17 April 2026 | Weekly news roundup

Reaper Actual raises capital, tracking FIFA Rivals NFT sales, and whatever happened to Wildcard's Thousands?[00:25] FIFA Rivals NFTs have finally migrated to the Pulse market. [02:55] Pulse uses USDC stablecoin for all NFT trading, even for in-app trading. [8:11] FIFA Rivals is fairly simple; 90 second mini-games and build your team.[10:12] Even powerful players are not too expensive: Guimaraes for $74, Haaland for $40. [13:40] Playful is shutting down its Thousands platform.[14:21] Unclear what might remain of Wildcard as a game, but the IP is continuing it seems. [16:18] Wildcard’s very weak Steam Early Access performance - less than 150 concurrent peak. [18:38] How the timing of the WC token launched on Arbitrum played into this decision. [19:37] Was web3 forced onto Wildcard by its crypto investors?[21:46] Reaper Actual raises more funding ahead of its Steam Early Access in mid-May. [24:26] Explaining the separate web2 and web3 versions of Reaper Actual.[26:49] Steam is a big problem for blockchain-adjacent games.[27:59] Reaper Actual’s blockchain-light messaging.[30:28] Choosing the “hill to die on” when it comes to web3 game design.

FIFA Rivals moving to Pulse market, Verse8 x YGG hackathon results and Hytopia's worrying pause. [00:16] Mythical Games is migrating FIFA Rivals to the new Pulse marketplace. [02:46] But there's been some sort of delay. FIFA Rivals is the last of Mythical's games to migrate. [04:19] The significant change with Pulse is it uses the USDC stablecoin.[05:51] Why in-game item markets should use stablecoins, not volatile tokens. [07:20] With Pulse, you can sign in with email and/or external wallets like MetaMask. [09:54] Mythical Games has learned some hard lessons to get to this point. [15:44] Verse8 and YGG Play announce its Buidl Hack winners.[16:40] What Verse8’s AI game-making platform actually does.[20:00] Bank or Plank — the winning pirate board game is pretty good. [22:22] Roblox-on-blockchain platform Hytopia has paused operations while awaiting a tax refund.[28:00] Server costs, lost momentum and the blockchain game funding problem.[32:36] Why sustainable blockchain games need to start out with leaner teams.[35:16] Parallel Studios launches its trading card game on mobile app stores.

EVE Frontier's hackathon deconstructed, Limit Break's first game, Xociety pauses, SANDchain completes testnet phase 1.[00:15] Deconstructing EVE Frontier x Sui $80,000 hackathon [03:19] There were 123 submissions. Largest categories were bounty boards, insurance, gate tolls. [07:20] Data was another key theme - escrow-style systems for buying and selling information.[10:05] 25% of submissions were sketchy, either weak, irrelevant, or unserious.[17:49] Limit Break has announced DigiDaigaku-themed mobile match game Puzzle Panic. [28:06] It's seems like a Trojan horse for Limit Break's deeper web3 NFT and token stack.[30:21] PC web3 shooter Xociety has halted development.[35:15] The team is attempting to restructure with a more web2 focus using the Xociety IP. [38:03] Sandbox’s ZK-based SANDchain L2 has completed its first testnet phase.

Pixels' Stacked P2E rewards platform is live, Verse8 raised $5M, Wildcard's WC token is live. Jon has a new hat.[0:17] Jon wants everyone to know that he has a new GamesTX hat.[1:23] Pixels has launched Stacked, which is a P2E rewards platform (or engine!) for web2/3 games.[3:42] Effectively, Stacked is a productized version of the P2E layer in Pixels.[8:36] Stacked currently supports Pixels and Pixel Dungeons and will support Ronin and Sleepagotchi.[9:05] Rewards include PIXEL and will include gift cards and PayPal. [12:10] Pixels currently has a Return on Reward Spend of 3 -- $3 of spend per $1 of rewards.[13:34] AI game-creation platform Verse8 has raised $5 million in seed funding.[14:40] There's consumer version and also a pro version for game studios. Delabs is using it. [15:50] Verse8 has been used to make 25,000 games from 5,000 creators and 3.5 million MAUs.[18:33] The Sandbox's has launched the first playtest for its NEXT mobile battle royale game. [19:57] Wildcard has launched its WC token; currently priced a FDV of $600,000.[23:08] What are the key metrics for a sustainable blockchain game in 2026?

Jon Jordan talks to Pixels' CEO Luke Barwikowski about Stacked, the company's new P2E rewards platform.[0:56] Introducing Stacked, the new rewards app from Pixels.[2:02] Pixels still believes in play-to-earn for web3 gaming, notably using data-driven rewarded play.[3:44] Stacked is the productification of Pixels' reward system that any game can plug into.[5:09] It allows you to distribute your onchain assets in a smart way. [5:19] The player-facing element is the Stacked app. There's also a b2b element, including an SDK. [7:41] This is like an ad network that categorizes player types using segmentation and reward testing.[9:29] You can also run an AI agent to help create new rewards to drive retention and engagement.[12:35] P2E is sustainable in Pixels right now in terms of Return on Reward Spend metric of 3. [16:10] F2P/P2E games require all different user types, from free to midcore spenders to whales.[18:54] Launching Stacked allows Pixel's game designers to not have to worry about rewards.[21:50] The PIXEL token will become a stake-only token, with other assets used for rewards.[24:20] Other companies, including web2 games, will be able to use Stacked as a white-label solution.[28:27] As well as P2E, crypto is also really useful for asset trading in games. [32:04] The web version of Stacked is out, and the app is in review via app stores.

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.