Author: Stella L (stella@footprint.network)
Data Source: Footprint Analytics Games Research Page
November 2024 marked a transformative period for Web3 gaming, characterized by substantial market growth and evolving adoption strategies. As Bitcoin surged to unprecedented levels and approached the $100,000 milestone, the gaming sector saw its market cap surge 79.1% to $35.1 billion. While traditional metrics showed impressive growth, with daily active users reaching 5.5 million, the industry continued to grapple with fundamental questions about blockchain integration and mainstream adoption. This report examines the month’s key developments across market performance, chain dynamics, and emerging trends in social platform integration.
November marked a historic month for cryptocurrency as Bitcoin reached unprecedented heights, surging 39.0% from $69,386 to $96,427. Ethereum followed with an impressive 47.8% gain, climbing from $2,511 to $3,711. Bitcoin’s remarkable performance pushed its market value past both silver and Saudi Aramco, securing the seventh position among global assets after briefly approaching the $100,000 milestone on November 23.
The U.S. election results emerged as a catalyst for crypto market growth, with potential implications for comprehensive cryptocurrency legislation and regulatory oversight. The market’s optimistic response was particularly evident in the performance of memecoins, deAI (decentralized artificial intelligence) projects, and DeSci (Decentralized Science), which emerged as leading sectors.
The broader financial markets also showed strength, with the financial sector leading equity gains on expectations of tax reform and deregulation in the U.S. However, international markets saw some volatility, with the Chinese Yuan facing pressure amid concerns over potential U.S. tariff increases, while gold prices declined as election-related uncertainty diminished.
Blockchain game tokens experienced substantial growth in November amid the broader crypto market rally, with their market cap surging 79.1% from $19.6 billion to $35.1 billion.
The sector’s daily trading volume reflected similar momentum, increasing 79.4% to reach $11.9 million.
Daily active users hit another record in November, reaching 5.5 million average DAUs, a 15.7% increase from October. This growth was primarily driven by sustained user engagement on opBNB and continued strength in Ronin’s ecosystem.
Transaction metrics reveal a more complex picture. While daily transactions averaged 15.3 million (up 3.3% from October), the daily transactions per user ratio declined from 3.131 to 2.810. With total monthly transactions holding steady at 460.4 million, the data suggests new users may be engaging less intensively with blockchain features than earlier adopters.
The evolving approach of games like Off The Grid represents a crucial inflection point for the industry. By positioning itself as a traditional game with optional blockchain elements rather than an “NFT game,” it reflects a growing recognition that mainstream adoption may require a more nuanced integration of blockchain technology. This strategy — making blockchain features optional and “invisible” — could help overcome the initial resistance many gamers have toward crypto, but it also raises fundamental questions about blockchain’s role in gaming.
The technical challenges facing fully on-chain gaming remain significant. Current blockchain infrastructure struggles with the demands of real-time gameplay, competitive matchmaking, and the high-throughput requirements of modern gaming. While Layer 2 solutions and purpose-built gaming chains are emerging, the gap between traditional gaming performance expectations and blockchain capabilities continues to influence development strategies.
Despite the current bull market providing favorable conditions for growth, the Web3 gaming sector has yet to produce its defining breakthrough moment. The industry appears to be at a crossroads between maintaining crypto-native appeal and achieving mainstream adoption, with successful projects likely needing to balance both aspects while technical infrastructure catches up to ambition.
Active games across blockchain networks reached 1,696 in November, marking a 4.6% increase from October. The established market leaders maintained their dominance in game distribution, with BNB Chain, Polygon, and Ethereum commanding shares of 20.9%, 15.4%, and 13.4% respectively.
In terms of user engagement, opBNB, Ronin, and Nebula (SKALE) emerged as the leading networks with average DAUs of 180.9 million, 0.9 million, and 0.4 million respectively.
opBNB’s momentum continued with a 46.1% increase in average DAU from October. This growth was primarily driven by flagship titles SERAPH: In The Darkness and MEET48, while the platform also benefited from projects migrating from BNB Chain.
Ronin demonstrated remarkable recovery, doubling its DAU from 0.6 million to 1.2 million throughout November, bolstered by new partnerships and the successful launch of Fableborne alongside Lumiterra’s growing user base.
TON’s ecosystem faced challenges with a 41.9% decline to 116.4K DAU, highlighting the retention challenges in Telegram-based games. But the industry always has some exceptions. Sui’s average DAU in November was 233.3K, 23.1% increased from last month. The Telegram game BIRDS has contributed most of the user base, with average DAU 224.9K, and its weekly new user retention is one of the industry-level examples.
Despite these successes, the Web3 gaming industry continues to evolve amid ongoing debates about optimal infrastructure. November saw the emergence of new gaming-focused chains, with major players expanding into chain development. Yield Guild Games (YGG), one of the largest Web3 gaming guilds, launched its Studio Chain, marking its evolution into infrastructure development.
Meanwhile, B3 introduced its Open Gaming Layer, with Prime Chain announced as its first implementation. Developed by Echelon Prime Foundation, Prime Chain will power Parallel, the ambitious sci-fi card game, demonstrating the growing trend of purpose-built gaming infrastructure. Rather than adapting to existing blockchain limitations, gaming projects and developers are now building chains tailored to their specific gaming needs.
By the end of November, the blockchain gaming universe encompassed 3,602 games, with 1,361 maintaining active engagement. Of these, 298 games attracted over 1,000 monthly active users (MAU), representing 21.9% of active games.
Analysis of Telegram gaming metrics reveals a significant disparity between platform users and blockchain engagement. As of November 30, while Hamster Kombat ranked 2nd in Telegram gaming with 26.2 million MAU, it recorded only 736 on-chain users. Even MemeFi, which achieved the highest conversion rate among the top 10 games, saw just 7.96% of its users engaging on-chain, with 1.4 million TON users.
The success of Telegram’s gaming ecosystem, despite these conversion challenges, is catalyzing a broader movement among social media platforms. Line, the dominant messaging platform in Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, and Indonesia, has announced plans to launch 30 mini dApps by January’s end, expanding to 150 by the end of Q1 2025. Gaming applications will form the largest segment of these releases on the Kaia blockchain, alongside social and DeFi applications.
Meanwhile, Solana-based project Sonic X has surpassed 1 million KYC-verified users through TikTok integration. The platform’s success stems from its seamless onboarding process. Users can access games directly through their TikTok accounts while Solana wallets are created automatically in the background. This achievement demonstrates TikTok’s potential as a gateway to Web3 gaming.
In November, Web3 gaming secured $73.6 million across 18 funding events, marking a 22.3% decrease from October despite having five more events. Eight of these events did not disclose their funding amounts.
Monkey Tilt led the month’s funding with a $30 million Series A round led by Pantera Capital. The platform, which combines gaming and entertainment with gambling features, has achieved $200 million in monthly betting volume since its March launch. The platform includes social features like in-game chat and user-to-user donations, though it remains unavailable in major markets like the US, UK, and Australia due to regulations. The gambling sector saw continued interest, with FanDuel, BRKT, and BoxBet also securing funding, despite regulatory challenges.
In other notable funding news, Animoca Brands contributed an additional $10 million to Mocaverse, building on previous investments of $31.88 million. The investment includes a warrant for MOCA Coin tokens at an implied $1 billion fully diluted value, supporting Mocaverse’s development of interoperable infrastructure for mainstream crypto adoption.
Data for this report was obtained from Footprint’s Games Research page, a real-time dashboard with comprehensive and trusted Web3 game stats. Please contact us if you notice any chain or game not included and would like it integrated. You can also submit contracts here.
About Footprint Analytics
Footprint Analytics is a comprehensive blockchain data analytics platform that simplifies complex analysis for businesses and projects in the Web3 ecosystem. It offers tailored solutions that eliminate the need for extensive expertise and infrastructure maintenance. The platform provides long-term growth tools designed to help build and manage communities step by step, emphasizing sustainable growth and user loyalty. By combining powerful analytics with community management tools, Footprint Analytics enables projects to leverage blockchain data effectively for decision-making and growth strategies across various sectors including GameFi, NFT, and DeFi.
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