With five million downloads in total, and one year on since the launch of NFL Rivals’ in-game marketplace, Mythical Games has released some numbers about its impact on monetization. 

Overall, the conclusion is that the integrated marketplace has boosted activity. As players gained the ability to trade their in-game characters from within the app, the percentage of players making a transaction increased by 25%, and the transaction volume by 45% per daily active user. 

In addition, as players became more confident and experienced using the in-app marketplace, some moved onto the web-based marketplace. As such, the in-game marketplace worked as advertising for the web shop. This makes sense, as the web marketplace is a better place to trade due to better price liquidity and lower transaction fees – no Apple and Google tax.

Hence players made higher value trades in the web shop, which accounted for 36% of total trades, but 70% of trading volume.

Another finding was that users who accessed the marketplace also bought more packs from the web shop. This is believed to be due to the increasing utility of in-game items, thus making players more likely to buy them from the web shop. Also, knowing that they can resell them at any time makes them more likely to buy them in the first place. 

In terms of NFL Rivals, it’s the first NFL licensed web3 game. Mythical recently unveiled a partnership with Super Bowl LVIII champions Kansas City Chiefs, which will see NFL Rivals as the club’s official mobile game for the 2024 season.

Stay up-to-date via Mythical Games’ official website.

Two weeks after unveiling itself as a separate organization called D20 Labs, Zynga’s former web3 team has announced Royal Nutz Poker Club as its first standalone title. 

Coming out of Zynga, the team is obviously building on the success of its multi-billion dollar franchise Zynga Poker. Indeed, D20 argues that poker is a great bridge to unite users from all sets of gaming, including offline, online, and onchain.

To that end, the first stage is a teaser event, which will be rolled out exclusively to holders of its Sugartown platform’s Ora NFTs. 

Following that, the game will launch to selected partner communities, with the first being ApeCoin holders. Players will get passes airdropped in both soulbound and tradable versions. Access will also be gated by the same energy system used for Sugartown’s demos, which is generated by staking your NFTs.

Overall, D20 hopes Royal Nutz Poker Club will synergize social casino and blockchain assets. However, significantly, this will be done without getting players to wager real money so D20 won’t have to get expensive and time-consuming gambling licenses.

Instead, success in the game will be controlled via leaderboards, with prizes provided through sponsored tournaments.

Launching on Coinbase’s Ethereum-based L2 Base, Royal Nutz Poker Club will support mobile and browser.

The latest blockchain game to make the move to Ronin is RPG Tatsumeeko, which started life as a Discord-based IP, before minting NFTs on Immutable and Solana.

Developed by Singapore-based Tatsu Works, the game is planned to release on Ronin via PC and mobile in Q4 2024.

The original incarnation of the game world launched in 2016 as Tatusu.GG, which featured collection and idle RPG mechanics, and which has reportedly been integrated in over 1.5 million Discord communities, with over 60 million lifetime interacting accounts.

Now called Tatsumeeko: Lumina Fates, the new game is the outworking of that Discord-based foundation. Labelled as a RPG with life sim elements, it mixes turn-based auto combat with cozy housing gameplay.

Prior to the release on Ronin, Tatsu Works will be launching the Telegram-based Lumina Hunt mini-game, by which players can collect Vabloon points as they contribute to the in-game V-Squads. Players could receive a token allocation, as well as game items and currencies.

“We’re excited to partner with Ronin as we prepare for the full launch of Tatsumeeko later this year,” said Tatsu Works’ CEO David Lim.

“Our goal is to unify web2 and web3 gaming by allowing our massive Discord community to explore the potential of blockchain technology through our life simulation RPG. We believe Tatsumeeko and Ronin together offer the perfect platform for this.”

“We’re thrilled to welcome the first life simulation RPG to the Ronin ecosystem, adding a fresh genre for our growing community. Tatsumeeko’s large and passionate Discord following reminds us a lot of what we saw with Axie Infinity in its early days, which we believe is a strong indicator of their potential for success on Ronin,” added Sky Mavis CEO Trung Nguyen.

Find out more about the project at the Tatsumeeko website.

Solana-launched IP/NFT project Claynosaurz has announced it’s partnering with Gameloft, which will be making a mobile casual RPG based on the clay dinosaurs. 

Created by animators Danial Cabral and Nicholas Cabana in 2021, the dino characters later minted as a 10,000-strong Claynosaurz NFT collection on Solana in 2022. 

This partnership marks the team’s entry into the game industry.

There’s no mention whether it will be a blockchain game, but a couple of quotes from the Claynosaurz team suggest there may be some sort of integration.

“We’re not loudly onboarding people into web3; it will happen naturally through a game that’s playable, accessible, and beautifully crafted,” said head of product Jacques Letesson. 

“We’re thrilled that they (Gameloft) have chosen to champion Claynosaurz as their partner in this groundbreaking mobile adventure, setting the stage for a bold, player-driven future in gaming,” commented Cabana in an interview with Decrypt.

As for French mobile game publisher Gameloft, it’s not made any blockchain games before.

“Partnering with Claynosaurz represents an exciting moment for Gameloft, combining our gaming expertise with a brand that has rapidly built an engaged and passionate community,” said Gameloft chief sales officer Guilherme Lachaut.

“We are thrilled to bring these beloved Claynosaurz to life in a mobile game that will captivate and engage players worldwide.”

Stay up-to-date via the Claynosaurz website and X channel.

Originally with its games running on the Flow blockchain, Joyride Games’ ecosystem has changed a lot over the months. Now renamed as Super Champs, and legally run by the Super Champs Protocol Foundation, the entity is preparing for more change with the launch of its Super Champs Chain.

This is an L3 blockchain, which uses the Arbitrum rollup stack to write its data to the Base blockchain – Coinbase’s OP-based L2 blockchain – which itself rollups to Ethereum for its security guarantees.

That’s a lot of blockchains but with its Super Champs hub app and Racket Rampage and Bullet League mobile games reportedly currently accounting for 10% of all transactions on Base, the Super Champs Protocol Foundation reckons that when the Super Champs Chain launches, it will be a top 5 blockchain in terms of gaming activity.

Of course, this also means the launch of the CHAMPS token is anticipated.

Other high performing gaming blockchains include Proof of Play’s Apex and Boss chains and the Xai L3 chain used by Crypto Unicorns and The Lost Glitches, amongst others.

Our recent roundup of popular blockchain games reported the Super Champs app had over 60,000 daily active unique wallets, with Bullet League on around 20,000 and Racket Rampage on 10,000 DAUWs.

As well as providing the platform for Joyride’s games, Super Champs hopes it will be able to attract other developers to its new chain. For that reason it’s also launching BuilderKit, which is a development, publishing and live operations platform for mobile games.

“We aim to build the first scaled web3 gaming franchise, immersing the community in multiple mobile games and a deep story-based universe. Our next mission is to empower builders to bring new, high quality game experiences set in the Super Champs Universe to our engaged community, commented the Super Champs Protocol Foundation’s director Vivek Nallavelli.

“As the first mobile games ecosystem built on our publishing platform and protocol, we can’t wait to see every studio building a Super Champs game accelerate its growth with access to world-class infrastructure. Our long term vision has always been for Super Champs to introduce a new web3 paradigm for game franchises, and it’s thrilling to see it come to life,” added Joyride Games’ CEO Omar Siddiqui.

Find out more at the Super Champs’ website.

Adding to its growing portfolio, US developer Faraway Games has announced new mobile title Rebel Skies, as well as a new partnership to bring mobile game Villains: Robot Battle Royale to web3.

Already busy with its browser-based Solana shooter Mini Royale Nations, development of citybuilder Serum City, soft-launched Yuga mobile game Dookie Dash: Unclogged, as well as trying to rejuvenate ex-Yuga’s Legends of the Mara and HV-MTL IPs, which it recently acquired, Faraway has also announced it’s working on a new mobile game called Rebel Skies. 

What’s more? Through a collaboration with South Korean mobile game developer Birdletter, the team is also working to implement blockchain into mobile casual battle royale Villains. Notably, this will begin with the integration of Legends of the Mara and HV-MTL assets.

Currently in open beta, the web3 elements are set to go live in conjunction with the game’s global launch.

In terms of Rebel Skies, it’s described as an action RTS with deck-building elements – think Clash Royale but in landscape mode.

Like Villans, and recently announced PC shooter Shatterline, the game will support ex-Yuga IP HV-MTL. Currently available in early alpha, the Rebel Skies global launch is scheduled for October 2024, at which point it’s web3 elements will also go live. 

The web2 version of Villains is available to download via app stores. Stay up-to-date on further Faraway news via its X channel and Discord.

Building up towards its Q3 2024 launch, Immortal Rising 2 has mustered over 400,000 pre-registrations within a week. 

Developed by South Korea-based Bad Beans and published by Planetarium Labs – a company which has already gained momentum with web3 RPG series Nine Chronicles – the idle AFK action RPG Immortal Rising 2 is also getting a marketing boost thanks to deploying on Immutable’s zkEVM chain.

As part of the pre-reg campaign, users signing up early via app stores can also claim 3,000 Equipment Summons.

To a larger extent however, engagement is driven by various quests, allowing users to earn ORBs for completing missions such as following social channels and inviting friends. ORB is a resource that can later be converted to Immortal tokens, IMT, which is slated for launch during Q4 2024. 

Serving as a governance token, IMT will enable holders to participate in the game’s design. It also grants eligibility to earning rewards through staking. More than that however, the tokens will also be used for in-game transactions. 

Additionally, ORB “may grant early or exclusive access to events, special releases, and limited-time offers.” Following game launch, it can also be obtained through various in-game quests.

In terms of the game itself, Immortal Rising 2 is a web3 mobile-based dark fantasy idle RPG, and a sequel to the highly popular web2 RPG Immortal Rising. Unveiled at the Web3 Game Unplugged event in 2023, it’s backed by Animoca Brands, among others.

Stay up-to-date via the official Immortal Rising 2 website and X channnel.

At the start of the NFL season on 6th September, Mythical Games’ mobile game NFL Rivals will kick off a partnership with the Super Bowl LVIII champions, the Kansas City Chiefs.

As it enters its second year, NFL Rivals, the first NFL-licensed web3 game, has reached 5 million downloads across mobile app stores. In July 2024, the game also exceeded $7 million in lifetime trading, having recorded $1 million in monthly NFT trading volume for the first time in June.

Mythical has since migrated its Mythos chain, on which the game is deployed to Polkadot.

In terms of the partnership with the Chiefs, it provides a chance for football fans to win VIP experiences at the team’s home games at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium throughout the season. A select group of fans will also receive tickets to a special Rivals-themed Chiefs home game.

“After our massively successful inaugural season of NFL Rivals, we’re thrilled to partner with the Kansas City Chiefs, one of NFL’s most storied and successful franchises,” said Mythical Games CEO John Linden. 

“Being from Kansas City and a lifelong Chiefs fan, this announcement is so exciting for me!”

Vice president of partnership strategy and development at the Kansas City Chiefs Kim Hobbs said, “We are thrilled to have NFL Rivals joining our family as the Official Mobile Game of the Chiefs. We remain focused on reaching fans wherever they engage and consume the NFL, and mobile gaming is a growing market, especially amongst our young fans.”

Web3 mobile gaming network READYgg is rebranding to PLAY. It’s also integrating all of its developer and consumer aspects into one central platform called PLAY Hub. 

As for the company, PLAY has been around since 2016 – when it launched as Ready Games – building out its vision, initially for a mobile-based hypercasual tournament platform. Since then it’s added a no-code game development platform, integrating blockchain in 2022. This latest announcement comes at the back of the company’s token presale in July. Originally named RDYX, the token will also be rebranded to PLAY, with a public mint coming up later in 2024.

In terms of what the PLAY Hub offers, it comprises SDKs and the PLAY protocol which enable game developers to deploy their games onchain, monetization tools, and data analysis. For consumers, it works as a discovery platform enhanced by its PLAY-ID interface. Moreover, it lets players create, share, and monetize in-game content.

“We’re working on onboarding billions of new users to the blockchain, and this is where PLAY comes in – our gaming ecosystem designed to be inherently consumer-friendly while still serving our foundational clients. With this dual approach, we’re inviting everyone who loves games to explore, engage, and enjoy within a seamless environment,” commented PLAY founder and CEO Christina Macedo.

“The spot bitcoin and ether ETFs are onboarding TradFi. PLAY is onboarding Trad-Gaming,” added PLAY COO John Nash.

Visit the PLAY Hub for more details.

Ronin-based god battler Aperion has announced its Season 3 open beta will launch on 22nd August.

Available for PC and Mac, via Epic Game Store and Mavis Hub, the release will bring together the complete flow of the game’s real-time battle features as players move through the tutorial to completing difficulty-graded PVE dungeons and unlocking PVP arenas.

As well as enabling players to hunt and mint apostle NFT support characters, the Season 3 release will also see the release of four gameplay currencies, which underpin the game’s power progression for the apostles.

• Unpurified gold is a reward for winning battles that is the main currency used in dungeon shops.
• Unpurified souls are gained by selling unwanted apostles in dungeons and converted to soul gems.
• Soul gems are spent to enhance your apostles’ skills and buy into new dungeon runs.
• Souls are used to reset your apostles’ age and acquired by selling unwanted apostles in your hub.

Players will be able to bring up to four apostles into a dungeon, with an additional two slots for apostles rescued in dungeons.

“Our vision is to make blockchain gaming accessible and exciting for all players as we work toward our upcoming mobile release, taking a significant step toward reaching gamers worldwide,” commented Frank Cheng who’s CEO of Apeiron developer Foonie Magus.

“Over the next six months, we will introduce more PvP and PvE content, including the new Avatar class, The Fury, and the new Apostle class, The Summoner, both offering fun gameplay to explore. Together, these advancements will drive our mission to become a mainstream franchise.”

Find out more at the Apeiron website.

Immutable’s mobile RPG Guild of Guardians has found what it’s calling an “anchor partner” in the form of Philippines gaming guild YGG Pilipinas.

With over 95,000 active community members, YGG Pilipinas has already included the game in its Season 6 guild advancement program in which players who complete the six available quests gain YGG token rewards, as well as soulbound achievement badges.

Beyond this season, YGG Pilipinas will continue to work to onboard new players to the game, which launched on 15th May 2024 and has been downloaded more than 650,000 times via the app stores. The Philippines has ranked top in terms of interest in blockchain gaming for three years running according to a CoinGecko survey.

“Immutable has consistently supported YGG across multiple initiatives, most recently the YGG Pilipinas Roadtrip and Season 6 of GAP,” said YGG Pilipinas Country Head’s Mench Dizon.

“Additionally, onboarding one of our community leads as a game ambassador reflects the trust we’ve established over the years. So far, we’ve brought in over 2,600 new players to Guild of Guardians and formed more than 20 active guilds. YGG Pilipinas will continue supporting Immutable’s games and make them accessible to the Philippines, the epicenter of web3 gaming adoption.” 

Further to its existing investment, which was announced in March 2024, Ethereum L2 Mantle has signed a strategic partnership with Singapore-based blockchain MMORPG MetaCene.

The two organizations previously worked together for the browser-based xMetaCene play-to-earn mini-game, which ran on Mantle and attracted over 450,000 wallets.

The just-launched PC/mobile MetaCene: Gold Rush experience, which rewards players with non-tradable in-game items and $3 million-worth of its to-be-released MUD and MAK tokens, also runs on Mantle.

In the longterm, however, MetaCene’s main game, which will launch as first chapter MetaCene: The Genesis of Fire, will run on the Ranger Protocol, albeit within what’s described as a “multi-chain future”.

“As with any serious gaming venture, computing-intensive interactions between players and assets require a highly-performant network to support seamless gameplay,” commented MetaCene CEO Alan Tan.

“To that end, we are excited to take MetaCene’s mission to revolutionize blockchain gaming to the next level through our collaboration with Mantle. Our strategic alliance will allow us to tap on Mantle’s cutting-edge modular L2 technology, strong technical support and resources to propel the growth of web3 blockchain gaming and GameFi to proliferate across the robust and well-established Mantle Ecosystem.”

 Download MetaCene: Gold Rush from the game’s website.

French game developer TapNation has launched its Olympics-themed mobile-based game Athletics Rush. The game is currently just web2. Its blockchain elements will be released on Tezos in August.

Previously announcing collaborations with multiple ecosystems such as Immutable and Arbitrum, this will be TapNation’s first game to deploy to the Tezos blockchain.

“With Athletics Rush, our goal was to create a fun and satisfying experience seamlessly incorporating web3 elements. By building on Tezos, we can enhance player retention and provide rewarding experiences without disrupting the core gameplay,” said TapNation head of web3 Philippe Lenormand.

As for games on Tezos, the number is still sparse compared to other networks. However, Tezos claims it has seen a significant increase in activity during 2024, with monthly users up by 500% during the first quarter.

“Tezos offers a secure and sustainable blockchain platform that aligns perfectly with the vision for Athletics Rush. We’re happy to introduce blockchain technology to enhance the user experience without compromising the fun and engaging nature of the game,” said Tezos APAC head of gaming  Jeremy Foo.

In terms of the game, it’s a hyper-casual athletic runner featuring various game modes to master athletic skills such as running, jumping and throwing. Players can collect medals while competing on global leaderboards.

Athletics Rush is available to download via Google Play.

Line’s web3 subsidiary Line Next has partnered with South Korean game company Smilegate.

Based on Line Next’s web3 gaming platform DOSI, the companies will integrate an NFT marketplace into Smilegate’s forthcoming MMORPG Lord Nine, which is due to launch across PC and mobile in H2 2024.

First launching in Taiwan in September, the marketplace will then roll out more functions alongside the regional expansion of Lord Nine. Starting today however, Taiwanese players can pre-register for Lord Nine and get rewards such as a Medium Item Box that can be used in the game, LINE Points, and Kaia tokens.

Following the launch, players will only be able to access Lord Nine NFTs via their game accounts linked to the DOSI marketplace, which will facilitate payments via Apple Pay, Google Pay, and DOSI’s Kaia tokens. 

Further down the line, the game will also offer special in-game features and other benefits to its NFT holders. 

In December 2023, Line Next announced it had raised $140 million to accelerate the growth of its DOSI blockchain gaming platform. While Nine Lords is the first to be announced – the company is looking to collaborate with more games of various genres to design and facilitate NFT integration and other web3 features via DOSI.