20 March 2026 | Weekly news roundup

The Sandbox reveals mobile shooter NEXT, Wildcard's WC token goes live on 26 March, AlphaTON buys GAMEE.[2:29] The Sandbox has announced standalone mobile battle royale game NEXT. [2:47] The Sandbox's vision for mobile has never been strong. This is a new start.[4:55] More important than the game itself, NEXT is a symbol of agency and urgency.[6:50] You have to log into NEXT with your The Sandbox account. Some NFTs are interoperable.[11:50] Wildcard's 100% community WC token goes live on Arbitrum on 26th March.[15:33] The question is whether Wildcard can attract enough players to start the WC flywheel.[17:23] AlphaTON has acquired 60% of Animoca's GAMEE Telegram gaming platform.[24:07] Animoca has partnered with Ava Labs to push Avalanche in Asia and Middle East.[28:40] Jon's been messing around with Stripe's AI agent-centric Tempo blockchain. [32:50] He's also got Claude Code to automatically set his tactics in Soccerverse.[37:38] What happens to games when AI agents can play them better than humans?

EVE Frontier's Cycle 5, Night Crows' NFT Crusade, Shrapnel's early access and 1,000th Substacks![0:43] EVE Frontier has launched Cycle 5, which will run for the next 3 months.[6:50] Changes include defensive turrets, collaborative options, tweaked ship controls, new ships.[8:10] You can also build and optimize Shells, the game's clone characters, for the first time. [9:14] Feral AIs are more aggressive in behaviors.[10:09] The game is also now using the Sui testnet, and for its $80,000 Hackathon.[13:44] Will EVE Frontier be the first successful blockchain game?[16:20] Night Crows is launching its NFT Crusade metagame for high-level players. [18:50] Wemade is committed, integrating blockchain into many of its MMORPGs.[20:27] It's using blockchain to improve its game's long-term engagement and monetization[22:06] NFT Crusade rewards players who have collected multiple character NFTs with exclusive gear.[28:52] Shrapnel has dropped its early access on Steam. It's a 4v4 team mode. [36:22] Jon published his 1,000th Substack about blockchain games. What has he learned?

Thousands' THOU token, Limit Break's testnet, Cambria presells $1M tokens, FIFA/NFL Rivals NFTs moving to stablecoin Pulse Market. [2:29] The Thousands streaming platform has announced THOU token, but not many details. [2:55] This is in addition to Wildcard's WC token. Wildcard is the first game on Thousands.[4:28] How do Wildcard (game) and Thousands (platform) overcome the Cold Start [8:58] Wildcard's early access hasn't really taken off yet. It's shifted from 2v2 back to 1v1.[13:39] Limit Break is announcing a testnet. Very mysterious![14:58] MapleStory Universe added 96,000 new and 34,000 returning players via its Winter Update.[17:48] But the NXPC token price continues to fall; down 93% since May 2025 launch.[21:34] Risk-to-earn game Cambria raised $1 million from its token pre-sale.[24:43] Mythical Games is moving NFL Rivals and FIFA Rivals NFTs to its new Pulse Market.[28:26] Pulse uses USDC on the Mythos blockchain. [33:51] Jon spoke with Animoca's Yat Siu about the rise of AI agents on this week's podcast.[40:15] As agents do more online things for us, they will need onchain wallets.

Jon talks to Yat Siu about how agentic AI gives everyone intelligent assistants, unbundles information, forces onchain reputation and saves governance. [1:23] Why Yat has 9 Animoca Minds agents working for him on different tasks.[2:15] Yat's AI assistant now handles flight tracking, delays, alerts and pick-ups.[5:30] Most people will not run OpenClaw but have their AI assistants in email and messaging apps.[10:30] The magic is persistent memory in a group and combining Animoca Minds together.[12:04] Why digital identity is so important in a world of humans and AI agents. [15:20] AI agents will allow web3 to go mass market by changing distribution models.[22:28] AI agents as an interoperability layer for blockchain.[30:32] Agents will have to be accredited in some way for other agents to trust them.[23:38] How AI agents also help with onchain governance.[32:57] The difference between agents and chatbots - making decisions, not asking questions. [34:55] The early feedback to Animoca Minds; people are prepared to pay for this technology. [38:55] Why Yat is still bullish on blockchain games.

Featuring Apptokens, bAXS, Fableborne, POWER, in-game ads in Off The Grid and Wildcard Premier League[0:43] Bitkraft has invested $3 million into POWER Protocol, the token used by Fableborne.[3:20] Fableborne is a mobile action RPG that has managed to stay alive through the P2E era.[6:21] POWER is now also being used by online gambling outfit High Roller.[10:08] Over the past month, POWER's price jumped 786% due to speculative activity.[17:45] What are Apptokens?[19:05] How Apptokens fix blockchain games by restricting speculators from dumping tokens.[20:56] Sky Mavis has launched bAXS, the Apptoken version of AXS, which is locked into the game.[23:05] You have to pay an exchange tax ranging from 17.5% to 85% to swap bAXS into AXS.[26:23] Limit Break is also launching its LBAMM code to support cross-chain Apptoken swaps.[30:40] Who are Limit Break and why is it building such foundational technology?[36:04] You can now run in-game ads in Off The Grid.[42:33] Explaining how the first web3 elements of Wildcard Premier League work.

The Sandbox Season 7 is going live, Gigaverse announces GIGABIT and Portal is rebooting. [0:38] The Sandbox Season 7 is going live on 25th February 2026.[2:22] For the first time, this isn't an Alpha Season. It's just called "Season 7".[5:26] There's a focus on community UGC, not the big brands, which will continue through 2026.[6:45] It looks like these UGC experiences will be more varied and interesting.[8:30] Some experiences will be available via web browser without logging into an account.[8:52] These changes show The Sandbox is trying to become more accessible and viral.[12:35] Animoca and Alibaba have announced genAI game-making platform AliBAE.[22:25] Portal is relaunching on 26th February, including the ability to trade web2 game accounts.[29:10] Gigaverse has announced its cleverly-designed fixed-value GIGABIT currency.[38:30] What's interesting how boring GIGABIT is as the risk element is baked into the [38:48] GIGABIT feels like it's been influenced by the Apptoken standard.

EVE Frontier's $80,000 hackathon, Alek Larsen leaves Sky Mavis, and AI agent fun with Shaw Walters and Animoca Minds. [0:23] EVE Frontier and Sui are launching an $80,000 hackathon starting on 11th March.[4:50] It will be interesting to see how AI expands the number of people who get involved. [6:19] While web2 games struggle with AI, web3 games are well ahead of the curve. [10:20] The situation will become people complaining that games have banned their AI agent. [10:57] Jon's been experimenting with Animoca Minds. Talk to his agent - The Lantern.[12:15] Animoca's Yat Siu is already running his life via a number of these agents. [15:10] Jon has also been talking to Eliza Labs' Shaw about AI agents building blockchain games.[22:33] What happens when games are unbundled wrt development and business model?[25:53] Sky Mavis co-founder Aleksander Larsen has left to spend time not travelling, and with his young family.

Jon talks to Eliza Labs Shaw Walters about his work on AI agent frameworks, and why blockchain games are a focus. [1:00] An introduction to Shaw Walters, the creator of AI agent framework ElizaOS.[3:10] "I see myself as a comedian and performance artist. I love the joke that becomes true."[4:48] "What I'm focused on is agents that get you your time back and agents that can play games."[6:06] "Attention is an important part of capitalism. If you're not spicy, pmarca doesn't read your tweet."[7:25] "We're one generation away from ... I don't need better. I need cheaper."[9:25] "I still have skill arbitrage on the average person. But in a year, it won't matter."[11:56] "We're making AI RuneScape. It's going to cost us $80,000 and take 4 months."[13:08] "Now we have dream tech - you can build the uncompromising, exactly what you want."[16:26] Can copyright be enforced in this new world of online, onchain abundance?[18:43] Is P(doom) a scalar or a dynamic multi-dimensional vector?[21:18] "I'm here to build the world I want to see."[22:10] "I've always felt the most important things to do came from the silliest things."[23:35] Explaining AI agent social prediction trading platform Babylon.[26:23] Does Shaw enjoy being a high-profile commentator?[28:40] "I made a Chrome extension that blocks haters. But it also blocked a lot of my friends."[33:35] AI means software companies will have to build their most generous, growth-oriented version.[34:07] Help Shaw build "AI Runescape", an open source project called Hyperscape AI.

Animoca Minds, MapleStory integrates Verse8 AI game-making tools, GOAT Gaming shuts down and Forkast esports prediction market.[1:11] This week has seen an explosion in interest about AI agents, notably Clawbot and Moltbook.[3:10] With ClawBot, you can create an AI assistant with access to your entire computer. [5:14] It was also a massive security issue.[6:20] Other people criticized it for just being Stochastic Parrots, not real intelligence. [9:50] Animoca Brands has announced Animoca Minds, based on CryptoSlam's Ethoswarm tech.[11:53] A key issue for this technology is its cost, particularly who will pay for the tokens. [13:00] Animoca Minds is focused on onchain activity, such as token trading.[15:36] What are the synergies between AI agents and blockchain?[18:00] Likely Animoca Minds will be fairly limited in functionality at launch.[20:54] AI agents will need crypto to operate online and pay for their activity.[23:13] Also, humans will need to prove they are humans, which is easy to do onchain.[25:40] Will we see more cozy games and human-centric activities like jigsaws and coloring?[27:40] Nexpace is integrating genAI game-making tech Verse8 into MapleStory Universe.[33:52] GOAT Gaming is shutting down as Wearemighty shifts to making games using AI tools.[38:18] BCGW 206 was about esports and emerging markets-centric prediction market Forkast.[44:36] Ubisoft's Might & Magic Fates is live on mobile/PC on Immutable.

Jon Jordan talks to Forkast CEO Chris Gonsalves and Arbitrum Gaming Ventures Ethan Sy.[1:12] Ethan's history. He was previously at Play Ventures, investing in web2/3 gaming.[3:05] Chris started at Bitcoin Center. Moved to Consensys, then co-founded Community Gaming.[4:26] Esports prediction markets launched within Community Gaming, which became Forkast.[4:56] Chris believes prediction markets will take market share from all trading apps.[9:15] The worst time to invest in blockchain gaming was when everyone was investing.[12:07] Arbitrum is the solo LP in AGV, but the fund is returns-focused, not just ecosystem-focused.[15:06] How does Forkast compete with Polymarket and Kalshi etc?[16:19] Forkast is a prediction market for gamers and esports fans, focused on emerging markets.[17:55] "We think esports predictions are a huge, untapped global market."[23:25] Forkast includes rewarded quests and gamified features to encourage engagement.[24:50] Trading on the metrics of individual companies such as Apple and Tesla will be huge. [27:17] Allowing users to create their own prediction markets is tricky due to how they are resolved.[28:45] Is the 'financialization of everything' a good thing for society?[35:27] What do esports teams think about prediction markets like Forkast?