famous characters such as Daryl Dixon, and land NFTs on which players can build a safe place for themselves and their allies against the army of the undead, was released on August 31, 2022, with the full launch announced for 2023.
Dogami
The world’s first Web3-based pet-owning simulator, Dogami was created on the Tezos (XTZ) blockchain as a mobile-first lifestyle game that allows players to raise a unique 3D dog NFT from puppyhood (like a 90s Tamagochi), at the same time earning DOGA tokens, growing their NFT collection, and trading at the Dogami marketplace.
Dogami has recently secured over $14 million in seed funding, led by European tech VC investor XAnge, which invested $7 million, after the game previously aggregated $6 million from the likes of Ubisoft, Animoca Brands, Tezos, and The Sandbox co-founders.
Success and popularity of NFT games
While these NFT-based games stand out, the industry is spilling over into the mainstream thanks to the major names in the gaming sphere taking an interest in the budding technology, including Konami, which announced in October that it was looking for blockchain specialists to expand its metaverse and Web3 strategy.
On top of that, blockchain and metaverse games had received a whopping $1.3 billion in funding over the course of the third quarter of 2022, as Finbold reported. Furthermore, in November alone, Web3 games managed to raise over $320 million, demonstrating the sector’s resilience in the face of setbacks like the FTX collapse.
