4 October 2024 | Weekly news roundup

Jon Jordan and BlockchainGamer.biz editor Jenny Jordan talk through the news for the week ending 8th November 2024, including: [7:12] Delabs has announced it will be launching Ragnarok and Boxing Star on Telegram in 2025. [14:40] Nine Chronicles M has been out for almost a year and has seen good growth. [21:30] Hunters On-Chain is giving away $1M of BOOM via its Season 2 through Game7. [26:51] Immutable has integrated its Passport wallet with Telegram. [29:34] Off The Grid is now the most popular blockchain game in terms of daily activity. [36:19] Why Pixels' focus now less on headline user numbers and more on generating revenue. [40:53] Why Wild Forest is one to watch.

Jon Jordan talks to Gunzilla Games' director of web3 Theodore Arganat and Ava Labs head of gaming marketing Andrew 'Coop' Cooper about the launch of Off The Grid, the first blockchain-enable console game. [4:49] Early reaction to Off The Grid's launch. [6:19] It's been interesting you haven't focused much on the crypto aspects of the game... [6:43] "For us, it's about using the best technologies to create the best UX." [10:40] The strategy behind the launch marketing campaign with streamers like Ninja and Shroud. [12:59] Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 launch hasn't impacted Off The Grid activity - 3 million tx/day. [14:02] Currently only 20% of Off The Grid's full game has been released. [15:55] Everyone who plays Off The Grid gets a wallet seemlessly created for them in the background. [19:14] What's the roadmap for the campaign mode? [20:44] The background lore of the game from Richard Morgan and Neil Blomkamp. [22:38] What's Avalanche9000? [27:17] Why did Gunzilla choose Avalanche and what are its plans for the Gunz blockchain? [29:47] What's the roadmap for the Gunz blockchain to launch its mainnet? ends

Jon Jordan and BlockchainGamer.biz editor Jenny Jordan talk through the news for the week ending 1st November 2024, including: [0:35] Pudgy Party mobile social game is announced for 2025. [4:03] Blankos NFTs are now live for trading on Polkadot via the Mythical Market. [6:35] Blankos as an example of how blockchain assets can encourage project longevity. [10:16] Mythical Games is also launching various MYTH airdrops, including for Blankos holders [12:06] Immutable has received a Wells notice from the SEC. [13:43] This makes Immutable and the SEC feel important, albeit for opposing reasons. [18:02] Shodown Samurai R is the latest game announced for the Sui blockchain. [20:10] The Sandbox's Alpha 4 event is going well with over 276,000 players. [23:39] Delabs is pivoting to developing midcore games for Telegram and TON. [25:59] Why are so many blockchain games companies adopting Telegram?

In episode 184, Jon Jordan talks to TonTon Games' CEO Danill Shcherbakov about the opportunity Telegram creates for successfully launching blockchain games. [2:40] Danill's career to-date as an startup entrepreneur. [5:42] The opportunity for Telegram gaming is similar to that arising from app stores in 2008. [8:15] How can Telegram games expand beyond the current simple clicker experiences? [11:09] How TonTon's DRFT Party will leverage its forthcoming NFT collection. [13:27] We will not push all our games to have a token. You don't need tokens for the sake of it. [17:37] How important is Telegram's Star payment system for generating revenue? [22:05] How is TonTon's operating as a publisher of games in terms of selecting games? [25:54] Why it's looking for genres such as tower defense and mafia wars. [28:15] Are there particular countries with strong audiences for these games? [30:06] What's the UA situation like on Telegram for marketing games? [35:04] What's the plan for TonTon Games in the remainder of 2024? [37:12] What sort of retention metrics can Telegram games generate?

Jon Jordan and BlockchainGamer.biz editor Jenny Jordan talk through the news for the week ending 25th October 2024, including: [0:35] Ubisoft's Champions Tactics is now live, including via the Ultra platform. [2:04] The Big Blockchain Game Report for Q3 2024 went live this week - "another difficult quarter"! [3:52] Most big game tokens are down in price during 2024 but BEAM, PRIME and SUPER are up. [5:28] Also, most game tokens were down in their general crypto ranking, relative to other cryptos. [8:01] Investment into the blockchain game sector is down; currently down 31% compared to 2023 [10:05] Key ecosystem trend has been the explosion of Telegram mini-games with TON integration [14:42] Now we're seeing Telegraph mini-apps linking to other blockchains like Ronin and Immutable. [16:40] Will Telegram mini-games be a successful strategy for all crypto games or just a few? [17:54] Should game developers always be pivoting to the next "new thing"? [19:17] In a surprising move, MetalCore is migrating from Immutable to Solana. [23:29] Mobile party game Party Icons has announced a $9 million investment led by Bitkraft. ends

⁠Jon Jordan⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠BlockchainGamer.biz editor⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Jenny Jordan talk through the news for the week ending 18th October 2024 including: Off The Grid has gone into early access and gotten everyone talking about it. [0:30] There's been 6 million wallets created on its Gunz testnet. [3:10] Twitch stats are down at lot from weekend peak of 160,000 viewers/hour. [4:05] Should we view Off The Grid as triple-A console shooter or a gaming blockchain platform? [8:35] Azra Games announced its $42.7 million Series A funding. [10:05] Faraway Games has announced its own Avalanche-based L1 gaming chain called FCHAIN. [18:21] Avalanche is gaining momentum - Off The Grid, Shrapnel, DeFi Kingdoms, MapleStory etc. [22:04] Talking to Sky Mavis' Jeff Zirlin about the rise of Ronin. [23:40] Dragginz is launching its early access on ICP in November. [29:14] Oxalis has raised $2 million for launching farming sim Moonfrost. [32:50] Investment into blockchain gaming in Q3 2024 was $128 million, down 57% from Q2. [35:59] ends

Check out Jon's daily email at https://gamestx.substack.com/ In episode 183, Jon Jordan talks to Sky Mavis co-founder Jeff 'Jihoz' Zirlin about the maturing of Ronin from the blockchain for Axie Infinity to a gaming ecosystem for dozens of web3 games. [3:09] What is Axie Pals? [5:58] The Axie treasury is generating $300,000/month. [9:52] What is the future for Axie as a brand? [11:24] Making Axie NFTs dynamic has created a sink for AXS tokens. [13:26] How has the change been for Sky Mavis moving from being a developer to a platform holder? [13:44] "We believe we have expertise, the eye, the taste to pick winners." [16:14] Why Ronin's current permissioned approach is not the long term strategy. [17:30] Does Ronin currently have too many MMORPGs? [24:33] Should we view Ronin as having a predominantly southeast Asian community? [27:20] Why is Ronin succeeding when other gaming blockchains seem to be struggling? [28:43] "Web3 gaming's biggest competition is with memecoins." [32:40] Are games big enough to drive a crypto cycle themselves? [35:31] 70% of players claiming AXS via our Bounty Boards are staking or holding their tokens. [36:59] What games is Jeff excited about?

⁠Jon Jordan⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠BlockchainGamer.biz editor⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Jenny Jordan talk through the news for the week ending 11th October 2024 including: Gunzilla has released Off The Grid, the first blockchain game on consoles for PC and PS5 [1:08]; Off The Grid is the only triple-A blockchain game, at least in terms of its $100 million budget [2:09], Good for the industry to see some of these big games finally being released [7:44]; But we should also be aware that many new games - esp. shooters - fail for different reasons [8:20]; Ubisoft's Captain Laserhawk will be minting its NFTs on Magic Eden [9:54]; Ubisoft's Champions Tactics is going live on 23rd October [11:31]; Guild of Guardians is dropping its biggest content update yet on 16th October [14:30]; The Sandbox has launched its 10-week Alpha 4 season, also giving away $2.5 million in SAND [20:50]; Our game of the week is Tatsumeeko's Telegram mini-game Lumina Hunt [25:55]; PC game Shardbound is now out in open beta and we've been talking to CEO Bo Daly [31:47]; ends

In Blockchain Gaming World episode 182, Jon Jordan talks to Bazooka Tango's Bo Daly about deck-building turn-based tactics game Shardbound, which is now live in open beta on Steam and Epic Games Store. Find out more at https://www.shardbound.com/

⁠Jon Jordan⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠BlockchainGamer.biz editor⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Jenny Jordan talk through the news for the week ending 4th October 2024 including: Fat/Thin Protocol thesis as relating to Ethereum/ETH, Ronin/RON and TON. Shardbound is going live via Steam and Epic Games Store on 9th October. Sky Mavis is stopping free gas for Ronin transactions. Gunzilla's Off The Grid battle royale shooter is now available for testing on Xbox. Number of TON games up 320% in Q3 2024. Playful Studios has announced Thousands, its game streaming web3 platform.